The many new issues of diesel powered cars and its falling sales share in Europe continues, with sales down 22% in the first 5 months of 2018. Demand for petrol-powered models, meanwhile, rose 63%. Diesel powered car however is still dominant, however, with a 60% share.
A switch to petrol engine cars generally means increased fuel consumption. But cars in the midsize sector are now generally built on stretched versions of compact architectures, which are lighter and therefore can be made more economical. Sales of hybrid models in the midsize segment climbed 89% to reached 5% of total sales through May, as recorded by JATO.
Lighter and more efficient petrol engine cars are the answer and this is why Mazda SKYACTIV engine cars are doing well in Europe and also Malaysia.
Peugeot, for example, claims that building the 508 on PSA Group’s EMP2 platform has helped reduce weight by about 70 kg compared with the previous-generation car. Meanwhile, VW’s Passatis built on VW’s MQB architecture, shared with the Golf, while Toyota’s Camry uses the company’s global TNGA platform, shared with the new Yaris compact hatch.
