Diesel cars aren’t dead, in fact they’re even starting to make a comeback

When, as a cub reporter, I interviewed Maggie Thatcher I was labelled a young Thatcherite. As a Telegraph columnist, certain folk called me an extreme right-winger. Then, when motoring editor at the Daily Mirror, I was written off as a communist.

Since then, I’ve been referred to as everything from a petrol industry apologist/lobbyist to an electric-vehicle hater. Never mind that during the past decade, most of my cars of the year were EVs: Jaguar I-Pace, Kia EV6, Hyundai Ioniq 5, Volkswagen ID. Buzz, Renault 5 and Renault 4.

Truth is, I’m an EV fan. But this doesn’t prevent me from acknowledging their imperfections. That’s what I did two weeks ago when, via this column, I argued that new electric cars “normally” cost more to buy than equivalent ICE models; are “almost guaranteed” to have higher insurance premiums; and will “quite possibly” depreciate at a comparatively fast, financially painful rate.

A week later my colleague Tom Jervis wrote and published in Auto Express a detailed and fascinating article in which he asked one of the most important motoring questions of our times: Are EVs really cheaper? Tom’s ICE vs EV cost table focused solely on the cold, harsh numbers and confirmed that petrol cars, more often than not, work out cheapest during the buying, insuring and selling processes. On the other side of the ledger, he concluded that, in most cases, EVs cost less to service. And – assuming owners can regularly access cheap-rate home chargers and/or public charging units that aren’t of the rip-off variety – EVs are cheaper to recharge than petrol cars are to refuel.

In most cases, ICE cars boast lower overall pence per mile figures than their closest EV rivals. So if paying the lowest all-in motoring costs is your main goal when buying a new car, a petrol model is more likely to satisfy you and your wallet than an EV. If EVs generally become the all-things-considered most cost-effective products, I’ll tell you.

Until then, I’d urge you to consider all available power sources – diesel included. Contrary to what some scaremongerers would have you believe, this is a fuel that isn’t disappearing anytime soon. Stellantis, the world’s fourth-largest vehicle maker is currently proving the point, with its partial retreat from the EV scene in conjunction with plans to resurrect diesel variants of at least seven models across Europe.

So can we expect D badges on, say, workhorse Vauxhall Grandlands? The firm failed to reply with a yes. But it didn’t say no either. Yet what has been confirmed to me is that Stellantis is keen to promote its message of “freedom of choice” for buyers. Therefore, some models from some of its brands in some markets are set to have diesel powertrains. This could be a uniquely clever move.

But what do I know? I’m just that mouthy car bloke who hates EVs. But, believe me, I’m nothing of the sort.

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