Europe car sales: share of diesel engines 2015-2019, by country
Ireland was the European country with the largest share new car sales running on diesel in 2019. Although the share of diesel car sale shares in Ireland was quite high in 2019, that number has dropped significantly since 2015 from 71 percent to 46 percent. In comparison, Italy has only seen a decrease from 56 percent to 41 percent in the same timeframe. The overall reduction in diesel car sales is unsurprising given the 2015 diesel scandal and subsequent discussions surrounding health and environmental impacts of the fuel type.
Volvo sells most diesel cars
The greatest share of new passenger cars fitted with a diesel engine were sold by Volvo. In 2019, around six out of ten cars sold by the Swedish carmaker in Europe were reliant on diesel fuel. This figure follows a substantial change from 2015 in which 88 percent of Volvo passenger car sales in Europe were diesel.
Diesel pollution worse than petrol
The diesel scandal uncovered that amounts of the air pollutant nitrogen oxide (NOx) released by diesel cars were in fact exorbitantly higher than testing previously suggested. This was due to software installed by carmakers masking actual emission figures. Diesel pollution would cost taxpayers nearly 56 billion euros in health and non-health related expenses. This was more than five times the amount of petrol pollution costs.
Volvo sells most diesel cars
The greatest share of new passenger cars fitted with a diesel engine were sold by Volvo. In 2019, around six out of ten cars sold by the Swedish carmaker in Europe were reliant on diesel fuel. This figure follows a substantial change from 2015 in which 88 percent of Volvo passenger car sales in Europe were diesel.
Diesel pollution worse than petrol
The diesel scandal uncovered that amounts of the air pollutant nitrogen oxide (NOx) released by diesel cars were in fact exorbitantly higher than testing previously suggested. This was due to software installed by carmakers masking actual emission figures. Diesel pollution would cost taxpayers nearly 56 billion euros in health and non-health related expenses. This was more than five times the amount of petrol pollution costs.
