Green fears could kill off diesels, says top car firm

DIESEL cars could disappear from Britain’s roads because they are not green enough, a major motor manufacturer has predicted.

Renault is understood to be planning to stop offering the engines in most of its cars sold in Europe.

Bosses at the car giant – part-owned by the French government – are said to be worried that it has become too expensive to build diesel engines that comply with stricter emissions regulations.

The move will alarm millions of owners in the UK who were encouraged by Tony Blair’s Labour government to buy diesel cars in the belief they were better for the environment.

Brussels has also used tax perks to favour diesel over petrol since the 1990s.

Almost seven in ten cars that Renault sells in the UK are diesel. If the French company abandons the fuel then other manufacturers are likely to follow.

It prompted one motoring campaigner to complain that diesel drivers have become ‘social pariahs’ while a Tory MP said millions of owners who thought they were saving money and the environment had been misled.

‘Not economic to manufacture’

Renault’s move follows the VW diesel emissions scandal, when the German car maker was caught using software to cheat Us pollution tests.

The firm – which has set aside more than £14billion to pay for the scandal – said more than 11million VWs, Audis, Porsches and seats around the world are affected. They include 1.1million in the UK, just 100,000 of which have been recalled so far to have the software disabled.

Renault has been forced to recall 15,000 vehicles but denies it used a similar ‘cheat’ device to VW.

The emissions scandal highlighted how diesel cars are often worse for the environment than claimed and led motoring experts to warn that their days could be numbered.

Renault bosses are thought privately to agree. senior executive Thierry Bollore is said to have told colleagues in July that tougher emissions standards and testing methods will make diesel engines uneconomic. He reportedly said they had been removed from Renault’s smallest models, including the Twingo, even before the emissions scandal.

Executives suggested there would be no further big investments in diesel engines for big- ger cars by the end of the decade when even tougher emissions rules come into force.

The demand from regulators for ‘super clean’ diesel engines means it will be economic to fit them only to its most expensive models. Renault, which sold some 70,000 diesel cars in the UK last year, declined to comment last night,

Motoring campaigners are worried the Treasury is now considering a tax hike on diesel fuel.

Will Quince, Tory member of the Commons transport committee said: ‘Once again we’re seeing evidence that diesel drivers were misled into believing that they were acting in the best interests not just of their own wallets but also the environment. I would like to see the Government take steps to ensure that diesel drivers are not adversely affected.’

Campaign group Fair Fuel UK called for incentive schemes to encourage diesel drivers to switch to lower emission cars.