Autovista Group Survey: What is the best solution for diesel when tackling European air pollution?

13 April 2018

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Germany has been the most active country in Europe in terms of safeguarding the diesel industry, holding a forum in August last year to come up with ideas on how to tackle the problem of growing air pollution in the country.

Ultimately, it was decided that vehicle manufacturers would implement a recall of 5.3 million vehicles to update their emissions software, a cheaper alternative for them than fitting new parts. However, a court ruling in favour of the country’s environmental body the DUH could see Stuttgart and Dusseldorf forced to ban diesel cars from their cities, with others set to follow.

It has therefore been suggested that manufacturers may need to issue hardware retrofits, including new exhaust components, on older diesels bringing down their pollution levels and helping them to beat any bans. This is not a popular idea, but could prove more effective than simply altering emission profiles electronically.

However, new diesel vehicles are cleaner than their older counterparts, offering reduced CO2 levels into the mix as well. Following the diesel summit in August, manufacturers also began a series of scrappage schemes aimed at getting old vehicles off roads and replacing them with more environmentally friendly alternatives.

Autovista Group wants to know which one measure you believe would be the biggest contributor to reducing air pollution levels across Europe. Would software or hardware retrofits solve the issue, or do cities across the continent need to ban the technology from their limits? Will levels drop if older cars are traded in for cleaner models?