VW turbo diesels -- a summer sales blockbuster

The automotive market is a lot like the personal technology market -- if you really need to upgrade, you can snag something that’s super-cool, way different or just plain awesome. These, mind you, are all technical terms used in reviews of cellphones, bleeding-edge computers, hi-def LCD TVs and the new video game system of the moment, but they occasionally can be used in automotive journalism, too.

If silicon-based gadgets are to fly off the shelves, they had better be great, and the same goes for cars. That said, Volkswagen recently announced that last month it sold 19,027 units, an 18% decrease over June 2008 sales, but the drop was to be expected in today’s "new economy."

There is a bright side to those numbers. Ladies and gentleman, may I present Volkswagen's version of the Apple iPhone 3GS, the TDI turbo diesel line-up of cars.

Volkswagen's clean diesels posted their best sales month ever since their re-introduction to the American market earlier this year, with 5,072 units sold last month alone. That represents a whopping 26% of Volkswagen sales, which is an amazing number for American diesel sales, but not so much for Europe, where in some countries diesel sales hover around 60%.

Jetta SportWagen TDI sales lead the pack with 1,982 units sold in June. Clean-diesel TDI models, according to Volkswagen, accounted for 81% of Jetta SportWagen sales, 40% of Jetta sedan sales and 29% of Touareg sales.

We’ve driven all three models and have to say that compared with the anemic Toyota Prius, we’d take a torque-heavy and fuel-sipping TDI any day of the week over a gas-electric hybrid. 

Perhaps Southern California will soon equate diesel with automobiles instead of overpriced, cheesy Euro denim.

-- Jon Alain Guzik

Guzik is editor-in-chief at DriverSide.com.

Photo credit: Volkswagen

2009 North American Car and Truck of the Year -- the short list

Contenders have been announced for the 2009 North American Car of the Year, along with the 2009 North American Truck of the Year. To be eligible, vehicles have to be completely new or represent a redesign for the model year. This list and the final accolades are determined by a panel of automotive journalists. The winners will be announced Jan. 11 at the 2009 Detroit Auto Show. Let’s check out the car category hopefuls first.

Flying the home flag is the Ford Flex SUV/crossover. As its name suggests, the interior offers plenty of scope for various combinations of passengers and cargo. It’s comfortable, practical and drives well. Plus, with the Scion xB, Nissan Cube and Kia Soul coming from the East, the time of the box is nigh. The Flex is flung by a 262-horsepower 3.5-liter V-6; it comes with front-wheel drive or all-wheel drive; and starts at $28,295.

Fresh from winning the 2009 Green Car of the Year is Volkswagen’s Jetta TDI with its Clean Diesel technology. If ever there was a car for the times, this could be it. This sedan (or wagon) is compact yet sturdy, thrifty yet nifty, and there are no pesky hybrid-related batteries to worry about at the end of the car’s life. Emissions-wise, it gets a clean enough bill of health to be legal in all 50 states. Fuel consumption is rated at 30 mpg in the city and 41 mpg on the highway, and it starts at $21,990.

More contenders after the jump...

Mercedes-Benz diesels -- the new celebs’ choice

It’s hard to say which is the bigger story here. Whether it’s the possibility that the Toyota Prius might soon be unseated as the cool wheels among Hollywood’s young elite, or that -- in a town obsessed with youth -- actor Naomi Watts admits to being 40.

Watts was given a Mercedes-Benz ML 320 Bluetec SUV recently by her beau, Liev Schreiber, at a party celebrating the big four-oh. And while “Celeb drives upmarket Euro car” might not be much of a headline, the “Bluetec” in the name points to a significant shift. This is M-B’s latest clean diesel technology and its oh-so-faint clatter is appealing to the ears of many of the young (-ish) and talented (-ish).

Next time Watts stops at the diesel pump, she could well bump into Kyle “Desperate Housewives” MacLachlan, Kim “Sex and the City” Catrall, Gary Oldman or Emmy “Phantom of the Opera” Rossum, all of whom drive M-B Bluetec cars. Ms. Rossum (pictured) is eager to sing her machine’s praises: “My ML320 Bluetec has all the power and luxury you’d expect of a Mercedes-Benz, plus the efficiency and low environmental impact of an economy or even a hybrid vehicle.”

It seems the music world has also found a new definition of the Blues. Pop star Gwen Stefani drives a Bluetec-equipped Benz, and singer/songwriter Alanis Morisette put an E320 Bluetec sedan in the video for her new song “Underneath.” “I’m glad Mercedes-Benz has introduced a great option,” she says. Other cars wearing the three-pointed star and using this ammonia-squirting system have also appeared in what Mercedes-Benz describes as this season’s hottest TV shows, but the company puts “The Starter Wife” on the list.

-- Colin Ryan

Photo: Mercedes-Benz

L.A. Auto Show: Price announced on new BMW diesels

The good people at BMW have just announced prices for the 335d sedan and the X5 xDrive 35d SUV. Both vehicles are making their North American debuts at the L.A. Auto Show this week. And that little lower-case d signifies something important. Diesel power.

L.A. Auto Show: A VW diesel is Green Car of Year

And who's the greenest of them all? Volkswagen's new Jetta TDI.

The sporty diesel-powered sedan was named 2009 Green Car of the Year at the Los Angeles Auto Show today, beating out two hybrids, another diesel and a car that looks like a golf cart.

"It breaks new ground in the field of clean diesel," said Ron Cogan, editor and publisher of Green Car Journal, which sponsors the award. He cited the Jetta's "satisfying driving experience," low emissions and 41 mpg highway fuel economy.

Deka Revolt -- fruit of the Industrial Evolution

Dean Kamen is a clever guy. He invented that thing people use to go up and down the Santa Monica/Venice Boardwalk -- the Segway. Perhaps his next brainchild will have a wider appeal. It’s a hybrid electric car with an engine that can be made to run on any fuel, from biodiesel to natural gas.

The car itself is a recycled (so we’re off to a good start) Think electric vehicle. Think is a Norwegian company that had a bit of a fling with Ford a few years ago, but it didn’t go anywhere. Here it’s renamed the Deka Revolt. It runs on lithium-ion batteries, has a range of about 60 miles -- a plug-in hybrid essentially.

Here’s the twist. The other half of the hybrid equation is a Stirling engine. What the heck, right? It’s a closed-cycle regenerative heat engine, a 19th-century invention that works on a different principle to the internal combustion engine we all know and love. The good Mr. K has just revamped it and brought it up to date. Here’s the Wikipedia page for a total geek-out.

2009 EPA Fuel Economy: The Best and Worst

This week, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency released its annual Fuel Economy Guide, detailing the car industry’s gas sippers and guzzlers.

It shouldn’t be a surprise that the 48-miles per gallon (city) Toyota Prius hybrid topped of a mix of compacts and eco-conscious cars on the list of the vehicles with the best mpg ratings. But it has some new company on the list, including the now 50-state friendly Volkswagen Jetta diesels. The 2009 Honda Fit, a critical darling that gets 27 to 28 mpgs in the city and 33 to 35 on the highway, didn't make the cut.

The Ferrari 612 Scaglietti sports car and other rides aimed at drivers who probably don't even look at the price of gas made up the lion's share of the gas-guzzler list. One American vehicle was among them -- the Jeep Grand Cherokee.

This is the second year of the EPA’s revised testing methods, which strive to bring their “estimates closer to consumers' actual fuel economy by including factors such as high speeds, quicker accelerations, air conditioning use, and driving in cold temperatures.” These changes may produce lower fuel economy estimates, particularly in vehicles more susceptible to these conditions.

For a look at what 2009 vehicles have the best and the worst fuel economy according to the EPA, click on the links below.

<< EPA's Fuel Economy Leaders in 2009 >>

<< EPA's Fuel Economy Laggards for 2009 >>

-- Whitney Friedlander

Photo: Toyota

Diesel pickups from India delayed

Mahindra & Mahindra still hopes to be the first Indian automaker to enter the passenger vehicle market in the U.S., but the company has miles to go before ringing up its first sale.

Make that millions of miles. Global Vehicles USA Inc., Mahindra’s American distributor, had hoped to have the automaker’s compact pickup trucks on showroom floors here by next summer. That launch date has now been pushed back to the fourth quarter of 2009.

The reason? Execs at Global Vehicles, based in suburban Atlanta, say Mahindra ordered up more testing to make sure the trucks meet the expectations of American buyers. So 25 pickups will be driven 125,000 miles each over U.S. roads over the next several months. That’s more than 3.1 million miles.

“They want to make sure they get the vehicles right,” said Xavier Beguiristain, Global Vehicles’ vice president of marketing. “They’re very keen on that.”

Mahindra’s diesel-powered two- and four-door pickups still need get all the requisite U.S. regulatory approvals as well. They will have to meet the EPA’s tough new diesel emission requirements for the 2010 model year, a goal that Beguiristain said is attainable.

“These will be 50-state vehicles,” he said....