The sale of new diesel cars has almost completely collapsed and used cars are difficult to sell in the Netherlands. De Bovag expects that next month, for the first time since 2003, fewer than 1 million diesel cars will be driving in the Netherlands.
Business drivers no longer want to lease diesel cars and many private individuals see them as dirty cars, which can also cause problems in environmental zones, for example. Last year, no fewer than 100,000 diesel cars disappeared from the Dutch roads. Paul de Waal van de Bovag explains to the AD: “The image has become so bad. They are out of favor with leasing companies because the residual value is plummeting. Private individuals don’t want them because of the environmental zones. Old diesels go to export.”
The 2021 sales figures send a clear signal that diesel cars have fallen out of favor. Almost 147,000 petrol cars, more than 102,000 hybrids, almost 64,000 electric cars and only 6,921 diesels were sold. Diesels were therefore only good for a meager 2 percent market share. December was the low point: 209 diesels were sold against almost 21,000 electric cars, although it must be said that EV sales in that month were naturally fueled by people who wanted to take advantage of the more favorable addition rate. In any case, Bovag expects that the role of diesel will decrease at an accelerated pace in the coming years.
Quick demise
It’s happened fast, because halfway through the last decade there was still a huge run on diesel cars. In 2015, the best-selling car of the year was a diesel, the Peugeot 308 SW. Almost 30,000 were sold, largely because of the favorable addition rate. At the time, half of the lease cars still ran on diesel. Together with other so-called ‘savings diesels’, this led to an unprecedented sales peak: 130,000 diesel cars left the showroom in 2015. But the tax benefit expired and in September 2015 the Volkswagen diesel scandal came to light. After that, the image quickly deteriorated.
“There will be no comeback of diesel, certainly not in countries with a progressive environmental policy,” says Bert van Wee, professor of transport policy at TU Delft. AD. He also mentions dieselgate as the death knell. “The decline is not only in the Netherlands, but also in the countries around us. Countries where diesel was sold the most, such as Belgium and France. Manufacturers have stopped developing new generations of diesels and are focusing on electric driving.” not only in the Netherlands, is also apparent from the European sales figures.Last month an analysis by Schmidt Automotive showed that the diesel car in Europe in terms of new sales has now been overtaken by electric cars.
– Thanks for information from Autoweek.nl