BOULDER, CO – Rising fuel prices and stronger fuel economy regulations will stimulate increasing demand for clean diesel vehicles in markets around the world, and the cleantech market intelligence firm forecasts that sales of these vehicles will increase from 9.1 million in 2012 to 12.1 million annually by 2018, with clean diesels representing 12.4 percent of all light-duty vehicle (LDV) sales by the end of that period, according to a new report from Pike Research.

 “Demand for diesel cars is primarily driven by their fuel economy,” said Senior Analyst Lisa Jerram. “A diesel vehicle typically gets 20-40 percent better fuel economy than a comparable gasoline car. This factor, along with favorable tax treatment for diesel fuel, has made diesel cars tremendously popular in Europe, where they have accounted for around 50 percent of LDV sales over the past several years. Due to Europe’s very high fuel prices, the price premium of a diesel car can be paid off quickly.”

Jerram added that other markets that have not traditionally been strong diesel markets are beginning to open up now. Pike Research anticipates that the growth of diesel LDVs will be especially strong in North America during the coming years, with annual sales volumes expected to increase from 282,000 vehicles in 2012 to 928,000 by 2018. Due to emissions regulations in the United States and Canada, all of these diesel vehicles will be clean diesels.

Pike Research’s analysis indicates that many countries with strong diesel car markets do not yet have such emissions regulations in place, and therefore in the long term, tremendous upside potential exists for growth in the clean diesel market as additional regulatory measures are implemented around the world.

Pike Research’s report, “Clean Diesel Vehicles”, analyzes the global market potential for clean diesel light-duty vehicles, as well as the medium- and heavy-duty segments, from 2012 through 2018. A free executive summary of the report is available for download on the firm’s website.