It’s not been a good 12 months for diesel. There was the VW emissions scandal in the US, followed by accusations against other carmakers in Europe, and now cities are planning to penalise diesel drivers.
Westminster council authorities in London have landed the latest blow with plans to charge diesel owners extra for parking from April. However, diesel’s days are not yet numbered according to the head of Kia Motors UK.
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Speaking on the sidelines of the UK Rio media launch (it has a new 1.4-litre diesel engine along with its 2017 redesign) Paul Philpott said the industry was bracing itself for a slight downturn in diesel sales although “nothing dramatic”. In fact Kia UK’s sales of oil burners were up around 3% last year.
He believes much of the recent criticism is unfair.
“The modern diesel is a very different beast to that which was around 10 years and advances are being made all the time. However, there are challenges ahead particularly if we are to hit CO2 reduction targets in 2020.”
While Philpott believes diesel will be around for some time, Kia and other carmakers already have alternatives available besides petrol.
“Over the past year we have introduced the Soul EV, Nero hybrid and Optima plug-in so there are plenty of choices available.”
The new Rio B-segment ‘supermini’ model, along with the arrival in May of the redesigned Picanto, revitalises Kia’s small car offering. The next big arrival will be the completely new Stinger coupe revealed earlier this month at the Detroit show.
Based on the same platform as Hyundai’s rear wheel drive Genesis, the Stinger will be launched in the UK towards the end of the year with modest sales targets.
Philpott said: “We are realistically looking at somewhere around 1,000-2,000. It’s more about what the car can do for the brand as a halo product rather than selling in big numbers.”
See also: 2018 Stinger and other future Kia models
Analysis of Kia Motors and its parent company Hyundai Motor is available in just-auto‘s research database QUBE
