Diesel Cars Making a Green Comeback

Registrations for diesel cars and SUVs increased 55% in California from 2010 to 2012.

June 17, 2013

NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. – Are the days of diesel being touted as “dirty” over? Perhaps, reports the Eagle Tribune.

Diesel cars have made a comeback in California as “green machines,” notes the news source, with registrations for diesel cars and sport-utility vehicles up 55% in the state from 2010 to 2012, according to R.L. Polk & Co., while the national growth rate during the same period was a more modest 24.3%.  

Grinzewitsch Jr., of California’s Von Housen Automotive Group, told the news source that his three Mercedes-Benz dealerships sold 99 new diesel vehicles in 2012, accounting for 7% of all new-vehicle sales last year. His business is tracking at the same pace this year. 

“The simple reason is that diesel cars and their technology are just incredible today…way better than back in the 1970s and 1980s when we were selling a lot of diesel cars,” Grinzewitsch said, adding, “Today’s diesels not only have strong performance, they’re clean and green. And green is good these days.” 

According to the news source, California’s strict emissions and fuels standards pushed “dirty diesels” to the curb, and by 1997, only Mercedes and Volkswagen were offering diesel cars in the United States. At the 2005 Los Angeles Auto Show, Volkswagen AG Chairman Bernd Pischetsrieder said that diesels would remain VW’s emphasis despite California’s concern over emissions. California-based journalists fired back that hydrogen fuel and gas-electric hybrid technology were the future of environmentally friendly cars. Fast-forward to the 2008 Los Angeles Auto Show: The 2009 Volkswagen Jetta TDI was named Green Car of the Year, with an estimated 41-mpg and emission standard compliance in 50 states.

“That really raised the attention,” Allen Schaeffer, executive director of the Diesel Technology Forum, told the news source, adding, “Advancements in clean diesel were being recognized. That kind of kicked things forward in California in a big way.”

In addition to Mercedes and Volkswagen, other car manufacturers are upping their diesel game: Audi, BMW, Jeep, Mazda and Porsche, according to the news source. 

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