Are Diesel Cars Dead? This CEO Says Yes

One CEO believes the Volkswagen diesel scandal will kill the market for diesel cars in certain countries.

Continental CEO Elmar Degenhart recently spoke to German newspaper Boersen-Zeitung that he believes “The diesel passenger car could sooner or later disappear from these markets,” referring to North America, Japan and China. In those areas, diesels only have a market share of one to three percent, compared to 53 percent in Europe.

Over the recent years, Volkswagen has been trying to break through the diesel passenger car market in the U.S. by touting its clean diesel engines as an alternative to standard gasoline. Last September, the German automaker admitted that it had been cheating on EPA diesel emissions tests, kicking off one of the biggest scandals yet in the automotive industry.

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Degenhart reiterated that Continental did not supply any software used to manipulate emissions tests to any of its clients, adding that the company did develop and supply the engine controllers in line with Volkswagen’s specifications. “The installation and tuning of the software, the so-called calibration, was done by VW.”

[Source: Automotive News Europe]

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