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Passat diesel sales were at 20 percent in March

Volkswagen announced that its diesel models accounted for 23 percent of its first quarter sales in the United States.

According to Jonathan Browning, CEO of VW Group of America, the company was surprised to see that Passat diesel sales were at 20 percent in March, which was more than previously expected.


VW Passat TDI

Diesel is certainly making its way to the U.S. in larger numbers. For example, Porsche announced its first diesel vehicle for the U.S. earlier this month, which is the 2013 Cayenne Diesel.

Also, Mazda plans to bring a diesel engine to the United States by 2014. The Skyactiv-D diesel engine will be in the CX-5 crossover and maybe the Mazda6.

In other VW news, Browning is looking to bring the Scirocco coupe back to the U.S. The car was last sold in the U.S. in 1988, and the current model was released in Europe in 2008. A new model is due out in 2013, and Browning hopes it'll make a comeback to the U.S. for VW lovers.

VW also recently announced that an electric Golf would be coming to the U.S. and Europe in 2013. This is its first entry into the electric market.

Source: Automotive News


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Diesel to the people
By Church of Dirac on 4/10/2012 11:56:24 AM , Rating: 2
The VW TDIs are great, lots of torque in a small car and they really fly with a good tune. I hope they keep selling manuals in the USA. My sis has a 2010 Golf TDI. Kind of sad to see the new ones getting choked by all that emissions stuff. Removing the DPF and tuning has shown to increase fuel economy by ~10MPG and get you an extra 40hp.




RE: Diesel to the people
By tastyratz on 4/10/2012 12:16:27 PM , Rating: 2
I agree on vw having a good corner on diesel,
I would expect vw out of all of the companies right now to have the highest diesel sales relative to total sales. It can be a big driving reason to buy a vw.
I personally do not like vw's, but I would almost consider one for their diesels.


RE: Diesel to the people
By heffeque on 4/10/2012 1:12:15 PM , Rating: 2
In Spain diesel engines amount more than 70% of the cars sold. It's been like that for quite a few years now.

I can see most people in the States frown wen I tell them that there are actually quite a few successful diesel sports cars. They can't understand how "diesel" and "sports cars" can actually be in the same sentence.

Diesel engines sold in Europe are a bit better than the ones sold in the States. I'm guessing this will change once they realize that people are starting to willingly buy good diesel engines in the US.


RE: Diesel to the people
By StanO360 on 4/10/2012 1:53:41 PM , Rating: 2
At what point is the price of diesel going to skyrocket? Diesel is more expensive than gas in the US (probably due to it's widespread use in semi-trucks and trains). And rarely does the added cost work out financially. But, it will probably never be like Spain here as new gas cars are getting so close in MPG to diesel.

But VW is only charging a $2k premium for diesel for a 9MPG increase, that's clearly why they are selling well, versus the $5-6k it used to be.


RE: Diesel to the people
By abscode on 4/10/2012 2:43:03 PM , Rating: 2
It is more expensive in part to a federal excise tax on undyed/clear diesel, which IIRC is 5 cents more than gasoline. Offroad, or red, diesel is not taxed.

Makes sense that it is taxed more if you consider the tax is intended for building and maintaining federal highways and semis put more wear and tear on then roads.


RE: Diesel to the people
By fic2 on 4/10/2012 5:11:42 PM , Rating: 2
Here in Denver the diesel/regular price is getting very close. A station that I pass by everyday has regular at $3.79 and diesel at $3.89.

Diesel has more tax collected on it which is why it is usually more expensive.
From watching on one of the DIY programs it seems pretty easy to make your on bio-diesel but I am not sure I would want to use home made diesel in a brand new $20k+ car. I don't know if it voids the warranty, but I could certainly understand if it did.


RE: Diesel to the people
By superstition on 4/11/2012 12:17:29 AM , Rating: 2
In Ohio this winter it was above $1.00 extra per gallon. Right now, RUG is $3.65 and diesel is $4.20.


RE: Diesel to the people
By tastyratz on 4/12/2012 4:05:14 PM , Rating: 2
Diesel in new england from what I have seen usually averages about 10-15 cents more than premium, per gallon.


RE: Diesel to the people
By Church of Dirac on 4/10/2012 4:54:15 PM , Rating: 2
BMW 640d FTW! 0-100KPH (62MPH) in 5.2s and 41.2MPG!!!
http://www.motorauthority.com/news/1073392_forbidd...

Now just make a 340d with manual trans and we'd have a real winner.


RE: Diesel to the people
By Jaaap on 4/13/2012 7:47:57 PM , Rating: 2
How about the BMW M550d?

It has 381hp and 546ftlb.
From a 3-liter tri-turbo inline 6.
Nice.


RE: Diesel to the people
By carniver on 4/10/2012 1:16:29 PM , Rating: 2
> Kind of sad to see the new ones getting choked by all that emissions stuff

I'd be more sad to see children getting choked by asthma, which is developed after breathing in all the diesel particulates.

http://www.euractiv.com/specialreport-air-quality/...

Europe is going to pay a hefty price for embracing diesel. I wish most Americans aren't so short-signted to buy into the "clean" diesel lie - TDI is nowhere clean, at a mere Tier 2 Bin 5 rating.


RE: Diesel to the people
By FaaR on 4/10/2012 1:24:13 PM , Rating: 2
The particle filter is there to not give quite so many people cancer quite so soon after breathing in the diesel exhaust fumes.

Don't be a selfish dick by removing it.


RE: Diesel to the people
By Church of Dirac on 4/10/2012 5:21:19 PM , Rating: 2
Sorry, I worded that poorly. I'm not advocating for increased pollution. Both of my vehicles have functional catalytic converters and are well tuned. What I was getting at was that all the add-on diesel emission control stuff is causing issues. First was reduced power and increased fuel consumption, since the DPF literally blocks the exhaust (what's really happening is that the engine uses some of the energy produced to force the gas out during the exhaust stroke against the increased back pressure, just like blocking the output of a pump, the pump has to work harder to maintain the same flow, using more energy). Burning 20% more fuel to do the same work, that means 20% more carbon emissions, 20% higher fuel prices, and 20% more profit for totalitarian regimes.
Second, these are adding significantly to the purchase price of the new car, keeping older cars on the road longer.
Third, it's adding more points of failure. DPFs are notorious for clogging up further damaging efficiency or worse, catching fire.
There's got to be a better way.


It's about time
By Beenthere on 4/10/2012 1:20:18 PM , Rating: 2
VW restricted Diesel imports in the past to drive prices up but at least now they are available in a number of models. I doubt the U.S. will ever adopt Diesels in the volumes that they should - like the rest of the world has, but at least a few people are smart enough to use energy more efficiently.




RE: It's about time
By StanO360 on 4/10/2012 1:55:46 PM , Rating: 2
Nonsense, the price points have been so high, and diesel costs about 5% more than gas. If the price points come down for diesel, people will buy them, but then the price of the fuel will go even higher!


Scirocco
By Flunk on 4/10/2012 11:33:56 AM , Rating: 2
Please let VW bring back the Scirocco, I'm sick of watching episodes of the UK version of Top Gear and wondering why they don't sell it here.




Congrats VW...
By EddyKilowatt on 4/10/2012 9:34:32 PM , Rating: 2
... and now will you please bring over the 1.3 TDI Polo that gets 70 mpg?




By superstition on 4/11/2012 12:15:29 AM , Rating: 2
Bosch and the Engine Manufacturer's Association (EMA) in general (of which VW and Bosch are a part) have said, and not just recently either, that the US fuel wear scar spec is incompatible with the pumps being used in these TDIs.

The maximum wear scar is supposed to be 460 or less but in the US it's significantly higher at 520 microns:

quote:
It is essential that the lubricity of the fuel as measured by the HFRR test specified in ISO 12156-1 meets the requirement of a wear scar diameter not greater than 460 microns. In addition, it is recommended by the Diesel FIE manufacturers, that “first fill” of the fuel tank should be with fuel with good lubricity characteristics (HFRR < 400 µm) in order to guarantee good “run-in” of the injection system components. The US diesel specification (ASTM D 975-09) includes a lubricity value of 520 µm maximum (according to ASTM D 6079). It is expected that the useful operating lifetime of any mechanical component will be adversely affected by fuel with a lubricity exceeding 460 microns.


Some data I've seen has shown a dramatic decrease in fuel pump longevity with 520 micron wear scar fuel.

And, there's the bonus of having a total fuel system failure, not just a fuel pump failure, because when the fuel pump blows, it sends metal shards through the rest of the fuel system, necessitating a full replacement.

I find it fascinating how, despite growing evidence of this problem due to increased adoption of TDIs, that the problem is so ignored by the media.

The problem could be easily solved by mandating the addition of something like 1% biodiesel to diesel fuel sold for cars. Data has shown that just that much improves lubricity to less than 460 microns.

Also, I'm surprised this article didn't note the Cruze diesel which is expected soon. I wonder if the fuel spec will be taken care of once it becomes an issue for Chevrolet.




By stevemcd on 4/11/2012 1:23:15 AM , Rating: 2
Designed as a joint venture with Peugeot Citroen. They them at several locations inc. Dagenham to the east of London. The newest 2.2litre diesel dives 200bhp, 450nM of torque which gives a top speed of 137mph. All that torque makes them easy to drive quickly. For a sales rep like me who does loads of miles on the motorway, a diesel is far more efficient than a hybrid. Hybrids come into their own inb the stop start of cities.

Hi tech diesels are expensive to build. The common rail holds a reservoir of fuel at 30,000 psi!

I read somewhere that the quality of US diesel is not the same as European diesel, so the engines can't be as highly tuned for the US market.




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