Volkswagen – A bad Impression on Diesel Engines

September 29, 2015

In the wake of VWs cheating scandal, a massive recall has been issued.

Volkswagen has been one of the most important and popular automaker for so long, especially for its environment friendliness, but what happened recently, changed everything. Volkswagen Jetta TDI diesel engine was one of the best options available for those who were looking for an alternative to sluggish hybrid motors. High mileage and ability to deliver real performance played the major role in boosting diesel sales.

How many vehicles are we talking about?

The Environmental Protection Agency last week ordered the recall of 482,000 vehicles of VW diesel models in the United States only. This recall has been ordered after Volkswagen’s cheating scandal came out. It was revealed that the German auto maker secretly circumvented the government’s emissions tests by using some sort of software.

So how bad are the figures?

Hypothetically speaking, up to 40 times the approved level of CO2 emissions, that’s what vehicles like the VW Jetta TDI are producing in the real world. Mike Jackson, CEO of Florida-based Auto Nation, the country’s largest automotive retailer, expressed his feelings: “This is another black eye for diesel, you now have a passionate constituency that feels betrayed.”

Is VW the only automaker?

According to a new report for Germany, the government has found another diesel model that significantly exceeds EU emissions standards. The name is not disclosed yet but now the German officials are calling for random roadside checks to find out if other car manufacturers have also cheated or not.

What about the clean diesel?

In Europe, when the new generation of theoretically “clean diesel” was introduced, the demand for such vehicles was soaring. Technologies like turbocharging, helped making them more environment-friendly and high performers at the same time. At times, these new models delivered such high mileage that they were thought an alternative to the hybrids. This is why, Europe saw a huge jump in diesel sales and almost half of the vehicles sold in the Europe alone, by the beginning of this decade, were diesel powered. Volkswagen’s scandal has jeopardised the plans of bringing more diesel models to market and years of effort and millions of dollars of investment has been put to waste.