In the first half of this year, diesel vehicles made up a larger proportion of new cars sold in Czechia than in any other EU country. While in the rest of the EU, sales of diesel cars have been steeply declining over the past few years, in Czechia the proportion has steadfastly remained at around one-quarter since 2019.
Across the EU, the share of new cars sold so far this year that were diesel was only 14.52 percent, down from 44.4 percent in 2017. Meanwhile, in Czechia that proportion has remained relatively unchanged over the same period, declining slightly from 37.69 percent and hovering around 25 percent since 2019.
So why are diesel cars so comparatively popular in Czechia? Some car owners, like Oldřich Růžička, see clear advantages.
“With my old petrol cars, I always had problems with the spark plugs and cables. Since I’ve had a diesel car, that doesn’t happen and I wouldn’t want any other type of car. It has better acceleration and a bigger range.”
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Authors: Anna Fodor, Daniel Zach, Sources:Český rozhlas Plus, Centrum dopravního výzkumu