In actual fact, this was another case of the politicians selectively ignoring the science to get the answers they wanted to hear. The fact that diesel exhaust is highly polluting has been known for years, but the switch to diesel allowed them to comply with internationally agreed targets for CO2 emissions. The consequence has been a huge deterioration in urban air quality. And then of course they rigged the emission standards to make diesel look better than it really is, by not requiring them to be tested in real world driving conditions.
The only good thing about diesel is the CO2 per mile, and that is debatable if lower cost simply undermines lower CO2 alternatives.
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