Soaring demand for Volkswagen’s clean diesel Jetta Sportwagen TDI has left VW dealerships unable to keep up with demand. Waiting lists for the $24,000 vehicle—with MPG ratings of 30 city / 42 highway—are as long as 45 days in some Southern California dealerships. “We’re almost selling them off the trucks,” said Tom Wegehaupt, Volkswagen PR specialist, in an interview with HybridCars.com. “As soon as they’re on dealer lots, they’re gone.”
By the end of the 2009 Frankfurt Auto Show, Volkswagen will have unveiled as many as nine world premier vehicles. What’s the common denominator? “Maximum efficiency," according to VW. The coolest in the bunch is the L1, a two-seat hybrid concept that could get hundreds of miles per gallon, and the E-Up! all-electric minicar. With these concepts, VW is pointing to small innovative platforms, new levels of aerodynamic design, and electric or hybrid drive.
Chancellor Angela Merkel’s ruling coalition parties pledged this week to spend more than $700 million by 2011 on developing electric vehicles, as it tries to put 1 million electric vehicles on German roads by 2020. The preliminary plan, still short on details, is already meeting resistance for not going far enough.
Volkswagen has announced that its first production hybrid vehicle, the Touareg V6 TSI Hybrid, will hit the European market next year, and arrive in the US by the middle of 2011.
Just five years ago, only Toyota and Honda offered hybrid gas-electric vehicles—the Prius and Insight, respectively. Now, there are more than a dozen carmakers—including Audi, BMW, Mercedes, and Volkswagen—that offer, or have plans for, hybrids. Here’s a roundup of news just over the last few days about hybrids coming from the homeland of Rudolph Diesel.
Hybrid and electric cars stole the limelight at the opening of the 2009 Detroit Auto Show, running January 17 to 25. But don’t believe for a second that petroleum-powered cars are dead. German carmakers are continuing their push for clean diesel, another technology competing for green car buyers.
The brand-new VW Jetta TDI diesel took the Green Car of the Year award at the 2008 Los Angeles Auto Show. The Jetta TDI won based on its high fuel efficiency numbers—41 mpg on the highway and 30 in the city—and its price point of $21,900.
As more clean diesel vehicles begin to hit the market, consumers should be aware that diesel car manufacturers are taking different technology paths. The two main paths mean different responsibilities for car owners, although the goal is the same: to reduce emissions.
By most accounts, clean diesel is beginning to make its run into the automotive mainstream in the United States. So, we decided to take the 2009 Volkswagen Jetta TDI out for a test drive to judge for ourselves. “If any car is going to wake America up to the diesel movement, it’s this one,” Ben Davis, road test producer for PBS’s MotorWeek, told Hybridcars.com.
After more than three years of rumors, Volkswagen has acknowledged its consideration to bring a subcompact car to the US market in order to compete with other small car offerings, such as the Toyota Yaris and Honda Fit. Earlier this week, Stefan Jacoby, president of Volkswagen Group America told The Detroit News, “We could imagine having a car like the Polo in the United States."
