Particulate emissions from diesel engines are a serious environmental problem in urban areas. Driven by tighter and tighter regulations, a continuous research and development activity is in progress focused on downstream applications (i.e. exhaust emission after treatment), especially for fuel efficient, lean-bum vehicles, either diesel or spark ignited. This contribution is focused on the development of a new soot combustion catalyst (i.e. the PrCrO3 perovskite on CeO2 prepared by combustion synthesis) and a catalytic wall-flow trap, as well as on pilot plant tests carried out on a diesel engine bench. A comparison with literature data concerning Pt/Al2O3-catalysed traps is outlined showing improved performance for the new catalyst formulation. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.