Porsche CEO: Latest Diesel Engine Generation May Be Our Last
The most recent generation of Porsche diesel engines may be the last one, going by comments recently made by company CEO Oliver Blume in an interview with Reuters.
In other words, the company may be backing away from further development of diesel vehicles … or maybe the comments are simply meant as a PR stunt. Who knows as of yet?
As a reminder here, Porsche is essentially just a division of VW … with all that that entails. So, the possible implications of the statement by Porsche CEO Oliver Blume are worth considering. We may have to wait a while to find out how serious Blume is, though.
As he stated, “Of course we are looking into this issue. We have not made a decision on it.”
Diesel models currently make up around 15% of Porsche’s global sales, so if there was to be a shift away from diesel, it would be significant.
Reuters provides more: “Blume said Porsche would offer a mix of combustion engines, plug-in hybrid vehicles and purely battery-powered cars over the next 10–15 years and would decide at the end of the decade whether diesel had a future at Porsche.
“German prosecutors last month started investigating Porsche staff to see whether they were involved in designing illicit engine-control software and regulators are examining whether the Cayenne was fitted with such a device. A redesign of the Cayenne will be launched in September and it will still offer a diesel version, Blume said, just like the Panamera saloon that hit dealerships last November.
“… Battery-only vehicles could account for a quarter of Porsche’s sales by 2025, give or take 5 to 10 percentage points, Blume said, contradicting a media report that said up to half of its output by 2023–24 could be electric.”
Notably, Blume also revealed that an electric version of the Macan SUV may be developed at some point in the coming years.
The CEO’s comments about future sales trends in Asia were interesting as well: “We expect the metropolises in China and Asia will switch to pure electric mobility very fast. I believe there will be few pure combustion engines to be seen in the large cities there in five years time. The development in rural areas will, however, proceed much more slowly.”
Related: BYD Turns On Warp Speed (China Electric Car Sales Report)
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