INTERVIEW
VW on a mission to meet new emissions
What does plummeting diesel sales do to the company that started its collapse, asks Michael Taylor
Diesel sales are collapsing across Europe and electric cars aren’t picking up the slack because petrol power is on the rise again. Cities from Paris to London to Stuttgart are moving to ban the compression fuel, and behind it all is the lingering taint of Dieselgate and the host of immoral testing "fiddles" uncovered in its wake. From a rounding error beneath 50% of the market in late 2015, diesel’s penetration in Germany has dropped to a third, a stunning fall from grace for a fuel once praised for low carbon dioxide emissions and boosted by government tax incentives across Europe. But the company that triggered diesel’s collapse isn’t remotely concerned by the way the fuel is now being shunned by buyers. "In 1993 the share was 15%. That was okay then, as well. I’m not bothered by diesel share. It’s no problem," says Volkswagen brand CEO Herbert Diess. Tighter European regulations for nitrogen oxide emissions pushed VW to lock in plans a long time ago for a world with fewer diesel ...
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