VW News: As the Diesel Emits: What's the Status of Diesel, Volkswagen?

[William Maley]

Will Volkswagen make a return with diesels to the U.S. or not? Unfortunately, we're getting mixed messages on this issue.

Back in July, Volkswagen of America CEO Hinrich Woebcken said diesel would not a core element of the brand going forward. But they could start selling a diesel vehicle in the U.S. again if it makes sense.

“We are not stopping diesel. Wherever diesel makes sense as a package to the car, we’ll continue. But in reality, we have to accept that the high percentage of diesels that we had before will not come back again,” said Woebcken.

Last week in an interview with Motor Trend, Woebcken reiterated his earlier statement with the automaker not ruling out diesels in the future. 

But this week, Volkswagen brand chief Herbert Diess told German business paper Handelsblatt that diesel will not be returning to Volkswagen's U.S. lineup.

"At the moment we assume that we will offer no new diesel vehicles in the U.S," said Diess. “The reason is the legal framework.”

Who to believe? We're not sure ourselves. Stay tuned.

Source: Motor Trend, Handelsblatt, Reuters

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[A Horse With No Name]

Actually according to my local VW dealer they are not even planning on reselling my TDI in the USA once it is repaired, supposedly everything is being shipped to South America once the emissions modification is complete.

Dealers are supposed to be able to buy back cars from VW corporate, but they do not intend to do so.

[ocnblu]

WHAT.A.SHAME.  The VW TDi is such a sweet machine.

[daves87rs]

So they are going to piss off some of their core customers...not a smart move....

[David]

Totally understandable as the expense of getting them recertified here and the over all image makes me think VW is going to just walk away from doing any Diesel thing.

[A Horse With No Name]

6 hours ago, dfelt said:

Totally understandable as the expense of getting them recertified here and the over all image makes me think VW is going to just walk away from doing any Diesel thing.

In the USA anyways....

[David]

4 hours ago, A Horse With No Name said:

In the USA anyways....

Might be more than you think, Germany is clearly not happy with VW Diesel and is pushing for the same program, same settlement terms as the US. Where Germany goes, the rest of Europe is sure to follow.

[Frisky Dingo]

A shame. They were really at the forefront of diesel cars starting to catch on and gain popularity here. Some of the TDI offerings were really sweet, too. I could really take it or leave it in the regular Golf and Jetta. It was nice in the Passat. The standouts were the Jetta/Golf Wagon and especially the Touareg. I'd love a TDI Touareg. 

[A Horse With No Name]

45 minutes ago, Frisky Dingo said:

A shame. They were really at the forefront of diesel cars starting to catch on and gain popularity here. Some of the TDI offerings were really sweet, too. I could really take it or leave it in the regular Golf and Jetta. It was nice in the Passat. The standouts were the Jetta/Golf Wagon and especially the Touareg. I'd love a TDI Touareg. 

Agreed.  Had VW played their cards right, they could be owning quite a bit of brand equity at the moment.

[Stew]

What they did was just stupid.  They had a fantastic niche and they should have made sure everything was actually kosher instead of trying to cheat the system.  it will be hard o come back, at least for now.  Maybe many years in the future when this is no longer at the orefront hey could make a comeback. 

[A Horse With No Name]

33 minutes ago, Stew said:

What they did was just stupid.  They had a fantastic niche and they should have made sure everything was actually kosher instead of trying to cheat the system.  it will be hard o come back, at least for now.  Maybe many years in the future when this is no longer at the forefront hey could make a comeback. 

Diesel will never make a comeback for them, at least in the good ole US.  They could have sued urea injection starting in 2009 but it would have added av bout $400 per car...

Would love a GTI but hesitate with the parent company in so much trouble at the moment.