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Porsche Drops Diesel Engines, to Focus on Hybrids and EVs

The decline in sales experienced by diesel-powered cars has pushed car makers to take drastic measures in the past year, several of them significantly reducing the number of such power plants in their lineup.
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Porsche, for instance, has not had diesel on offer since February 2018. This is a state of affairs that will be prolonged indefinitely, as Porsche officially announced on Sunday it has decided to completely give up on diesel engines, at least for the foreseeable future.

“Porsche is not demonising diesel. It is, and will remain, an important propulsion technology,” said in a statement Porsche CEO Oliver Blume.

“We as a sports car manufacturer, however, for whom diesel has always played a secondary role, have come to the conclusion that we would like our future to be diesel-free. Naturally we will continue to look after our existing diesel customers with the professionalism they expect.”

This secondary role diesel has played for Porsche has never been more visible than in the past year. In 2017, Porsche says the worldwide share of diesel-powered cars it sold was of only 12 percent, making any further investment in this tech useless at this time.

On the other hand, the majority of Panamera models sold (63 percent) were hybrids, making the carmaker confident this new technology is the way to go.

Porsche will be launching next year its first fully electric vehicle, the Taycan, opening a new front for the brand. And the Taycan is only the beginning.

Building on the experience it has with hybrids and will soon gain with EVs, Porsche's long term agenda is to have 50 percent of all new cars sold by 2025 electrified in some way or another.

Porsche did say however it will continue to further invest in the development of gasoline combustion engines as a means to offer “purist, emotional and powerful sports cars.”
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About the author: Daniel Patrascu
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Daniel loves writing (or so he claims), and he uses this skill to offer readers a "behind the scenes" look at the automotive industry. He also enjoys talking about space exploration and robots, because in his view the only way forward for humanity is away from this planet, in metal bodies.
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