2011 Was A Good Year for Diesel in the U.S.

When growth is presented in % rather than actual quantity, it's typically a greenwashing attempt... since it lacks any frame-of-reference. And sure enough, this one fell into that category. Remember, when numbers are low in the first place, the increase looks very big when stated in terms of %.

Diesel, hybrid, plug-in should all be measured the same way. It's grown to mainstream level when the minimum we've all seen stated countless time is achieved... in big part due to the necessity to remain profitable and sustaining. That quantity is 5,000 per month. To be a big hit, showing up in the top-20 sellers list, the quantity usually needs to be triple that.

All diesel sales *combined* last month only came to 7,885. For the entire year, it was only 81,662 total. For a single vehicle, that wouldn't be too bad actually. But for the grand total of all of them, they are still just a niche.
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Indeed.

But a 20% fuel saving over 81k vehicles (compared to the petrol versions) is significant. OK we could argue all day long that this could or should be 40% if a hybrid were used, but perhaps these diesel drivers wouldn't have got a hybrid in the first place.

Also, the article doesn't break down what sort of diesel vehicles these were. In my mind diesel is better suited to SUV's and if this sales increase applies to that size of vehicle, then the fuel savings are even more significant.

 

I always wondered why a diesel hybrid was not developed. Well now here comes MB with one . I take my hat off to all the car companies and bean counters allowing all these hybrid, ev and diesel versions to make it into the market beyond the concept version.

 

Interesting also how they cite "the 2011 diesel car of the year" rather than are more honest representation like: "our 2011 diesel car of the year".

From the content of the site it appears as if its a small group of US-centric diesel enthusiasts.


>oldasdust
Then you should take your hat off for Peugeot and the 3008 diesel hybrid.

 

Diesels are great it is just too bad that us American's do not really like them. Another bit of hyperbole from the article - it talks about 2 entirely new diesel models being introduced - the Passat TDI - while it is great that VW brought out the new Passat in a TDI, they did not mention that the older version of the car was also available in a TDI, though just not in the past couple of model years.

As to why there are no diesel hybrids - I was always under the impression that both diesel and hybrid cost a few thousand $'s more than the same car with a traditional gas engine. If you look at it, there are two small niches that are willing to pay either the diesel or the hybrid up-charge to drive one or the other. It is my understanding that the car companies have not believed that more than a small handful of people would be willing to pay both up-charges in a single car.

I think that diesel makes a huge amount of sense, especially in smaller cars where you do not need the expensive and complicated urea filters to meet emissions guidelines. The fact that the torque is available at the low end would allow for smaller engines where you actually have some get-up and go at lights and stop signs.