Nissan to END Diesel car sales in UK and Europe

Nissan are the latest car maker to declare the end of diesel engines, with the Japanese press reporting Nissan will not deliver any more new diesel-engined cars in the UK and Europe.

The writing on the wall for the future of diesel engines in Nissan cars was writ large a few weeks ago when Nissan announced it was cutting jobs at its Sunderland Plant as sales of diesel-engined cars plummet. 

At the time, Nissan made it clear that the cut in the Sunderland workforce was only temporary as they react to the decline of demand for diesel engines, but now it seems the plan is to stop offering diesel-engines cars in the UK and Europe altogether – just like Toyota.

According to Japanese Media, Nissan will stop offering diesel engines in all their new cars, so it looks like the end of diesel at Nissan will be phased in as new models arrive, rather than diesel-engined variants being pulled from the market.

But although the big writing on the wall for Nissan diesels came with the recent job cuts at Sunderland, Carlos Ghosn – Nissan boss – said as long ago as 2015 that he believed diesel had passed its peak and would be replaced as it becomes ever more costly to meet CO2 targets. Not to mention the fallout from Dieselgate.

So you can expect new Nissans on the horizon – like next generation Qashqai, Juke and X-Trail – to come with petrol engines and Nissan’s E-Power range-extender hybrid, as well as at least four new electric cars for the UK and Europe – including an electric Nissan LEAF SUV.