Automotive News Europe - January 2020 - 15

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premium SUV segment that includes
the BMW X3, Audi Q5 and Mercedes
GLC had more diesel sales than any
other premium segment at 274,454.
Automakers have long fought against
clean-air legislation that penalizes the
diesel, citing the effectiveness of the
latest technology used to clean harmful particulates and oxides of nitrogen
(NOx).
Automakers need them to help comply with tougher CO2 targets that
arrive this year and, they argue,
customers still want them. Far from
ditching them, some premium brands
are expanding their diesel lineups.
Audi, for example, has switched to
diesels over gasoline engines in larger high-performance S-badged cars
such as the SQ5 premium midsize
SUV to help lower CO2.

Electrification shift
"SUVs are still strongly diesel partly
because of the lack of electrified
variants. As more electric and hybrid
versions arrive, the shift away from
diesel should be rapid," JATO global
analyst Felipe Munoz said. The shift
to electrification in bigger cars is well
under way. Toyota doesn't offer diesels in its new RAV4 compact SUV,
a move that Honda followed with
the CR-V in the same segment. Both
brands focus on offering those SUVs
as gasoline-electric hybrids instead.
Nissan will also drop diesels from its
next Qashqai, which will instead offer
the automaker's fuel-saving e-Power
hybrid powertrain when it arrives this
autumn. "What is most relevant to
me is not the question, 'What about

the future of diesel?' but 'What about
the future of conventional engines?'
What we underestimate today is the
weight of the [CO2] regulation," Nissan Europe Chairman Gianluca de
Ficchy told Automotive News Europe.

APRIL 23, 2020

Both premium and volume brands
are also rolling out more plug-in
hybrid and full-electric models. These
include the plug-in hybrid version
of the Ford Kuga compact SUV and
a full-electric crossover from Nissan,
which will be based on the Ariya concept and is due sometime next winter.

Cross-Company
Cooperation

Electrification would be less of a pressing concern if diesel remained popular,
but automakers are cautious about
relying too much on the recent leveling off of diesel sales. "Diesel has
been stable over the last six months at
about 30 percent. Is that going to move
down 10 percentage points by the end
of next year? No one knows," Citroen
CEO Linda Jackson said. LMC predicts
that after a flat year in 2020, the diesel share will fall below 30 percent in
2021, dropping to 23 percent in 2025
and falling to 9 percent by 2030.
Ironically, given its role in the diesel
downturn, the VW Group remained
the largest seller of diesels through
the first 10 months of 2019 (see
table, Page 14). Like many others,
VW has cut diesels from its range -
most notably the 1.6-liter TDI. BMW
also plans to stop making its threecylinder 1.5-liter engine. But there
is still plenty of life in its core diesel range, BMW development boss
Klaus Froelich said: "Our four- and
six-cylinder diesels will remain for at
least another 20 years." ANE

STEADY DECLINE
Diesels account for a smaller share of total sales in most key segments
Small
Small SUV
Compact
Compact Premium
Compact SUV
Premium Compact SUV
Midsize
Midsize Premium
Midsize SUV
Premium Midsize SUV
Large premium
Premium Large SUV
Source: JATO Dynamics

JANUARY 2020

2015
25%
52%
53%
63%
73%
81%
86%
78%
77%
89%
83%
87%

2016
21%
47%
48%
59%
68%
79%
82%
74%
78%
87%
84%
79%

2017
19%
38%
43%
53%
55%
73%
75%
66%
74%
78%
76%
75%

2018
14%
29%
33%
42%
44%
62%
65%
56%
69%
66%
68%
70%

What companies are doing
to share investments, reduce
risks and increase returns.

Audi
Martin Siemann
BMW Group
Joachim Kolling
Ionity
Michael Hajesch
Magna Steyr
Frank Klein
Microsoft
Robert Lokner
PwC Legal
Hubertus Kleene
Vienna University of
Economics and Business
Werner Hoffmann
Volkswagen
Commercial Vehicles
Thomas Sedran
Wiener Linien
Johannes Liebermann
Zenuity
Dennis Nobelius
A special session at the
Vienna
Motor
Symposium

2020

22-24 April 2020
Congress Center * Hofburg
Vienna, Austria

vienna-motorsymposium.com
www.autonewseurope.com 15
http://www.vienna-motorsymposium.com
Automotive News Europe - January 2020

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