Our Motoring Editor, Donal Byrne, guides you through concerns about the future of diesel, alternatives, second -hand values and your choices for the year ahead. This motoring year is going to be about the future of diesel, car buyers increasingly opting for petrol, falling second-hand car prices, alternative fuel types, small crossover cars, Brexit and, ultimately, confusion about any or all of these. 31 per cent in 2017) and that alternative fuel options will increase by two per cent - from 4 per cent this year to six per cent.

However, he also predicted that by 2021 diesel will account for only 25 per cent of sales, petrol for 55 per cent and electric and others, such as hybrid, will increase to 30 per cent. Add into the mix the predictions of others in the Irish car industry and Toyota's "Diesel is Dead" campaign and the picture for diesel in the longer term is not a pretty one. However, there is no need for immediate panic if you already own a diesel.

As Ireland and other European countries move away from diesel there are many millions of voters who drive diesel whose concerns have to be taken into account and can't really be left with worthless cars overnight. My own view is that this is going to take a number of years to sort out and, while diesel loses popularity, your second-hand or trade-in value should be carefully considered if you are thinking of buying a new car.

Do bear in mind though that people in the UK are ditching older diesel cars by the new time and many of them are being imported into Ireland at bargain prices, thus driving down the value of Irish second-hands. Looking up a value for your second-hand diesel on a second-hand website is not going to give you a realistic value given the current state of the second-hand market. I think this is going to be a very rocky year for second-hand prices and trade-in values.

Leasing companies, for example, are lowering their values on diesels much more so than previously expected. Diesel is still an option for higher mileage drivers as - for the moment - companies and professionals get a VAT rebate on diesel. This may not last too much longer though as further changes in motoring taxes are planned for this year's budget.

So there is much to weigh up when considering whether to stick with diesel. Electric vehicles will grow in numbers on our roads, but so too must the availability of accessible charging points. There are currently too few to properly incentivise people and more has to be done to introduce more feasible charging for those who don't have gardens or driveways to charge electric cars.

I recently drove a Nissan Leaf with the lower battery capacity and found it an ideal car to drive as long as you are careful to avoid any range anxiety and ensure the battery is topped up. It's a learning curve and I got through a couple of weeks with the Leaf without drama.

Longer journeys will need more careful planning, however. Ford's MD in Ireland, Ciaran Mc Mahon, recently told RTE Motors that a transition to electric will be a ten-year process in terms of replacing cars on our roads. So the future is not quite here yet. In the meantime, think long and hard before making choices this year and keep second-hand values uppermost in your mind during what is going to be a turbulent and changing time in the car industry.

That turbulence and change will lead to even stiffer competition among car distributors to attract new customers. Once the initial January sales peak passes, dealers will be looking at ever more inventive ways to get people into their showrooms. Toyota's campaign to buy a hybrid and hand it back if you're not happy with it and Nissan's "two new cars for one" initiative are just two examples.



So what is there to look out for and look forward to in 2018, Perhaps the greatest change is in the small to medium sized car market. Virtually every manufacturer now has a what it calls a small SUV or a "compact crossover" - cars that essentially mimic the look of a bigger SUV but are really just the new shape of small family cars.