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Five years after the start of the emissions scandal, the diesel engine as a form of propulsion for passenger cars can hardly be saved.

The sales figures, already in decline, have continued to fall in Western Europe this year.

Since the beginning of the year, 27.2 percent of all new cars have been equipped with a diesel.

This was the result of a study by Ferdinand Dudenhöffer's Center Automotive Research.

Share drops below 30 percent

In Germany the share is at a new low of 29.9 percent.

For comparison: up until five years ago, more than 47 percent of newly registered cars had a diesel engine.

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"With Europe, diesel is losing its only remaining market region," says Dudenhöffer.

Outside of Europe, this type of drive for cars has never been particularly popular.

Saying goodbye to diesel is a consequence of exhaust gas fraud.

And the structural change in the entire industry, which is just picking up speed.

"The German carmakers lost part of their technological leadership with the decline of diesel," says Dudenhöffer.

In fact, the type of drive should help to significantly reduce CO2 emissions in traffic.

Modern diesel engines produce significantly less greenhouse gas than gasoline engines.

In view of massive subsidies, however, sales of plug-in hybrids and all-electric cars are growing - at the expense of diesel.

Hardly any diesel left in Norway

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This can be seen particularly drastically in the electrical country Norway: There the diesel share fell to 10.3 percent, in 2011 it was 75.7 percent.

In the Netherlands, 4.5 percent of cars with diesel engines were delivered this year.

In Great Britain the share fell to 16.8 percent.

New cars without an electric motor are to be banned on the island from 2030.

And in the EU too, the future Euro 7 emissions standard threatens to say goodbye to combustion engines.

The car companies are preparing for this: After Zwickau, Volkswagen is converting the plants in Emden and Hanover to pure electric car production and will replace the engine production in Salzgitter with a battery factory.

BMW announced this week that only electric motors will be built in Germany in four years.

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Whereby the Munich want to stretch the transition longer.

"We are continuing to invest in the combustion engine," says production director Milan Nedeljković.

There will be a subsequent generation for the current units, "this is also relevant when it comes to achieving the CO2 target".

Nedeljković sees “needs” for the engines even after 2030.

Dudenhöffer assumes that this demand will decrease significantly.

Especially with diesel.

"His last bastion are the big SUVs, the large company cars and the tax advantages, for example in Germany."

This text is from WELT AM SONNTAG.

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Source: WELT AM SONNTAG