Production of all diesel variants stopped for the time being: Porsche bans the diesel from the engine compartment

02/21/2018

Production of all diesel variants initially stopped Porsche banishes the diesel engine from the engine compartment

Porsche

Sunken in the diesel mire: Porsche has ceased production of the Macan S Diesel on 15 February 2018

The sports car manufacturer Porsche dares a very unusual for German car brands step: The Zuffenhausener say goodbye – for the time being – completely from the diesel engine. On February 15, the production of the Macan S diesel variant ended, as Porsche confirmed to manager-magazin.de.

The end for the last still produced Porsche diesel model came just before the decision of the Federal Administrative Court Leipzig possible driving bans for diesel in cities, The saloon Panamera can be ordered in Europe for a few weeks only as gasoline or plug-in hybrid.

The compression ignition engine for the large SUV Cayenne stopped Porsche already at the start of the third generation in the spring of 2017.

Thus Porsche offers Show stock market chart currently no diesel engines for its six series. However, that does not mean that Porsche get out of the diesel completely, said a spokesman on demand of manager-magazin.de. “A diesel variant is still planned for the new Cayenne, but the exact time of its market launch has not yet been determined,” says Porsche.

One notices a change in the culture of customers and a shift in demand towards gasoline and hybrid models, the sports car brand justifies the temporary exit of diesel. Already so far, the diesel engine at Porsche has traditionally played a minor role. According to Porsche, only 14 percent of all Porsche new cars worldwide are delivered with diesel. By contrast, Panamera buyers in Europe already order 60 percent of the plugin hybrids.

Porsche is struggling with Audi’s diesel engines

The numbers are intended to show that Porsche’s temporary departure from the diesel is easy. However, Porsche has so far only offered diesel engines in three of its six series. The diesel variants were not even offered in China and the United States.

In Europe, the most important market for diesel cars, Porsche’s share of new vehicle sales in the first half of 2017 was still 35 percent, according to Porsche, and 32 percent in Germany. As in 2017, only the Panamera and the Macan were offered in diesel variant throughout, but their share of diesel must have been quite high.

Porsche itself does not develop and build diesel engines, but can be supplied by the sister company Audi. And that’s where the problem lies – and probably one of the main drivers of Porsches quick exit in auto-ignition. For the Audi engines last caused serious problems at Porsche.

So the Zuffenhausen announced a end of January one recent recall of all Macan diesel at. The cars have to return to the workshop because of irregularities in the exhaust system in order to receive another software update there. The Kraftfahrt-Bundesamt KBA has reportedly found evidence of an illegal shutdown device, which made the engine’s nitrogen oxide levels significantly worse in everyday life than on the test bench.

KBA approval for software update is still missing

As early as 2016, Porsche had carried out a “voluntary service action” on the Macan and removed a controversial exhaust function with a software update. Last summer, Porsche also had to recall the big SUV Cayenne with a V6 diesel engine – also due to an inadmissible shutdown device. In the fall of last year, Porsche estimated the damage caused by the Audi engines to 200 million euros,

For the recent recall of the Macan, however, still missing an important step: So far, the KBA has not yet approved by Porsche proposed software update. It is with the authorities to “vote”, it says at Porsche. The fast production stop for the Macan S diesel has probably something to do with it. Because future Macan buyers now no longer need to send their new vehicles to the workshop for a software update after a few weeks or months.

According to earlier reports, the Macan diesel even threatened with a possible ban by the KBA because of the shutdown facilities. This embarrassment prevents Porsche with its new production planning now in the very safe way – by the Zuffenhausen simply no longer produce the diesel variant. In addition, Porsche CEO Oliver Blume is clearly pushing ahead with the switch to electric drives: as early as 2023 he wants the Electric share at Porsche at 50 percent boot.

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