BMW Ditches Diesels for 2019

Despite some people being optimistic about passenger vehicles using diesel engines in North America, BMW has dealt a major blow to the movement. The German automaker has decided to pull all its diesel models from this market for 2019, with no indication they’ll ever return.

Of course, BMW was down to only three diesel offerings on this side of the pond: the 328d, 540d xDrive, and X5 35d. 2018 was the first model year for the 540d xDrive in this market, so that was an especially short run. If you want to grab the sedan with a monstrous 457 lb.-ft. of torque, you only have a short time before they’re all gone. Surely there will be plenty in the certified market within two to three years, but this is your only chance to get one brand spanking new.

According to a report from Autoblog, BMW will turn its attention to plug-in hybrids instead of diesels for North America. The reason cited by a BMW spokesperson was that diesel sales here have suffered big time, meanwhile the brand has seen explosive growth for plug-in hybrid sales.

Quite a few electrified Bimmers are coming in the near future. BMW already announced a new plug-in hybrid version of the X5 for 2021, which will offer a paltry 40 miles of electric-only range. That’s sadly more than double what the current one can manage. Even bigger will be the iNext, which BMW has been teasing ahead of its reveal.