The future for diesel-powered passenger cars is a little hazier now.
A week after Porsche announced it would stop offering diesels in its SUVs, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles will propose similar action in its small passenger cars, according to a report by the Financial Times. The report indicated that FCA will announce its plan to drop small diesels by 2022 in a June 1 midterm review for investors.
The report indicated that FCA is expected to keep diesel engines in its trucks and SUVs, including the 2019 Ram 1500 and Jeep Wrangler.
Skyrocketing costs to bring small diesel engines into compliance with tightening regulations in Europe contributed to the move, according to the report. Last year, FCA CEO Sergio Marchionne said that complying with stricter Euro 6 regulations would cost the company more than $530 million.
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Diesel's dwindling popularity in Europe may be to blame as well. In the U.K., sales of diesel-powered cars slumped 25 percent last month compared to a year ago, and diesel sales in Germany fell 13 percent last year, according to media reports.
Nearly half of FCA's car sales in Europe were of diesel models, the Financial Times reported. FCA owns the Alfa Romeo, Maserati, Jeep, Chrysler, Ram, Dodge, and Fiat brands. No U.S. cars have diesel engines.
FCA has tangled with U.S. federal regulators over its 3.0-liter turbodiesel engine in Ram trucks and Jeep SUVs. Regulators accused FCA of not disclosing emissions control devices in its Ram 1500 Ecodiesel and Jeep Grand Cherokee Ecodiesel models. Those models were recertified for sale in the U.S. last year, and Ram and Jeep have separately confirmed that diesel engines would return in its new pickup and Wrangler, respectively.
