Porsche officially joins the band of carmakers that are turning their backs to making diesel-powered cars. The culprit? The significant increase in demand for electrified vehicles, especially in Europe.
In an official statement from Porsche, the sports car-maker is going all-in when it comes to e-mobility – six-billion euros (around seven billion dollars) to be exact, which will be projected to take effect by 2022. This will be the basis for sustainable growth into the future, said the carmaker.
The increased investment in electrified vehicles has concrete numbers to back it up. Porsche said that 63 percent of the Panameras sold in Europe are hybrid models. At the far end of the spectrum, the demand for diesel-powered Porsches is dropping, in which the sports car-maker cited that the global share of diesel Porsches was only 12 percent in 2017.
With these numbers, it's smart for the marque to abandon diesel, moving forward. Besides, why would Porsche make cars that fewer people are buying, right? Moreover, its first all-electric sports car, the Taycan, seems promising and about to take the world of performance vehicles by storm.
"Porsche is not demonizing diesel. It is, and will remain, an important propulsion technology. We as a sports car manufacturer, however, for whom diesel has always played a secondary role, have come to the conclusion that we would like our future to be diesel-free. Naturally, we will continue to look after our existing diesel customers with the professionalism they expect," says Oliver Blume, CEO of Porsche AG.
While diesel is now out of Porsche's portfolio, those who aren't ready to accept electrified cars, along with sports car purists, are still in the priority of the Stuttgart-based carmaker. The marque will continue to optimize its gasoline-powered internal combustion power plants, citing that "emotional and powerful sports cars will thus continue to play an important role in the Porsche product portfolio."
For the record, Porsche isn't the first automaker to cancel diesel in its future vehicles. May it be because of the diesel-gate scandal that the Volkswagen group's currently sorting out, or the demand from customers themselves who are now either choosing gasoline-powered cars or electrified vehicles, it's not looking good for diesel fuel for the years to come.
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