The sales portion of diesel cars in Europe, the home of diesel cars, is steadily decreasing, and the age of diesel cars is continuing in Korea.

The German Federal Court ruled that local governments could arbitrarily stop the operation of old diesel cars on February 27, when the consumer perception of diesel vehicles has changed since the Volkswagen diesel gate in 2015.

According to the automobile industry on March 6, the regulation of the Euro 6 exhaust gas environment is strengthened and the departure of the diesel car is accelerating as the regulation of entry of the diesel car into Europe is being discussed in Germany and England. As a result, sales of diesel cars in Europe dropped 11.4% from 55.6% in 2011 to 44.2% last year.

Especially, sales of diesel vehicles in Europe declined 8% year-on-year. France and Britain have announced the ban on the sale of diesel cars since 2040. "We expect all German cities to comply with the upper limit of nitrogen oxides (diesel emissions)," the German transport ministry said. European countries are considering expanding sales of LPG cars as an alternative to diesel.

Toyota Motor decided to stop selling diesel cars in Europe in response to this trend. New cars coming later this year do not have diesel engines. Toyota Europe chief executive officer Johan Van Gill told the press, including the Nihon Keizai Shimbun, ahead of the Geneva Motor Show opening on June 6, "Consumers do not want diesel," and " "He said. The termination applies not only to Western Europe but also to Europe and Russia. The new model, Oris, which was released on June 6, will eliminate the diesel model, and the hybrid model will only be available in two types, the conventional type and the high output type.

Unlike in Europe, where the proportion of sales is declining sharply, Korea`s sales portion of diesel cars increased 10.9 percentage points from 33.9% in 2011 to 44.8% last year. Domestic vehicles sold in 2011 were 538,176 units, but by 2017, they were 824,457 units. On the other hand, the number of gasoline cars sold in Korea last year was less than that of diesel cars with 75,863. The percentage of gasoline sales decreased from 54.3% in 2011 to 41.5% last year.

Volkswagen Korea, which has a high proportion of sales of diesel vehicles, was put off from business last year due to suspension of sales. However, sales of diesel vehicles in domestic imported car market last year were 47.2% higher than that of gasoline (43%). This year, it is observed that sales of diesel vehicles will be higher due to resumption of sales of Volkswagen and high oil prices. An industry official said, "The diesel price is lower than the gasoline price in the high oil price situation, and the diesel car will not lose popularity because of the good fuel efficiency."

By Ye Jin Soo jinye@


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