With the debut of the Volkswagen Jetta TDI in 2008 and subsequent releases from Mercedes, BMW and Audi, diesel's fortunes in the United States are beginning to change.
Last week Volkswagen lit up the Frankfurt Motor Sshow with a series of six advanced-tech Up! pre-production and concept models.
The Up! microcar is meant to be frugal and small, but no one said it has to be boring or uninspired.
Following are briefs on the production cars, plus a couple of way-out models we can only hope VW will change up its plans and decide to build.
Mark your calendars Volkswagen mini-car fans.
It has just been learned that the much-anticipated Volkswagen Up! 3- and 5-door city car will have its world premiere in Paris on August 22.
After the world debut, the Up! – which will ultimately be available with either electric or small displacement gas or diesel engines – will be transported to West Germany for the Frankfurt auto show in September.
As the latest addition to its “fleet study in electric mobility,” Volkswagen has revealed its Golf Twin Drive plug-in station wagon prototype ahead of production schedule. The fleet mobility study is intended to run until July 2012 and 20 Twin Drive prototypes in various configurations will be put into real world testing in anticipation of a 2013 retail launch.
All-electric range for the prototype is said to be about 35 miles, and the car is essentially an updated version of a Twin Drive hatchback VW unveiled in 2008.
Gasoline-power motivation comes from a direct-injected 1.4 liter providing a respectable 114 horsepower (85 kW). When the gasoline engine is working in tandem with the electric traction motor, power output is a combined 161 horsepower.
Hybrid cars usually outsell clean diesel vehicles by about three times. But the disruption in supply of hybrids and related components (due to Japan's earthquake in March) has apparently pushed efficient diesels higher on the shopping list of buyers wanting more miles per gallon. "American's have never had so many vehicle fuel and technology choices, ranging from a growing number of hybrid gasoline vehicles to new plug-in electric hybrid vehicles, in addition to clean diesel and conventional gasoline vehicles,” said Allen Schaeffer, executive director of the Diesel Technology Forum. “In this competitive technology field, it is encouraging that more Americans are choosing clean diesel cars than ever before.”
Porsche is not yet fully a part of the Volkswagen family, but the connections run deep—especially when it comes to their midsize SUVs: the Porsche Cayenne and VW Touareg. The vehicles share a common powertrain, but there are key differences in terms of how the companies tackle the challenge of greater fuel efficiency (depending on the driving style and pocketbook of car buyers). Hybridcars.com had the chance to experience two hybrid versions, and one diesel, back-to-back at the last week’s Western Automotive Journalists' Media Day program in Monterey, Calif.
Last month, Volkswagen made waves by announcing that its ambitious One-Liter project would in fact lead to the release of a plug-in hybrid with 261-mpg fuel economy by 2013. VW had long maintained that the program would never produce a consumer vehicle but would instead act as a source of inspiration for cars that might yield fuel economy in the 100-mpg range. Now, according to a pair of recent reports by Autocar, two of those vehicles are headed to market: the first being the VW Up! Blue-e-motion hybrid; the other a future incarnation of the Golf scheduled for release in 2020.
The 2012 Jetta Hybrid will emphasize power instead of efficiency. That’s according to comments made by Michael Hinz, Jetta technical project manager, published today by UK’s Autocar website. “Are hybrids really fuel efficient? Not really, as you are adding more weight,” said Hinz. “Yes, we could do a power hybrid. We’re certainly not going to do both. You must decide to go with one or the other.”
Britain's Autocar.com is reporting that Volkswagen is planning a hybrid version of the Beetle. The site says it will have a “radical design,” that is a completely fresh, modern take on the classic “People’s Car.” It wouldn't be too difficult for VW to incorporate a hybrid system into the Beetle, because the car is fashioned from the new 2011 Jetta platform, which is definitely going hybrid. Regardless, it's a waiting game of at least a few years. That's too long for a group of University of Kansas students, who have taken matters into their own hands.
For years, Volkswagen has showcased a number of diesel-hybrid concept vehicles. That might give you the impression that VW dealers will soon have them in their showrooms. Apparently, that’s not going to happen. VW spokesperson that recently told Great Britain’s Autocar that “diesel hybrids still don’t make good business sense.” The spokesperson continued by saying, “The higher cost of clean diesel technology would make them even more expensive than petrol-electric cars. The markets where hybrids are most popular are also the ones where diesels are least popular.”
