Most powerful diesel cars

Diesel engines are energy efficient work horses, powering everything from small generators to large cargo ships.

Since 1980s, diesel engines have become common in European passenger cars and in some countries they even outnumber gasoline engine cars.

Diesel engines operate at lower RPM than gasoline engines and, therefore, produce less power than gasoline engines of comparable size.

Thanks to high pressure fuel injection and turbocharging, modern diesel engines are producing not only excellent low RPM power (torque), but also high peak power, giving up nothing in performance against gasoline cars.

Sources

All data sourced from manufacturer's official figures.

List authored by Christian Zelcs. Last updated on 03/13/2025, last addition - American LaFrance Type 12 Diesel.