UBS has forecast that the emergence of inexpensive electric vehicle technology and stricter regulations on the pollution created by burning diesel will make cars powered by the fuel a thing of the past. Peter Campbell writes in the Financial Times:
The falling costs of electric and hybrid vehicles will strip the fuel of its once-competitive price advantage, while tighter emissions regulation and soured public sentiment towards the fuel in the wake of the Volkswagen scandal will see its global share of car sales fall from 13.5 per cent to just 4 per cent by 2025, the bank predicts.
In Europe, diesel’s traditional heartland, sales will fall from 50 per cent to just 10 per cent, it forecasts.
Sales in Europe have been falling slowly since 2012, but have accelerated in the past 12 months in the wake of the VW diesel scandal.
The decline forecast by UBS is sharper than many in the industry predict, and comes as major manufacturers grapple with the question of whether diesel cars will be viable in the future.
Read more here (subscription only).
Diesel emissions scandal: Volkswagen’s US settlement to cost $15 billion
Jeremy Jones, CFA
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