Fiat Chrysler Automobiles will end production of diesel-powered cars across the product line-ups of the Alfa Romeo, Fiat, Jeep and Maserati brands by 2022.
The Financial Times reports that FCA will make the announcement in June under a mid-term plan which will signpost the company’s targets for the next four years.
FCA, which has 20 diesel passenger models in the UK across its line-up, is abandoning diesel from all of its passenger cars, although the company has yet to comment on whether this would include diesel-only models like the Fullback pick-up truck, or its four vans, three of which are diesel-only.
Despite the plans to ditch diesel, Fiat’s diesel market share actually increased by 0.2% between 2016 and 2017. It was the only brand out of the top 25 top-sellers in Europe to increase its diesel market share.
It’s the latest blow for the black pump, little more than a week after Porsche announced the end of production for its current diesel models.
FCA hasn’t been a stranger to diesel controversy in the past. It was previously accused of using emissions manipulation software on the 500X, as more manufacturers were sucked into the scandal around the world following the Dieselgate scandal precipitated by the Volkswagen Group.
Every European FCA brand besides Abarth has at least one diesel model in its line-up, with every model across Jeep’s range having a diesel variant.
Fiat Chrysler's diesel passenger car line-up consists of:
- Alfa Romeo Giulia
- Alfa Romeo Giulietta
- Alfa Romeo Mito
- Alfa Romeo Stelvio
- Fiat 500
- Fiat 500L
- Fiat 500X
- Fiat Doblo
- Fiat Fullback
- Fiat Panda
- Fiat Qubo
- Fiat Tipo
- Jeep Cherokee
- Jeep Compass
- Jeep Grand Cherokee
- Jeep Renegade
- Jeep Wrangler
- Maserati Ghibli
- Maserati Levante
- Maserati Quattroporte
Fiat’s having a rough year so far in the UK and Europe. New car registrations on the continent dropped by 6% in January compared with the same month last year, while in the UK, registrations were almost cut in half across February compared with February 2017. Every FCA brand except Abarth posted a decline in new car registrations in the UK.
The move is likely to make waves in America - Fiat Chrysler sold 152,218 cars in the USA in January, compared with less than 85,000 in Europe. The move has drawn praise from environmental groups such as Greenpeace, although FCA's first EVs aren't due until 2020 with the Maserati Alfieri, and the first hybrids only arrive on a small number of models - a potentially challenging mix when considering ever more stringent EU emissions laws.
A Fiat-Chrysler spokesman declined to comment on the matter.
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Another anti-diesel non-story.
The eco-fascists may be pleased FCA is ditching diesels in passenger vehicles, but if they can't ditch diesel from all of their vehicles, this just looks like willy-waving, which it clearly is. As for FCA's EV effort, well, it is so pathetic they only sell the 500e in teeny-tiny numbers in California.
Hang on a bit!
Hang on a bit! I'm in California and a friend of mine bought a 500E coming off a 3 year lease with 20,000miles. He had lots to choose from for $6000. It has a fairly fabulous 0-30mph time it's great for running around town. His wife loves it (it's sort of orange with white bits). It's not a Tesla but then Teslas aren't $6000.
Higher mileage drivers
It's only going to be an increasing issue for higher mileage drivers like me. I do approx 20,000 miles per year in a modern EU6 diesel, mostly on motorways or in rural areas. I don't drive into cities, instead I use the train. All these changes are really going to penalise people like me and increase my costs. If I have to change to a petrol car I'll probably have to step down in the range to compensate for the higher running costs of a petrol over that kind of mileage. I run a 2.0 diesel and get just about 50 to the gallon of diesel. I've tried an equivalent petrol recently and struggled to get 35 so would be looking at £800 to £1000 more per year in fuel costs depending on the fuel price. Thanks VW and the press for that. The big downside from all this is it's more likely that owners of older diesels will actually keep them even longer than they would have done previously so making the whole situation worse. If the emphasis was on getting the older cars off the roads, petrol and diesel, then we'd all be better off for it. And when is something going to be done about the buses and diesel trains. I stood in Reading station the other day listening to a diesel train idling for a full 20 minutes before its departure time. How many cars worth of diesel fumes/pollutants/CO2 did that kick out during that time?
Diesel
The problem with "Clean Diesels" is that they are always clean when they are released, but down the line they just stink.
Have a friend whos got a 2010 X5 and the thing stinks of diesel if you stand around it idling. I'm not sure if its because filters or whatever else are saturated, but the technology certainly doesn't keep them clean. And its not an isolated case, in trafic, petrol stations, car parks, you can't escape the stink of diesel fumes. Can't wait to see the back of them.
Combined with the cost of all this new technology, I can see that for the vast majority of people who aren't doing big mileage, there is just no justification, especially when petrol is cleaner (Save for slightly higher C02), more refined and cheaper.
Jeeps, Fiats and Maseratis by and large aren't bought by motorway crunching big milage drivers so I guess it makes sense. Its nice that more petrol options are now becoming available again, for too long we haven't even had the choice of powertrain on so many models.