There have been many Eureka moments for the electric car in recent years – but the 2016 Paris motor show just about topped the cake. Car-makers from all over the globe used the French outing to announce plans for new electric or highly-efficient hybrid models, along with numerous revolutionary concept cars devoid of traditional internal combustion. Not surprisingly, Volkswagen led the charge with its I.D. concept, a thinly veiled push away from diesel engines into the electric sphere, as the car-maker pushes for a million annual electric vehicle sales by 2025. However, electric motors are not yet the silver bullet for all adhering to tightening global emissions standards. That’s the opinion of Kia’s global powertrain guru Michael Winkler, who insists there is still much life in petrol and in particular diesel powertrains that are much cheaper to produce and offer more practicality than the growing suite of electric cars. Dr Winkler conceded manufacturers needed to stick with traditional powertrain technologies for the foreseeable future in order to comply with varying market demands. It means car-makers including Kia need to be judicious with how they divide their R&D spend. “It’s a difficult time yes, because you don’t know how the market will develop,” Winkler said. “You have to prepare for the different scenarios and that is of course a very challenging item. You know, of course, about the CO2 emissions targets in Europe – we have 95 grams target from 2020 and 75 grams target from 2025 so we have to find solutions but we don’t know what will be the customer acceptance.” Despite a continued spotlight on diesel engines in the wake of Volkswagen’s emission cheating scandal, along with cities such as Paris enforcing daytime bans on oil-burning passenger cars, Winkler said Kia was not shying away from diesel passenger cars anytime soon. “First of all, our customers today buy diesel,” he said. “Our volumes have not really changed for diesel and the diesel is very attractive for CO2, so if you are talking about replacing the diesel you have to have a better alternative. “I think from a customer point of view diesel is still an attractive powertrain, especially if you think about 95 gram CO2 emissions targets. One major factor is changing the game is also the legislation, the taxation.” “Diesel is more of a European topic, whereas electric powertrains are more of a worldwide topic,” Winkler added. Kia’s willingness to appease diesel demand in Europe won’t directly translate to model line-ups in Australia, though, as shown with the upcoming Rio light-car. The new model is due for local showrooms from January, but will only initially be available with a 1.4-litre petrol engine. According to Kia Australia spokesman Kevin Hepworth, the decision to overlook a highly-efficient diesel option offering in Europe was simple. “There’s just not enough demand for a diesel option,” he said.
With petrol and diesel vehicles still cheaper to produce and more practical than electric and hydrogen-powered vehicles, manufacturers need to allocate their research and development investments carefully and continue to develop fossil-fuel powered vehicles for the foreseeable future.