Honda Motor announced it will phase out diesel cars from its European range by 2021, as the popularity of the fuel across the region continues to decline due to emissions concerns.
The Japanese carmaker will instead focus on developing more models with electrified powertrains, with a target of electrifying all of its European cars by 2025.
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The European Union will introduce stricter emissions standards on new cars at the beginning of next year, with maximum CO2 emissions set to fall to 95g/km from 120g/km at present.
Honda is struggling to stabilise its position in Europe, with regional sales having fallen by over 15% to 64,137 units in the first half of 2019 from 75,868 units a year earlier.
The company previously announced it would close its UK assembly plant in Swindon, UK, in 2021 with the loss of up to 3,500 jobs.
Honda will instead rely mainly on imports from Japan, where cars are mostly petrol petrol driven.
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By GlobalDataThe company also said it would cut the number of vehicle model variants globally to a third of current levels by 2025 which will reduce global production costs by 10% and allow it to redirect more resources into advanced research and development.
See also: Honda CEO sets out automaker's EV stall and global model rationalisation
No-deal Brexit would force new look at Japan's '40-year bet on UK'
