Popular Mechanics article weighs in on diesel
Posted By RichC on September 10, 2009
The conclusion many might make from a recent Popular Mechanic article is that diesel vehicles might be a good solution when fuel prices are high, but they don’t want to spend more for them when fuel prices are low.
According to JD Power’s Omotoso, hybrids are projected to become 9.5 percent of the passenger-car market by 2015 (up from 3 percent this year), yet diesels will grow to become just 3.5 percent of the car market here by 2015, up from less than 1 percent this year.
The criticism that I have is that even though more diesel vehicles are now available (Audi, BMW, Mercedes & VW), North America has mostly the wrong models — all but the Volkswagen Jetta and Sportwagen TDIs. How can the mainstream even consider a family sized ‘do all’ vehicle when the only ones available are 40, 50 and 60 thousand dollars? As the article points out, “except for the VW Jetta TDI and, to a lesser extent, the new Audi A3 TDI, the diesels we can get in the U.S. are expensive premium cars and SUVs. So even if more diesels are coming, when will we see the small, 50-mpg-and-better economy diesels that populate Europe? Don’t hold your breath.”
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