Diesel’s demise nears as Volkswagen axes diesel Golf after 50 years
Diesel has been cast aside, even though the engine will still be available on the continent, where it remains particularly popular with autobahn-storming German buyers.
So what is propping up the diesel market in the UK? The answer is Land Rover. The company now dominates diesel sales here, accounting for 43% of the total in the first five months, according to the SMMT, and taking the top six diesel positions.
Buyers don’t have a lot of choice when it comes to the Defender. The cheapest model is a straight-six diesel with good range and decent economy. The plug-in hybrid has more power on paper, but once the smallish 19.2kWh battery runs out of charge, officially after 30 miles, the two-litre petrol engine is doing all the work. Small wonder that Defender PHEV sales are minuscule in comparison, at just 625 units.
Speaking to Autocar, Berlin-based auto analyst Matthias Schmidt said: “PHEVs should theoretically be very large in this sector, but presumably consumers are cottoning on to the fact that for long journeys diesel still leads the way, with real-world ranges well in excess of 1000km [620 miles] possible without plugging in or topping up with traditional fuel, and not just on paper.”
PHEVS are improving, though: once JLR upgrades the Defender PHEV, perhaps with the 38kWh battery from the Range Rover and Range Rover Sport, diesel sales are likely to go down. UK sales of the Range Rover Sport PHEV, for example, far outweigh those of the diesel, at 3937 versus 2353 to the end of May.
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