Diesel still popular: Will only driving bans help?
Despite high diesel prices, the vehicles remain enormously popular. Although the new car market is changing dramatically and offering fewer and fewer diesel vehicles, they are still booming on the used car market. Even driving bans that have already been announced do not seem to be a deterrent. Perhaps only bans and heavy fines will bring about a real change in consumer attitudes.
Driving bans for diesel vehicles are currently being massively expanded in Europe. In many places, only vehicles with Euro standard 6 are now allowed. For example, in many low emission zones in Great Britain, in all zones in Denmark and, for example, also in Tyrol, in Austria, where the low emission zone covers the main traffic axis between Germany and Italy. The Netherlands has already announced concrete plans for zero-emission zones (ZEZs), i.e. zones where no internal combustion vehicles are allowed to enter at all, and other countries are also flirting with the introduction of ZEZs.
So things are getting tighter for the dirty diesel engine. Consumers seem to be unconcerned about this. Even the currently soaring prices at the pumps do not seem to prevent people from continuing to buy used diesel vehicles. In the UK, this has led to diesel vehicles actually rising in price again over the last 12 months. Consumers there are spending up to 13% more than a year ago on a used diesel. In Germany, too, people continue to dig deep into their pockets for diesel vehicles. In May 2022, a VW Golf TDI cost about 20,000 euros and was thus comparable in price to a new petrol-powered Golf 8.
The clinging to diesel shows that a switch to alternative fuels and green mobility is difficult to achieve voluntarily. Although the share of hybrid and electric cars continues to rise, people do not seem to be able to move away from the combustion engine, especially the diesel.
So only further driving bans, the introduction of environmental zones and hefty fines will help to guarantee good air quality in the cities.