Number of diesel passenger cars nearly halved in five years

Gasoline by far the largest fuel category

That decline contrasts sharply with the growth of the total passenger car fleet. That rose from about 8.94 million to 9.62 million cars in the same period, an increase of 2.2 percent. Gasoline remains by far the largest fuel category, but there, too, there was a slight contraction. The number of gasoline cars dropped by about one percent since 2020.

Electrified powertrains

The real growth is in electrified powertrains. The number of hybrid passenger cars has more than tripled since 2020. Plug-in hybrids in particular are showing a strong increase, growing 43 percent from last year. Fully electric cars also continue to gain ground. By early 2025, the Netherlands will have more than 587,000 all-electric passenger cars, an increase of 27 percent year-on-year.

LPG, CNG and LNG also show declining trend

Other fuels play an increasingly minor role. LPG, CNG and LNG have shown a declining trend for years. Hydrogen remains a niche for the time being: the number of passenger cars with a fuel cell remains at just over 700 units. Biofuels show hardly any growth and remain marginal within the total fleet.

The figures underscore that the shift in the Dutch passenger car fleet is primarily driven by electrification, while diesel is rapidly losing significance.