Proposal to Phase Out Diesel Cars in Budapest

The Clean Air Action Group would start to ban obsolete diesel cars from the capital as early as next year. The used car website Használtautó.hu looked at which cars could be affected by the proposal and how many of them are on the domestic market, including used car imports.

The Clean Air Action Group's proposal to phase out outdated diesel cars from Budapest from July 2022 was made this summer. First from the protected zones, then from the downtown area and finally from the entire capital. This will be done by limiting the use of diesel cars to Euro 5 or higher engines from 2024 and Euro 6 (or better) from 2026. It is proposed that cars registered by local residents until July 2022 would be temporarily exempted from the restriction.

As the Euro 5 emission standard for newly registered cars is required in the European Union from 2011, the proposed ban from 2024 would also affect diesel cars younger than 15 years of age. The proposed restriction from 2026 is even stricter: it would also ban diesel cars older than 11 years, as the Euro 6 is a standard in use from September 2015. "Although the ban on diesel cars in Budapest is still only a proposal, diesel car buyers in the capital should prepare for the possible regulation and choose their car accordingly," suggests Mátyás Katona, an expert at Használtautó.hu.

Almost 10% of the stock on the market-leading used car advertising site is already Euro 5 and Euro 6 rated. These are mainly younger cars with an average age of 4.2 years.