With all the talk today about fuel efficiency and reducingemissions, you would think that more diesel powered cars would be available forpurchase in the United States. Along with O2 Sensors, Air Fuel Ratio Sensors, and newultra-low sulfur diesel fuel, new diesel cars are not only very clean but getexcellent gas mileage. So why don’t wesee more of them?
Diesel powered cars are popular around the globe, especiallyin Europe where diesel gas is often less expensive. There are many European carmakers that produce diesel cars for their European markets, but they seldommake it to U.S. shores. This is mostly due to automakers reluctance to bringdiesel cars to the U.S. because of low demand.
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| 2012 VW Passat |
Diesel cars do not have the best reputation in America. Twentyyears ago (or more), diesels were noisy, clunky, and produced a thick cloud ofsmoke whenever you pressed down on the gas pedal. They also rarely passedemissions testing, especially in ultra-strict California. Today’s diesels areworlds apart from their ancestors, but the poor qualities associated with thempersist in public minds.
In addition to already poor attitudes toward diesels, thegreat qualities of new generation diesels are often overlooked. Despite gettingsimilar gas mileage and often better emissions than hybrid vehicles, it’susually the hybrid sector that gets the most press for being green. This is in spite of the fact that thebatteries used in hybrid vehicles are full of toxic and carcinogenic materialsthat are downright hazardous to obtain. Chalk it up to good marketing on behalfof the hybrid car industry, and a lack of marketing dollars spent on pimpingdiesel cars as the new ultra-green hybrid alternative.
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| 2012 Audi Q7 TDI |
The last major obstacle in an increased demand for dieselcars here is the heavier tax levied on diesel fuel. Typically the price ofgasoline is about 18% federal and state taxes – with diesel fuel it’s about25%. This is due to outdated tax code and results in higher prices for dieselfuel at the pump: although owners may get much better gas mileage, they arestill paying more per gallon. This can offset thebenefit of fuel efficiency to the consumer.
With gas prices soaring, public attitudes are beginning tocome around. In 2012 VW released the Passat, Jetta, and Golf TDI, BMW releasedboth 3 Series diesels and the X5 XDrive 35d, and Audi released the A3 TDI andQ7 TDI. If this trend continues we mayget a decent selection of diesel engines available in the U.S., and if we’relucky, new legislation to make taxes on diesel vs gasoline more fair. Withgreater awareness of the benefits plus some serious marketing push byautomakers, more diesel-powered cars can definitely be in our future.
