"The Olympus of diesels". The advertising of the beginning of the century was a song of hedonism to the gods who tottered inside the diesel engines, accompanied by the fiscal charioteers who still today guarantee the cheapest fuel. A few decades later, the market has turned upside down and the sale of this type of vehicle is starting to become residual. And since the factories are behind the registrations, Spain's car production plants have tackled their own conversion: the number of diesel passenger cars leaving the factories continues to dwindle, and companies take it for granted that the decline it is already irreversible.
In June, according to the latest production data from the manufacturers' association Anfac, 20,012 diesel-powered passenger cars were assembled in Spanish factories, 10.6% of the total. On the other hand, the gasoline ones were 125,154, 66%, while the electrified figure reached 25,056, that is, 23.8%. This group includes hybrids, which have an electric and gasoline engine. If the production of diesel cars falls at inter-annual rates of 45%, that of petrol rises by 5.1%, and that of electrified cars, by almost 24%.
These percentages are the result of the radical turn in factory activity in a few years. When it detected the trend, Anfac began to report it in September 2020, when gasoline already represented 66% of cars produced, a percentage similar to today, and diesel still equaled 26%. In less than three years, diesel cars have reduced their weight to less than half.
"The decline of diesel began with dieselgate. Before it was 60% in favor of diesel and 40% of petrol, but now it has changed radically", explains the president of the works committee of Seat, Matías Carnero. "With electrification, diesel has been penalized even more", and this has been "a challenge for Spain, which had previously specialized" in this type of vehicle.
Another factor that is wiping out diesel from Spanish factories has to do with the type of models manufactured. The country is characterized by producing small vehicles in its range, such as the Volkswagen Polo, Taigo and T-Cros, the Audi A1 or the Seat Ibiza and Arona. They are precisely those that, due to their size, have previously been left without a diesel version, explain sources in the sector.
The Stellantis plant in Vigo has stopped producing diesel versions of the passenger vans, which are now 100% electric, which is also a symptom of the new times. The last stronghold of diesel is precisely vans, trucks and industrial vehicles, in which diesel continues to be dominant. The transition in these vehicles, as Stellantis is doing, consists of going from diesel to electric without gasoline as an intermediate step.
Of the 38 models manufactured in Spain, 19 are already electrified and none are produced exclusively with a diesel engine. At Mercedes Vitoria, Stellantis Vigo and Renault Palencia there are already more models that were previously considered alternative than conventional, and at the Seat Martorell factory the bet on Cupra is electric, with no concessions on diesel.
At Anfac, they assume that sales of diesel passenger cars will fall even further, given the trend in Europe and the behavior of the market. "Since the beginning of the year, Spain has continued to lose its weight in the market", indicate sources from the association.
In the European Union, diesel cars still account for 13.4% of the market, despite their sharp decline. A year ago, its weight was 17%, according to data from the European association Acea.
"Diesel has been demonized and there is an interesting paradigm shift", says the general secretary of UGT at the Ford factory in Almussafes, Carlos Faubel. The problem, he says, is that the rapid disappearance of diesel is not accompanied by the same speed in electrification.
