I fully expect CAFE standards to remain unchanged until some cataclysmic event causes world governments to ban engines that burn fossil fuels. Until that time however, Americans remain obsessed with "power" in their vehicles while being aware (at least in the back of their minds) that they ought to be getting better mileage in their cars.
With high performance AND higher mileage, I keep wondering: where are the #$%# diesel cars?
This article implies that they are (finally) coming. And they have more power and better mileage than even the new performance hybrids. Whenever they get here, cannot be soon enough.
Cleaning Up Diesel's Image
Volkswagen, DaimlerChrysler Unveil New Cars Engineered To Meet California Standards
November 29, 2006
Wall Street Journal
This week at the Greater Los Angeles Auto Show, Germany's Volkswagen AG and DaimlerChrysler AG are unveiling several new diesel vehicles clean enough to sell even in California, which has the toughest clean-air standards in the U.S. The vehicles are part of an effort to position modern diesel technology as a fuel-saving rival to gas-electric hybrids. The new models will be branded "Bluetec," an umbrella term for a variety of diesel technologies.
"We're convinced that the future of the diesel engine has only just begun with this [Bluetec] technology, especially in North America," said Thomas Weber, head of research and development at DaimlerChrysler.
Separately, BMW AG, which is working on its own diesel technology, said it will also have diesel vehicles meeting regulations in all 50 states for 2008.
Offering diesels that meet California's standards marks a major breakthrough for diesel technology. The current diesel versions of the VW Jetta and Mercedes E-Class sedan can be sold in only 45 states. But persuading American consumers to buy diesel cars and light trucks will remain a challenge -- both because of diesel's old image, and because the hardware that makes some of these new models so clean requires more attention than many American drivers are likely to give.
The auto makers will also play up the idea that diesel can help reduce U.S. dependence on Middle East oil. The companies cite a recent Environmental Protection Agency study that found the U.S. would save 1.4 million barrels of oil a day -- equal to the amount of crude oil the country imports daily from Saudi Arabia -- if one-third of all light-duty vehicles in the U.S. were operated with modern diesel engines.
VW and DaimlerChrysler plan to promote the Bluetec diesel cars as both fuel-efficient and fun to drive. Diesel engines offer more of something American drivers love -- torque, what a driver feels when a vehicle accelerates. Diesels have a longer piston stroke than gasoline engines, which produces more torque, and now with turbocharged diesel engines like the ones Volkswagen produces, torque is even more prominent.
