Audi confirms diesel is dead in the US
- Thread starter DanB36
- Start date
at one point before dieselgate, VW was selling more diesels than gas but Americans dont like diesels?
VeeDubTDI
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That's a poor answer. "Clean diesel" was on the uptick in the USA until people discovered that it wasn't actually clean. I'm not confident that "ultra clean diesel" would have been any better.
The problem is not that Americans are not culturally suited to driving diesels. The problem is that diesels can not be made clean enough for cheaply enough to occupy a large market share without running into excessive pollution problems. They can be made compliant, but the costs associated with doing so make them noncompetitive in the average passenger car market.
This is a global problem - look at the many European cities considering banning diesel (and even internal combustion engines entirely) due to continued smog problems as the population grows and more cars roam the roads.
MBQ
Veteran Member
It's sad.
Meanwhile, our TDIs could be worth a ton down the road.
Meanwhile, our TDIs could be worth a ton down the road.
aja8888
Top Post Dawg
msandhu413
Active member
VeeDubTDI
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Seriously? Selling non-compliant cars == being helpful? Rather than admit their mistakes, they spin it as if they were doing us a favor.
2015vwgolfdiesel
Top Post Dawg
mz1
Veteran Member
Terrible answer by Mertens, not even he believed his own words.
turbocharged798
Veteran Member
Get rid of EPA and diesels will come in by the loads again. EPA made them uneconomical.
2015vwgolfdiesel
Top Post Dawg
Get rid of EPA?
Find by me.
.... but the EPA got me the best car deal of my life
.... figure 'bout 5 years of free driving
tadawson
Veteran Member
If this is true, Audi is dead to me . . .
k1xv
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As George W Bush famously said,
"Fool me once, shame on you....fool me twice.......Won't get fooled again!!!"
In the meantime, i am enjoying my new to me 2013 BMW Xdrive X5 twin turbo diesel.
"Fool me once, shame on you....fool me twice.......Won't get fooled again!!!"
In the meantime, i am enjoying my new to me 2013 BMW Xdrive X5 twin turbo diesel.
Dangerous_Dan
Well-known member
Nobody who thinks about it for very long would want to get rid of automobile pollution controls. Not to say there aren't issues with the rules, but a wholesale abandonment would result in the kind of air quality you find in many less developed countries.
And while VWAG may be pulling out of the diesel market, a nice Jaguar XE can be had for about the same price as a Passat. And my first four months with the Jag tell me it is a much better car than my VW was.
And while VWAG may be pulling out of the diesel market, a nice Jaguar XE can be had for about the same price as a Passat. And my first four months with the Jag tell me it is a much better car than my VW was.
2015vwgolfdiesel
Top Post Dawg
Don't know anyone who advocates "good bye" all air quality good stuff.
However all humans take in the same earthly air. ahhh is china still opening 'bout one coal plant per week?
Then we have volcano and a few forest fires from time to time.
My fav story on diesels in the US was my best friend taking his 99 Jetta in for an oil change while in Fl for the winter. The guy came running out yelling shut the car off, the engine is going outta it,, He had never seen a diesel car.. With people driving jacked up trucks and huge suv's, they must cringe having to fill up daily.. I love telling people Its been weeks since I bought fuel,that I forgot which side the filler is on....
turbocharged798
Veteran Member
I would have no problem with a more realistic automotive pollution control. Problem is that the EPA is full of people who hate diesels and write laws just to push them off the road.
You can buy a 12MPG Ford Raptor but you cannot buy a 50MPG diesel car. Tell me how that makes sense?
FloridaJohn
Veteran Member
No. Earlier this year China announced that they were stopping construction of coal-fired power plants.
"The announcement, made by China’s National Energy Administration, cancels 103 projects that were planned or under construction, eliminating 120 gigawatts of future coal-fired capacity. That includes dozens of projects in 13 provinces, mostly in China’s coal-rich north and west, on which construction had already begun."
2015vwgolfdiesel
Top Post Dawg
Yep
China is not opening one coal plant per week
China is opening two coal plants per week.
http://energydesk.greenpeace.org/20...-coal-plants-despite-new-overcapacity-policy/
But at least it is not three per week
_______________________________
Rather like in Congress ~~ when an increase in spending of (say) 3 % is a cut in spending, compared to an increase in spending of (say) 4 %
It's weird that the reaction to this story here is once again to litigate how much to blame the EPA. The money quote OP posted is an Audi guy essentially blaming the consumer for not being "culturally" whatever enough to appreciate VW's amazing gift of the TDI that they selflessly bestowed. Which is BS in so many ways.
It almost makes me regret that I bought the Audi Q5 to replace my Treg. This kind of corporate blame passing, condescension, and flat out tone deafness has not changed since the whole mess was discovered. Sad!
It almost makes me regret that I bought the Audi Q5 to replace my Treg. This kind of corporate blame passing, condescension, and flat out tone deafness has not changed since the whole mess was discovered. Sad!
flee
Veteran Member
Which is due to many projects breaking ground,
not opened,
to get in under the wire before the more strict rules are put in place.
It always helps to read the whole article.
2015vwgolfdiesel
Top Post Dawg
In the article :
"that in the two months after the policy was introduced, new coal power plants projects started construction at a pace of two per week, with new projects started in ten different provinces.
Furthermore, six new ‘coal power base’ projects in Shaanxi and Inner Mongolia – with over 9,000MW of capacity – applied for environmental permits immediately after the policy was published, making May the busiest month of 2016 for new applications."
flee
Veteran Member
So you still didn't read the whole article, just cherry-picked the quotes you agree with IOW.
You started out saying they were 'opening' 2 new plants per week and now you say there are applications?
It is weird, but these are the times we live in.
For myself, when I want to kill a fly, I use a shotgun
...Mark
2015vwgolfdiesel
Top Post Dawg
Both 2 plants are being opened weekly (not applications)
and
Furthermore six new coal powered ...............
Both issues are in the article
flee
Veteran Member
As is
the fact
of the
rush to
build the
ones ok'd
prior to the
new regulations.
Not lost on me is the irony of you quoting Greenpeace to back your anti-EPA dialog.
Scongiundi
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It doesn't. And it makes me sad.
richyrich
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Americans by and large want "big" and "cheap" in their cars. Audis and VWs are traditionally neither and were never intended to be. When I moved from Europe in 2006, the trend was towards ever smaller cars, for VW that meant models like the Polo, 3L and the Up which make sense in any city. Those models have never ever been heard of over here because they'd only tick "cheap" box - not enough.
The right direction, if they want meaningful US sales, is the one they're taking - build big, cheap models specifically for this market that meet the two primary criteria of US buyers - hence Chattanooga, Passat, Atlas. I predict a decent amount of success, especially once dealers aren't sand-bagged by expensive, poor-market-fit vehicles that essentially very few people want.
tdi54
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Merten's claim does not make sense, it's flawed and can easily be refuted.
Before the scandal, VW never had any issue selling diesels in usa and the foreseeable sales trend was upward across most of its brand offered with tdi engines.
The senior officials like him are the burden for VW not the consumer. Does he not notice the almost inelastic demand on the 2015 TDI's that are sold soon after they hit the market?
Before the scandal, VW never had any issue selling diesels in usa and the foreseeable sales trend was upward across most of its brand offered with tdi engines.
The senior officials like him are the burden for VW not the consumer. Does he not notice the almost inelastic demand on the 2015 TDI's that are sold soon after they hit the market?
turbobrick240
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I think he was just giving his honest opinion, not really trying to deflect blame. In general Americans want big, powerful cars- at a low price point. Unfortunately, fuel efficiency is more of an afterthought for far too many.