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Plug-in cars displace diesel | The time

The Belgian commercial vehicle driver is exchanging his diesel for a plug-in hybrid. Meanwhile, more than one in five new cars has a plug.

The free fall of diesel car sales continues unabated. While ten years ago more than 75 percent of all new cars were equipped with a diesel engine, it is now 24 percent. This is apparent from the analysis of the automotive sector federation Febiac after the first three quarters of this year.

While diesels were initially mainly exchanged for cars with a petrol engine after Dieselgate, buyers are now mainly switching to hybrids and fully electric cars. Compared to the pre-corona year 2019, diesel cars lost 7 percentage points of market share, plug-in cars gained 13 percentage points.

From new tax rules for company cars cast their shadows ahead. While the final texts of the reform plans of Minister of Finance Vincent Van Peteghem (CD&V) are expected by mid-November, the lease driver is already anticipating the upcoming measures.



The new car market is increasingly dominated by commercial vehicles.

These measures determine that by 2026 only new, fully electric cars will retain their favorable tax regime. Petrol, diesel and also hybrids then, normally, lose a large part of their advantages.

Although there is also strong growth in the sale of fully electric cars, most plug-in cars are still plug-in hybrids. The most popular models are the BMW X5, the Volvo XC40 and the Mercedes-Benz GLE, all of which are large SUVs.

Company cars

The new car market is increasingly dominated by commercial vehicles. In Flanders, almost two thirds (64%) of all new cars are company cars. The second-hand market is classically almost entirely in the hands of private buyers.




The professionalization of the new car market is also apparent from the best-selling models in Flanders. These are successively the Volvo XC40, the BMW 3 series and the BMW 1, all success numbers among commercial vehicles. The contrast with Wallonia, where private sales predominate, is great. The Citroën C3 and Dacia’s Duster and Sandero are the best-selling models there.

Order early

The company car market has not suffered from the corona crisis until now. Compared to the pre-corona year 2019, the number of company cars has even increased slightly from 1.25 million to 1.26 million cars. That is a quarter of all cars driving around in our country.

The leasing companies are becoming increasingly concerned about the long delivery times of new cars. They are the result of major chip shortages, making car factories to stay still at every turn. Delivery times of one to one and a half years are no longer an exception, says Koen Claesen, CEO of the Belgian division of the dealer group Van Mossel.

‘The order books at the lease companies are well filled for the coming months,’ says Frank Van Gool, director of the sector federation of lease companies Renta. ‘Due to the delivery problems, customers are being asked to place an order for a new car well before the end date of their current contract, so that they do not have to drive their existing car for too long.’

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