INTERNATIONAL NEWS
Diesel sales lose traction on slippery Europe slope
Germany is the latest country to see a significant decline in diesel sales
Diesel sales are trending towards free fall in Europe and no more so than in their former heartland in Germany. The country’s car makers build and sell more diesels than any other, but the German Kraftfahrt Bundesamt declared a 19.3% fall in sales of diesel-powered cars in April. The entire German car market fell 8% in the same month, with the collapse of diesel sales pulling it down along with three business days lost to the Easter holiday period. It is perhaps no coincidence that Germany has finally implemented a subsidy scheme for electrified passenger cars, but the take-up rate is nowhere near enough to offset the fall in diesel sales, which might lead to cleaner local air quality but a rise in CO2 emissions. Oddly, the sales of diesel-powered passenger cars did not falter in the immediate wake of Volkswagen’s Dieselgate emissions-cheating scandal, rising to almost 50% of all German sales in November 2015, but its share has been sliding ever since. The compression fuel’s share o...
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