Jaguar Land Rover Boss Sees "Nothing Wrong" With Buying A Diesel

Should I buy a diesel car or no? Is it emitting more polluting gases than an equivalent gasoline vehicle? Is it going to be legal in the next five years and am I going to pay bigger taxes? Oh, dear...

Those are some of the questions that people looking for a new car in Europe (and some other places around the world) are asking themselves these days. Yes, public debates about diesel cars are confusing buyers, but diesel is not a dirty word. At least according to a top manager from Jaguar Land Rover.

The British manufacturer’s UK managing director Jeremy Hicks has recently commented that drivers are generally unfamiliar with the situation and can’t make an educated choice for their next car. Basing his statement on a recent study commissioned by JLR in response to debates around the future of diesel-powered cars, he declared that there’s, in fact, no general problem in buying a diesel car today.

“Here is the truth: if you care about air quality in our cities there is nothing wrong with buying a modern diesel car,” Hicks is quoted by Autocar.

To support his argument, Hicks explained that a diesel car today emits 95 percent less particulate emissions than a diesel car a decade ago. Also, he made it clear that Euro 6 diesels emit almost no NOx and are fine for everyday use in big cities.

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“There has been a seismic shift in diesel technology, almost eliminating NOx. Nobody is trying to ban Euro 6 engines in London, or Stuttgart or other cities looking to cut pollution to be fair, but the impression is being given that all diesels are the same - and it causes confusion and creates false impressions.”

JLR’s study concluded that, in general, the customers are not familiar with the facts about the latest generation diesel technology and its advantages.

“More than half of drivers don’t know what Euro 6 standards means,” Hicks commented. “Almost a third don’t know whether the Co2 emissions we want to curb should be attributed to petrol or diesel engines. It is the same when it comes to Nox.”

Source: Autocar