Diesel cars are losing their weight in traffic

While the share of diesel-powered cars in the total automobile fleet has been decreasing continuously in the last four years, this rate dropped to 31.7 percent as of January.

While green transformation and sustainability are among the most talked about topics on a global scale, developing technology and increasing opportunities around the world are changing automotive preferences and determining new trends.

While electric cars stand out as a more environmentally friendly alternative in the fight against climate change, strong user demand in this area is leading automotive companies to allocate more space to electric vehicles in their production lines.

In parallel, while urban planning and infrastructure investments for electric vehicles are accelerating around the world, additional measures are being taken in some regions to reduce fossil fuel emissions.

In this context, according to the measures taken by the European Union (EU) Council in March 2023, EU countries approved the initiative to ban the sale of new cars with gasoline and diesel engines as of 2035. The EU Council announced that member countries approved the law that will impose strict carbon emission standards on cars and light commercial vehicles as of that year.

In Germany, cities such as Stuttgart and Hamburg banned older diesel vehicles from entering certain areas in 2019. Oslo also has restrictions on the use of diesel vehicles due to low-emission policies.

Meanwhile, Norway is set to become the first country to effectively ban petrol and diesel vehicles from the new car market. Christina Bu, Secretary General of the Norwegian EV Association (NEVA), which represents electric vehicle owners in the country, said she expects the country to achieve this goal.

In parallel with international developments, the Turkish automobile market is also experiencing changes.

The share of diesel cars fell to 31.7 percent as of January

According to information compiled by AA correspondent from the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK) and Automotive Distributors and Mobility Association (ODMD) data, the share of diesel-powered cars in the total automobile fleet has been decreasing continuously in the last four years, dropping to 31.7 percent as of January.

While there were 13.7 million cars registered in 2021, 5.2 million of them were diesel cars. During this period, the share of diesel cars in total cars decreased to 37.6 percent. In 2020, this rate was recorded as 38.3 percent.

In the following years, this ratio continued to decline. In 2022, the share of diesel cars in the total decreased to 36.9 percent, in 2023 to 35.6 percent, and in 2024 to 34.1 percent. Last year, the number of cars registered to traffic reached 16.2 million, while the number of diesel-powered vehicles was recorded as 5.5 million.

As of last month, the number of registered cars was 16.3 million, while diesel cars accounted for 5.6 million with a share of 31.7 percent.

Thus, the share of diesel cars in the registered cars in 2021, which was 37.6 percent, decreased to 31.7 percent as of January.

Sales dropped by 60 percent

On the other hand, according to ODMD data, there was a significant decrease in zero diesel car sales, with sales figures falling below 100 thousand.

While 240 thousand 819 diesel cars were sold in 2020, this number dropped to 95 thousand 985 in 2024. Thus, a 60 percent decrease was recorded in diesel car sales in the said period.

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