Are diesel cars really the villains they are made out
to be?
With the demonisation of diesel continuing
apace, what started in 2015 as a self-inflicted debacle
for Volkswagen, opened the door for politicians on all sides
to declare diesel cars public enemy number one.
That leaves Bosch to lead the Save our Diesel campaign.
This huge, cash-rich firm has cachet and credibility, and
isn’t afraid to talk about its continued belief in diesel,
plus its valid concerns about pure-electric cars in the
real world. It also claims it has the know-how to reduce
diesels’ NOx emissions.
A breakthrough in the management
of diesel emissions has been announced in April 2018 by
Bosch – enabling diesel cars to undercut future limits for
nitrogen oxide (NOx) by almost 90 percent.
Announcing
the breakthrough at the company’s annual press conference,
Bosch’s chief executive, Dr Volkmar Denner, said: “There’s
a future for diesel. Today, we want to put a stop, once
and for all, to the debate about the demise of diesel technology.”
Denner said the company was “pushing the boundaries of what
is technically feasible.”
While the car Bosch used
to develop its new system was a VW Golf, the changes to
its engine were so significant the company refers to the
car as a ‘platform demonstrator’. Bosch’s head of powertrains,
Dr Rolf Bulander, told Auto Express: “We completely refurbished
this engine because we wanted to have a motor that is not
linked to a brand. This is not a VW motor, this is a generic
motor.”
Cars must currently emit no more than 168mg/km
(milligrams per kilometer) of NOx and, in 2020, that limit
will reduce to 120mg/km in real-world driving tests, and
80mg/km in lab assessments. But new technology developed
by Bosch allows a diesel VW Golf to emit just 13mg/km of
NOx in mixed driving conditions, measured using the latest
RDE paradigms.
Journalists were given the opportunity
to drive around Stuttgart in cars equipped with the new
system. The results captured from these demonstrations echoed
Bosch's own tests, despite the cars being driven in congested
city center traffic.
Denner said electric cars had
a fundamental role to play in future transport, but “until
electro mobility breaks through to the mass market, we will
still need these highly efficient combustion engines”.
He added: "It’s better to drive the right diesel
vehicle than the wrong electric car."
April 2018
Sales in a nutshell
We share the best used car sellers
(only IDA dealers on the Signio platform) VOLKSWAGEN
FORD TOYOTA BMW HYUNDAI
The top three used
commercial vehicle sales per manufacturer (bakkies) RANGER
2.2TDCi XL P/U D/C NP200 1.6 A/C P/U S/C UTILITY 1.4
A/C P/U S/C
Top 10 derivatives used car sales
POLO GP 1.2 TSI TRENDLINE (66KW) POLO GP 1.2 TSI
COMFORTLINE (66KW) POLO 1.4 COMFORTLINE 5DR POLO VIVO
GP 1.4 TRENDLINE 5DR POLO VIVO GP 1.4 CONCEPTLINE 5DR
FIGO 1.4 AMBIENTE COROLLA QUEST 1.6 COROLLA 1.6 PROFESSIONAL
FORTUNER 3.0D-4D R/B POLO VIVO 1.4 TRENDLINE 5Dr
The average age of used vehicles sold in April 2018
was 4.36 years.
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