Counting what share of model offerings ran on diesel, year by year, back to the start of the EPA database.
| Period | Diesel share | |
|---|---|---|
| 1984–89 | 13.3% | 262 of 1,964 |
| 1990s | 2.7% | |
| Late 1990s | 1.9% | |
| 2015 (pre-scandal) | 2.8% | 36 of 1,281 |
| 2026 | 1.5% | 18 of 1,172 |
The peak was one in eight cars
13.3% in the mid-eighties. Diesel was mainstream — Oldsmobile, Cadillac, Mercedes, Volkswagen and Peugeot all sold diesel passenger cars in America, and the fuel crisis of the late seventies had made economy the deciding factor for a lot of buyers.
By the nineties it was 2.7%. The collapse was already complete before most people reading this had a licence.
What actually killed it the first time
Cheap petrol, mainly. Fuel prices fell through the eighties and the economy argument evaporated.
The other half was reputation. GM's 5.7-litre diesel V8, converted from a petrol block, failed spectacularly and in volume — head bolts, water in the fuel, injection pumps. It sold in large numbers and broke in large numbers, and it taught an entire generation of American buyers that diesel meant unreliable.
So what did Dieselgate actually do?
It ended a small recovery. Between roughly 2009 and 2015 European manufacturers pushed diesel back into the US market as a clean-and-efficient alternative, and the share climbed to 2.8%.
That's the number worth holding onto: at the height of the modern diesel push, one car in thirty-six. The scandal removed a niche, not a pillar. Diesel today at 1.5% is roughly where it sat in the late nineties.
Where diesel actually lives now
In trucks, and only there. Almost the entire remaining diesel share is heavy-duty pickups and commercial vans — and in that segment the premium is enormous: a diesel F-250 costs 61% more than the petrol version, and an F-350 costs 134% more.
Geographically it's just as concentrated: Montana runs 18.7% diesel against 1.4% in Washington DC. Where people tow, diesel survived. Where they commute, it didn't.
If you're buying a used diesel
High mileage means less than on petrol. A maintained diesel reaching 300,000 miles is unremarkable.
The emissions hardware is the expensive part. DPF, EGR and DEF systems fail expensively, and a diesel used for short urban trips — where filters never fully regenerate — is a worse buy than the same truck from a rural state.
Check for illegal deletes. Removed emissions equipment can make a vehicle unregisterable and costs thousands to reverse.
Confirm the engine from the VIN. A VIN check decodes what the truck was built with and lists open recalls — emissions campaigns on diesels are common and frequently left uncompleted.
Frequently asked questions
When was diesel most popular in America?
1984–89, when it made up 13.3% of model offerings — roughly one car in eight. By the 1990s it had fallen to 2.7% and it has never recovered.
Did Dieselgate kill diesel cars in the US?
It ended a small recovery rather than a mainstream segment. In 2015, the year before the scandal broke, diesel was 2.8% of model offerings — one car in thirty-six, and five times smaller than its 1984 peak.
What caused the original diesel collapse?
Cheap petrol removed the economy argument, and GM's 5.7-litre diesel V8 — converted from a petrol block — failed in large numbers, teaching a generation of American buyers that diesel meant unreliable.
Where does diesel survive in the US market?
In heavy-duty pickups and commercial vans, where the premium is large — a diesel F-250 costs 61% more than the petrol version. Geographically it's concentrated in towing states: Montana runs 18.7% diesel against 1.4% in Washington DC.
Denis Kataev is a serial solopreneur and the founder of ForCar. With 15+ years in software engineering and 10 years in SEO, he builds data-driven products end to end — backed by a sharp eye for design. At ForCar he mines proprietary vehicle datasets, turning raw numbers into buying advice you can actually trust.
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