Potential car buyers continue to lose interest in diesel engines – survey

Diesel cars continue to fall out of favour with people interested in buying a new car in Germany. In a survey commissioned by the German Energy Agency (dena), 17 percent of potential car buyers said they planned to buy a diesel car, compared to 21 percent a year ago. However, alternative propulsion systems did not benefit from this shift: only 10 percent of respondents said they planned to buy an electric car, compared to 11 percent in 2016. A lack of charging infrastructure and high prices remained the most important arguments against alternative engine technologies, according to the potential buyers. 
Petrol cars were by far the most popular: 52 percent said they planned to buy such a car, compared to 49 percent last year, according to the survey conducted by pollster Kantar Emnid.
The share of new cars sold with diesel engines currently stands at 34 percent, while pure electric cars make up a mere 1 percent of new registrations (see graph).

Read the dena press release in German here.

Read the item Diesel registrations continue to drop in Germany and the dossier BMW, Daimler, and VW vow to fight in green transport revolution for background.