Billions of euros have been spent on diesel and petrol technologies to extend their competitive sales life.
Today, most new diesel cars adhere to Euro 6 standards, and major diesel car selling manufacturers are pushing their latest models with scrappage offers, such as Audi and Mercedes-Benz (to mention just two ).
They are taking EU1, 2 or 3 standard, cars off the road, having them recycled in an environmentally compatible way, in compliance with legal requirements.
Those are the ecological arguments. In reality, however, the fact that diesel is cheaper than petrol, and in the vast majority of instances returns higher miles per gallon, are two key economic arguments for staying with diesel.
Probably the biggest incentive for businesses and fleets to stay with diesel is that VAT is reclaimable on auto diesel by those that are VAT registered. The word from the corridors of power is that this particular playing field may be levelled in the next budget.
