Fiat to kill off diesels by 2022

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles plans to sever its ties with diesel passenger cars from 2022, according to the Financial Times.

Citing FCA's confidential next five-year plan, due to be released in June, the newspaper reported the ending of diesel production was in response to plummeting diesel passenger car sales in Europe.

It would mean the European branch of the operation would rip the diesels out of the engines bays of Fiats, Maseratis, Alfa Romeos and, if it's still alive by then, Lancia.

The irony is that Fiat is the brand that did more than any other to popularise diesel power in passenger cars, and was the first to combine the common-rail fuel injection system with an engine control unit, which it sold to Robert Bosch cheaply.

The first car to use the system was the 1997 Alfa Romeo 156 2.4 JTD, and it rolled out on the Mercedes-Benz W202 the same year.

As a share of the European car market, diesel has fallen from 51 per cent penetration in 2015 to less than 40 per cent today, though the standout recalcitrant holdout is...

... Italy, with more than 55 per cent diesel penetration, which makes FCA's decision even more confusing. Also, FCA was the only car-maker in Europe's top 25 to increase its diesel share in 2017.

Italy is the only major western European economy to see diesel penetration grow in the face of the Dieselgate backlash. France, Germany, Spain and the UK all clocked declines of at least 10 per cent, with German and French diesel share now hovering around 35 per cent.

According to the AID newsletter, FCA's share of European diesel sales was just seven per cent last year, though it accounted for 24 per cent of Italian diesel passenger cars.

Though FCA refused to return calls questioning the story, it's widely thought that FCA is the least prepared of all Europe's car-makers for a world without diesel.

It is the least advanced on battery-electric vehicles, has little traction with plug-in hybrids and isn't considered advanced on autonomous cars or alternative fuels (except for natural gas, which is relatively popular in Italy).

The FCA reports come on the back of (incorrect) reporting that Porsche was ditching diesel power, plus Germany's Supreme Court delaying a decision to ban pre-Euro 6 diesel-powered cars and trucks from some city centres in response to incredibly high airborne NOx levels.

While it doesn't sell any diesel-powered cars in North America, its trucks and off-roaders like the Jeep Wrangler and its RAM pickups, will continue with diesel power.

That's despite the US Department of Justice pursuing FCA for alleged emissions cheating on the Grand Cherokee and the RAM pick-ups, which FCA has loudly denied.

It has also come under fire in Europe, with Germany's transport authority, the KBA, demanding EU action into what it alleged was a software default cheating device in the engine management system of the 500X.

It has diesel variants of all of its Alfa Romeo models, including the new Giulia and Stelvio models, all of its Fiat-branded models (other than the Abarth variants), Maserati's Ghibli, Quattroporte and Levante and the full range of Jeep models.