Future of Diesel

[DMC63]

The problem with diesel engines is that they're diesel engines.
'Petrol head', sports cars should always be petrol. It smells nicer.

[cj10jeeper]

The problem with diesels is that even the "clean"' ones that pass the EU tests are dirty, toxic, polluting things emittings massively more NOX in real world driving than the "official" figures, cheat device fitted or not. It's high time they were taxed appropriately.

I agree with you on many levels, but where I struggle is that people make decision to buy based upon what's incentivised at the time, so it seems unfair to tax them to death based upon an historic decision. A few years ago diesels were the way forward
By all means skew future purchases by putting up new car taxes or levies. My thinking is really it's a revenue raising idea that can hide under being environmental

It's not far different from say making a U turn that electric has a massive negative impact on the environment as we have to build more power stations to charge them (and I of course make this up to illustrate) and so charge them £500 pa road fund

[original guvnor]

The problem with diesels is that even the "clean"' ones that pass the EU tests are dirty, toxic, polluting things emittings massively more NOX in real world driving than the "official" figures, cheat device fitted or not. It's high time they were taxed appropriately.

I agree with you on many levels, but where I struggle is that people make decision to buy based upon what's incentivised at the time, so it seems unfair to tax them to death based upon an historic decision. A few years ago diesels were the way forward
By all means skew future purchases by putting up new car taxes or levies. My thinking is really it's a revenue raising idea that can hide under being environmental

It's not far different from say making a U turn that electric has a massive negative impact on the environment as we have to build more power stations to charge them (and I of course make this up to illustrate) and so charge them £500 pa road fund

I sympathise with that view - the government (with the hand of the EU firmly in their back) did incentivise diesels but the case for them being highly polluting is now unquestionable (even the newest so-called "clean" diesels so it's high time they were properly taxed. I think some sort of transitional period should be devised - i.e. an increasing scale of tax is applied to owners of existing diesel vehicles over the next few financial years but high taxes applied to all new diesels at their first registration. I don't have too much sympathy though - owners of Z4MC's have seen their VED double in recent years!