New Polo confirmed for the USA, with TDI

[donDavide]

Why is liters used? If Kilometer are are used why not kiloleters???

 

[PlaneCrazy]

Liters per hundred kilometers is very easy to figure out. For example if you are planning a 1000 km drive in a TDI, you'll need about 50 liters of fuel at 5 L/100 km. If you are using a gasser that gets 7 L/100 km, you'll need 70 liters of fuel. If you've done 300 km, you've used 15 liters, etc. In aircraft we always work on the basis of consumption, and not «fuel economy» as we need to always estimate how much fuel we have on board at any given time and fuel gauges are notoriously unreliable. Mind you we go by hours and not miles in a plane.

 

[Mike_04GolfTDI]

Why is liters used? If Kilometer are are used why not kiloleters???

An interesting notion indeed.

Why not use kiloliters per kilometer?

Instead of 5L/100km, you'd say 0.00005kl/km.

A more appropriate measurement would be milliliters per kilometer, so 50ml/km in this example.

The problem there is it would be very hard to measure. To get an accurate reading, you'd have to measure it over a longer distance (how about 100km?) and then work it out. If you're going to do that anyway, then why not just stick with the 100km rating?

To put it another way, let's say I want to calculate how much fuel my car uses in 1km. I could fill it up, drive 1km, and then fill it up again. What are the chances that I'm only going to put back the exact amount of fuel I just used? Not going to happen. So, I need to drive much further, and then fill up, to reduce the margin of error.

It could have been liters per 1000km (or Mm, a megameter), but not all cars can even make it that far on a tank, so it makes more sense to use 100km, otherwise your fuel rating would be spanning multiple tanks on some cars!

So, L/1000km would be too big, L/km too small, L/10km is just weird, and L/100km works out to a very nice and easy to understand number.

 

[KMWilliams]

My car gets 907,200 rods to the hogshead.


Now that's some good mileage there.




Sorry, couldn't help my self.

 

[spheniscus]

Hyperrodding

Hyperrodders routinely get 1,000,000 rods/hogshead

 

[woofie2]

I think VW is looking at building a version of the Polo sedan in the Chattanooga TN plant.

http://www.blogcdn.com/www.autoblog.com/media/2010/06/db2010au00644large.jpg

http://www.blogcdn.com/www.autoblog.com/media/2010/06/db2010au00647large.jpg

http://www.blogcdn.com/www.autoblog.com/media/2010/06/db2010au00645large.jpg

but a 1.2L TDI would be a nice little Urban transportation vehicle.

 

[TornadoRed]

I think VW is looking at building a version of the Polo sedan in the Chattanooga TN plant.


but a 1.2L TDI would be a nice little Urban transportation vehicle.

I would only be interested in the hatchback.

But then, as long as I have my Golf, or until I win a lottery, I'm not really interested in any new models.

 

[Mike_04GolfTDI]

I think VW is looking at building a version of the Polo sedan in the Chattanooga TN plant.
but a 1.2L TDI would be a nice little Urban transportation vehicle.

What makes you think so? I can't find any news articles or annoucements, or anything that would lead me to this conclusion.

Do you have inside information, or......?

 

[wolfskin]

An interesting notion indeed.

Why not use kiloliters per kilometer?

Brilliantly exhaustive analysis, really.

But if he wasn't able to figure it out for himself, you really think he has the attention span to read all that?

Unless he was joking and the humor was lost on us.

A case of pearls before swine either way, I guess...

 

[Waldek Walrus]

Rods, Hogsheads, Polo Bluemotion???

OK, us cranky old people get confused.

one rod = 5.0292 meters
one hogshead = 238 liters (is this even standardized?)

so:

907,200 rods per hogshead = 5.22 liters/hundred kilometers
1,000,000 rods per hogshead = 4.73 liters/hundred kilometers

How does this get me closer to having a Polo Bluemotion which should beat 4 liters/hundred kilometers without resorting to hyperrodding techniques???

It is TOO late on Friday afternoon...

 

[woofie2]

What makes you think so? I can't find any news articles or announcements, or anything that would lead me to this conclusion.

Do you have inside information, or......?

quote from a VwVortex post (Turbo Paul, vw saleperson, Vortex forum sponsor very credible source)

research shows that cars with trunks sell better than hatchbacks,
look at the sales figures-
http://www.volkswagengroupamerica.com/media/2011/03/01_vw_sales.htm
VW sells 10 times more Jetta's than Golf's.
A trunk seems to be required as some Americans see a hatch back as unsafe.

A Polo sedan would fit better as all the other small cars are hatchbacks, so why not flex the envelope a little and bring a small car vs a hatch.

It has been suggested that expansion of the Chattanooga plant was planned from the beginning, they are just looking for the right platform to ad, I am thinking small truck vs econo box. would be a better move, whip out an Amarok TDI on the American public and push ford and chevy on the ropes of the truck boxing match.

 

[Waldek Walrus]

A trunk seems to be required as some Americans see a hatch back as unsafe.

The hatch on my '79 Dodge Omni would pop open by itself from time to time. Rather disconcerting at highway speed. The hatch on the '90 Grand Caravan would do almost as badly - that one got a recall. So I can see why some would feel that was unsafe.

The fix for the hatch on the '90 worked, and all the newer hatchbacks have had no problem. For a small car that would seem the way to go. I bet the Beetle would hold more than you could get into any small sedan.

 

[Mike_04GolfTDI]

It has been suggested that expansion of the Chattanooga plant was planned from the beginning, they are just looking for the right platform to ad, I am thinking small truck vs econo box. would be a better move, whip out an Amarok TDI on the American public and push ford and chevy on the ropes of the truck boxing match.

Funny, I was going to suggust that it would make a lot more sense to sell a light duty TDI truck.

Of course, that won't be allowed because it would cut into sales of American trucks.

Oh, wait, that's wrong. We're supposed to believe the official line that the American public wouldn't want a light duty diesel truck. Right.... That would be a big flop. It would only be the best selling thing in the history of the universe.

But uhh, yeah, by all means...bring on yet another small crappy mini-sedan which will probably have a gasoline engine. (We know it won't have a TDI engine, right?)

 

[PlaneCrazy]

I'd prefer a hatch too but I have to admit that Polo sedan is pretty sharp looking. Maybe if they had it as the entry-level car they could improve the Jetta, bringing it back to the quality level we're accustomed to (better interior materials, IRS, discs in back, etc.)

 

[TornadoRed]

research shows that cars with trunks sell better than hatchbacks, look at the sales figures-
http://www.volkswagengroupamerica.com/media/2011/03/01_vw_sales.htm
VW sells 10 times more Jetta's than Golf's.

The dealers get 10 times more Jettas. There are more discounts on Jettas. Jettas can be purchased without lots of unnecessary standard equipment.

If VWoA wanted to sell lots more hatchbacks, they could. But when they are losing money on every Golf built in Europe, but making money on Jettas built in Mexico, they do not have any incentive to bring over more Golfs.

It has been suggested that expansion of the Chattanooga plant was planned from the beginning, they are just looking for the right platform to ad, I am thinking small truck vs econo box. would be a better move, whip out an Amarok TDI on the American public and push ford and chevy on the ropes of the truck boxing match.

VWoA has messed around so long that Fiat is going to have a huge opening to bring light trucks and vans to the US under the Ram label. One of the models is a direct competitor to the Mercedes/Freightliner Sprinter. VAG has its own model in the same category, but it's unlikely we will ever see those vans, either in the freight or passenger configuration.

 

[rme]

Funny, I was going to suggust that it would make a lot more sense to sell a light duty TDI truck.

Of course, that won't be allowed because it would cut into sales of American trucks.

Oh, wait, that's wrong. We're supposed to believe the official line that the American public wouldn't want a light duty diesel truck. Right.... That would be a big flop. It would only be the best selling thing in the history of the universe.

But uhh, yeah, by all means...bring on yet another small crappy mini-sedan which will probably have a gasoline engine. (We know it won't have a TDI engine, right?)

Hmmmm on light duty trucks....another forum I belong to has a member saying Toyota (not sure who at toyota) is going to produce a diesel tacoma (Hilux) in 2012 0r 013. In addition they are going to build a small truck on the scion chasis. I think that would be the ABAT truck. If VW wants to lead on this they better get the AMAROK production line going and fast of like everything else they have produced they will simply pick up the scraps from the other mfg's.

 

[donDavide]

My thought it would be close to gallons (Kl vs Liters)

 

[Steve-o]

If VWoA wanted to sell lots more hatchbacks, they could. But when they are losing money on every Golf built in Europe, but making money on Jettas built in Mexico, they do not have any incentive to bring over more Golfs.

Are you saying that VWoA is losing money on Golfs sold in the U.S. because of where they've priced them? Or are you saying that VW is losing money on every Golf built in Europe? I thought the whole point of the A6 Golf platform and its relatively-minor evolution from the A5 Golf was to simplify production and logistics and that work-rule changes reduced some of the (German) labor costs.

 

[eagletalon]

So I spoke to one of the clients where I work and he happens to work for VW and he pretty much said that there are no plans for the Polo for the US for now until they finish building their new plant. Even then they will still consider it because they are worried that it's going to cut into the Golf's market. He did mention that they are going to be introducing a new VW but of course not a TDI. I was pretty bummed to hear that since I am in the market for a TDI

 

[TornadoRed]

So I spoke to one of the clients where I work and he happens to work for VW and he pretty much said that there are no plans for the Polo for the US for now until they finish building their new plant. Even then they will still consider it because they are worried that it's going to cut into the Golf's market. He did mention that they are going to be introducing a new VW but of course not a TDI. I was pretty bummed to hear that since I am in the market for a TDI

I would be more concerned that if they did build the Polo in Chattanooga or Puebla, then VWoA would feel justified in stopping deliveries of the Golf to the US and Canada. The exchange rate is not favorable for selling reasonably-priced cars assembled in the Euro zone to American customers. That's why we mostly get models with a lot of high-added-value extras and not stripped-down base-model Golfs here.

 

[rotarykid]

Are you saying that VWoA is losing money on Golfs sold in the U.S. because of where they've priced them? Or are you saying that VW is losing money on every Golf built in Europe? I thought the whole point of the A6 Golf platform and its relatively-minor evolution from the A5 Golf was to simplify production and logistics and that work-rule changes reduced some of the (German) labor costs.

A loaded up Golf TDI-CR 170hp 6 spd man version with every option you could think of in Europe can exceed the $50-55k USD mark pretty easily . And they are still one of the best selling models in Europe even with that price tag . So they are practically giving the things away here in the states . the rub is how many Polos could they , would they sell here if they had to charge $30-34+k each to break even for a ~A2 body size car TDI Bluemotion type car ??????

For me I would be more than willing to pay that premium price for a car that could exceed 75-80 mpgs , more with a few tweaks in real world driving . But the problem lies in how many others would ?????? At ~$3 a gal I'm betting not so many , at ~$5-7 a gal they couldn't import them fast enough . That along with our ridiculous emissions rules are what is keeping these things out of US market , likely will continue to do so ......

 

[eagletalon]

^^^ that is another thing he said as well. Too many regulations on emissions and so on. He said there are not even close to the ones in Europe. I guess we just keep missing out not only on more fuel efficient TDI's but also on all sorts of vehicles as well.

 

[BeetleGo]

I wish all the clean air regs were the same world wide, but then again that's just one reason that I like to travel. To witness forbidden fruit, as it were.

I'm happy with my Golf.

 

[donDavide]

I wish all the clean air regs were the same world wide, but then again that's just one reason that I like to travel. To witness forbidden fruit, as it were.

I'm happy with my Golf.

I wish they have not gotten so strict. We are at the point of overkill.

 

[LRTDI]

When you look at Jetta pricing v Golf pricing in the US, the Golf is pricing itself out of the US market. Whats worse is the difference between the TDI golf and gasser golf is larger than the equivalent Jetta models.

I suspect that the Euro to Dollar (CAN OR US) exchange rate is killing sales of the Golf here.

So how does VW solve that one?

 

[JSWTDI09]

I suspect that the Euro to Dollar (CAN OR US) exchange rate is killing sales of the Golf here.

So how does VW solve that one?

Simple answer, they can't. Everything our government is doing will probably only worsen the Euro to dollar exchange rate, so I expect things to get worse rather than get better.

Have Fun!

Don

 

[donDavide]

When you look at Jetta pricing v Golf pricing in the US, the Golf is pricing itself out of the US market. Whats worse is the difference between the TDI golf and gasser golf is larger than the equivalent Jetta models.

I suspect that the Euro to Dollar (CAN OR US) exchange rate is killing sales of the Golf here.

So how does VW solve that one?

They have to produce it elsewhere. Mexico, Brazil or the good ole USofA.

 

[kjclow]

For a small car that would seem the way to go. I bet the Beetle would hold more than you could get into any small sedan.

My wife wouldn't believe me on that point until we moved our daughter back and forth to college a few times. If I pulled the back seat bottom out of the beetle, I could get more stuff into it than in our 05 Corolla. Plus, it limited the number of helping hands.

 

[Condorr]

Mazda's new Sky-D engine appears to be superior to VW diesels

When will VW match the output of the Mazda?

 

[German_1er_diesel]

Mazda's Sky-D is not in any product yet. So you can't really compare it to stuff you actually CAN buy.