Is this almost the end of the road for the BMW repmobile? The German car giant has dropped diesel engines from its model range due to falling demand
- BMW has retired some diesel engines from the 1, 2, 5 Series and X2 SUV range
- It no longer offers diesel engines with its 4 Series cars in showrooms
- Diesel BMWs were the representative of choice for salespeople in the years 2000 to 2010
BMW has confirmed that it has significantly reduced the number of diesel cars in its range as a sharp drop in demand in recent years is expected to spell the end of the repmobile Beemer.
Diesel saloons have been the engine of choice for commercials for racking up miles in the UK for generations, but BMW said it has already phased out a number of oil burners from its range as fewer customers want diesel cars.
A spokesperson for the brand said its decision “reflects market developments”.
End of the road for the BMW diesel repmobile? The German car giant has dropped a number of diesel engines from its new car range due to a sharp drop in demand for oil burners
The news that BMW had removed a number of diesel engines from its model range was revealed by Autocar.
It says some diesel variants of the 1 Series, 2 Series Coupe, 5 Series and X2 SUV have been phased out, while the 4 Series no longer has a diesel option at all.
The most popular engine to be phased out is the 1 Series 116d, of which 1,326 have been sold in Britain in 2021.
This is Money has contacted BMW for comment, with a spokesperson telling us: “BMW is constantly monitoring consumer demand across all models to ensure we have a relevant product offering that reflects our customers’ needs. .
“The changes to our range reflect changing market demands and by removing low-volume variants, we are ensuring that BMW offers variety to our customers while improving their ordering experience.”
The move reflects the huge drop in appetite for diesel cars in recent years, which in 2022 officially saw sales of battery electric vehicles overtake oil burners for the first time on record.
Some 1 Series, 2 Series Coupe, 5 Series (pictured) and X2 SUV diesel options have been pulled from BMW showrooms
Diesel car registrations fell by a third last year as consumers continue to turn their backs on fuel type
Last year, just 155,324 diesel passenger cars were registered in Britain, down from 234,526 in 2021, a drop of a third (33.8%).
By contrast, electric car sales rose 40% year-on-year to 267,203 registrations, while diesel demand paled against petrol, with just over 900,000 engines on the road in 2022. running on lead-free.
It has also seen diesel’s market share fall from around one in six new cars in 2021 to less than one in ten last year.
So far this year, less than 16,000 diesel-powered passenger cars have been purchased, down 19% from their sales performance in January and February 2022.
Prior to the Dieselgate scandal in 2015, diesel engines accounted for around 50% of the then booming UK new car market.
However, the fallout from the emissions fraud scandal, the government’s decision to sting diesels with higher vehicle excise duty (VED), the introduction of ULEZ from London and other areas of Clean air across Britain, and the increased push towards electricity have seen oil burners become far less popular.
Another big nail in the coffin in recent months has been the exorbitant cost of filling them, with a liter of diesel costing around 20p a liter more than petrol due to Britain’s refusal to import the fuel from Russia and the cost has been increasing significantly since March 2022.
According to RAC Fuel Watch today, the average UK diesel price over the weekend was 166.42 pence per litre, while petrol was just 147.49 pence.
