2009 Euro petrol sales gaining market share is due to market conditions. People had less money and purchased cheaper smaller cars. In general smaller cars are petrol/gas engine equipped, because thats what the market dictates, and the larger cars are purchased with diesel engines.
I predict in the next 10 years EU market will move to higher sales of petrol, one of the reasons the cost to develop petrol engines to meet these new co2 requirements will be lower then the costs to develop the diesel engines.
At least that is what the car manufacturers are saying at this time.
Also manufacturers must find ways to reduce weight, and it is much easier to find ways to shave weight from a petrol engine then a diesel engine. Midsize and larger car sales dropped significantly in 2009, whereas super-mini A-class and mini B-class car sales increased big time.
The other issue is that diesel price per litre is almost on par with petrol in most EU countries, whereas in UK diesel is higher then petrol, hence the reason why diesel has not been as popular as the petrol engine cars in the UK
BTW, regarding the fines levied @ the manufacturers for not meeting co2 regs are
Manufacturers will face major fines if they miss these targets.
These fines are based on the excess emission premium multiplied by the volume of
registrations.
The premium will be €1 for the first gram over target,
€10 for the second gram,
€25 for the third gram and
€95 for four grams and above.
From 2019 the premium will be €95 for every gram missed.
So, for example, in 2012 a manufacturer missing the target by 1g and
selling one million cars will face a €1 million fine.
