It wasn't that long ago the concept of a diesel-powered BMW passenger car for sale Down Under was about as alien as ET. But times they're a changing rapidly.
BMW's been dabbling in compression ignition in Australia with the X5 cross-over all-wheel drive wagon for some years. Nowadays, the 3.0d accounts for 60 per cent of all local X5 sales.
But that's just a tease really. In Europe, just like any other serious manufacturer, BMW offers a wide variety of turbodiesel engines. In Germany, they account for 42 per cent of all the marque's sales. While worldwide the figure slips to 25 per cent, it's still impressive considering the USA is a BMW diesel-free zone.
Europeans are big on diesel because it's long been supported by tax benefits and government fiscal inducements. In the UK for instance, company car taxes are linked to the emission of carbon dioxide (CO2), which is a greenhouse gas. Diesel engines actually produce less CO2 than the petrol engines so the rush to diesel by fleets has been dramatic.
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