Diesel continues to decline on the European market
- Diesel sales continues to decrease on the European car market. After increasing its market share in Europe to 55.7% in 2011, sales of passenger cars with diesel engines began to decline. Modest at first, since this market share had gradually slipped to 50% in five years until 2016, this decline then accelerated, falling to 45% in 2017, 36% in 2018, 32% in 2019, 20 % in 2020, 18% in 2021 and 15% in 2022. The fall continues in the first quarter of 2023 with a market share which fell to 13% of the European market.
- Diesel demand plummeted as this type of engine emitted significantly less C02 than petrol engines, and the level of particulates emitted had become of the same order of magnitude as what petrol-powered vehicles emits.
- In five years (from 2017 to 2022), diesel has lost 30% of market share, dropping from 45% to 15%, while battery electric vehicles (BEV) and hybrid vehicles (HEV+PHEV) have seen at the same time, their market share rose from 4% to 31%, representing an increase of 27% in absolute terms.
- Alternative-powered cars have therefore almost entirely replaced diesel cars in Europe, if their market share is taken into account. Petrol cars have also benefited from the decline in diesel cars, with some customers switching from a diesel car to a petrol car. On the other hand, for light utility vehicles (LUVs), demand is still mainly concentrated on diesel engines (95% in 2022). LUV sales represent 12.5% of light vehicle sales in Europe.