Diesel car sales have hit their zenith in Europe, says Renault Nissan boss

Carlos Ghosn – Renault Nissan CEO – has declared that sales of diesel-engined cars have hit their peak in the UK and Europe and will now start to fall.

Carlos Ghosn, Nissan Renault boss, is fond of predictions (10% of all cars will be electric by 2020 springs to mind, as does ‘Hybrids cars are like Mermaids‘), and his latest (in conversation with Automotive News) he declares diesel-engined car sales have reached their peak in the UK and Europe.

Despite Ghosn’s declaration that EVs will account for 10 per cent of the market by 2020 being almost certainly very wide of the mark (in the UK they account for less than 1 per cent at the moment), and the ‘hybrids are mermaids’ assertion (you want a fish – you get a car) made to be a nonsense with excellent PHEVs, like the Outlander from Mitsubishi and Volvo’s V60 PHEV, we agree wholeheartedly with Ghosn – diesel cars are inevitably going to decline in popularity.

That was already the case before the VW Defeat Device scam showed how bad diesels are for air quality – the stuff like NOx and particulates that really matters – even if they are good at emitting modest levels of CO2.

But the costs of meeting ever more stringent emissions is going to sound the death knell for diesels – especially in smaller, cheaper cars – and the rise of high-efficiency petrol engines – as well as plug-in hybrids, FCEVs and BEVs – will see buyers deserting the diesel. Factor in the strong possibility that cities like London and Paris will penalise diesel drivers, and it’s hard to see diesel sales going anywhere other than south.

But the real appeal of modern diesel – decent economy and mountains of torque – is likely to see premium makers continuing with the diesel formula for the foreseeable future, with engines like BMW’s 3.0 litre diesel in cars like the 640d offering too appealing a combination to desert.