13 February 2018

Petrol and diesel have 'positive' future — poll

A Europe-wide poll commissioned by Mazda found that almost six in ten motorists believe the future for petrol and diesel engines remains 'positive', writes Brian Byrne.

The Mazda Driver Project research — commissioned together with Ipsos MORI — polled 11,008 people across key European markets and an average of 58% believe there is “a lot of innovation and improvement still to come with petrol and diesel engines”; the figure is as high as 65% in Poland and more than 60% in Germany, Spain and Sweden.

On average, 33% of drivers stated that if running costs were the same as an electric car they would 'prefer a petrol/diesel car' — in Italy as many as 54% expressed this opinion.

In another area, only a third of drivers 'welcome the advent of self-driving cars' with the number dropping as low as 25% in France and the Netherlands.