Posted on 12/14/2017 2:07:54 PM PST by Red Badger
The chief executive of Volkswagen says Germany should reduce subsidies for diesel cars and ban heavily polluting vehicles from its city centers.
"We should question the logic and purpose of diesel subsidies," said CEO Matthias Mueller. "There should be a gradual shift in the tax incentives, the money can be invested more sensibly to promote more environmentally friendly technologies."
Mueller's comments, made during an interview with the newspaper Handelsblatt, underscore the German automaker's dramatic shift away from diesel after it was caught rigging emissions tests. The scandal, which erupted in 2015, has exposed the company to charges that its dirty diesels are to blame for air pollution problems in Germany and beyond.
Diesel emits far more harmful air pollutants than gasoline, yet it was popular in Europe for decades because governments offered tax incentives in the hope of reducing CO2 emissions. (Diesel engines burn less fuel than gasoline-powered ones and, therefore, emit less CO2.)
Consumers were given tax breaks both on purchases of cars and diesel fuel. According to the Overseas Development Institute, a think tank based in Britain, diesel subsidies in 11 major European countries including France and Germany totaled €21 billion ($25 billion) between 2014 and 2016.
(Excerpt) Read more at money.cnn.com ...
KnocK!......................
They got caught, and HEAVILY penalized, for their diesel ‘emissions test’ codec and now they don’t want to play the game anymore.
Cool with me.
I live in a cold climate and diesels are not appropriate for my needs.
I also have had a thing against VW since the (now gone) CEO bought ‘Rolls Royce’ for more than market value, only to wind up with Bentley and RR Aviation - BMW got the automotive side.
HA, HA on that one!
This is not an article about what’s wrong with Volkswagon or diesel technology, but what’s wrong with government.
If the same governments were around 150 years ago, we’d all be walking or riding horses and living in a hut.
We bought a 2016 Passat service vehicle with 6K on the odometer for $16,350. This was end of March 2017.
I would have kept the diesel if not for the Buy-Back Program.
Exactly. There isn’t a damned thing wrong with those tens of thousands of cars they are recalling and parking in collection centers for god only knows what. They run perfectly.
Some government bureaucracy attacked them and that’s the only thing wrong here.
Love my TDI. Had them do ‘the fix’, and after stage 2 just going to reset it.
This is blatantly false. A modern diesel engine pollutes much less than a gas engine. Not only does it generate far less unburned HC in the exhaust, its greater efficiency means that it generates less of everything in its exhaust on a per mile basis.
This is CNN............................
This is blatantly false. A modern diesel engine pollutes much less than a gas engine. Not only does it generate far less unburned HC in the exhaust, its greater efficiency means that it generates less of everything in its exhaust on a per mile basis.
A modern diesel engine pollutes much less than a gas engine.
For most cars built over the past 20 years that may still be in use, petrol is likely to be less polluting overall than diesel. Petrol cars also require less maintenance to keep them performing at that level. But new, well maintained diesel cars, built to the latest standards have similar emissions to new petrol vehicles.
https://theconversation.com/fact-check-are-diesel-cars-really-more-polluting-than-petrol-cars-76241
Did you consider BMW or Jaguar? Or the Chevy Cruze for that matter?
Why is cold weather an issue? If you're thinking "diesels don't start in the cold" that's absolutely not true.Not true today,at least (I guess it could have been true long ago).
I've started three different diesels in *very* cold weather.My BMW 335d (6 cylinder diesel) started at -20F.My Mercedes E350 Bluetec (6 cylinder diesel) started in -40F.My BMW 328d (4 cylinder diesel) started at -30F.
All three occasion were in a small town about 200 miles north of Montreal.And all three times the car sat for 12+ hours at -20...-30...or -40.
The demise of Volkswagen.
VW, cheating on the same standard, makes tons of money and keeps out an above-board car company.
Eff VW. My wife and I enjoyed test driving their diesel cars, but when this hit the fan, I realized just how VW screwed the world over from reasonable competition. If VW and the other companies couldn’t pass California emissions, it would have caused a rethink.
I can’t stand VW.
Meanwhile, Ford diesel and Chevy diesel spews terrible emissions that the diesel VWs never did.
Why is there a diesel #1 and a diesel #2 then?
Yes,in colder parts of North America (and probably elsewhere as well) there is what I call "summer diesel" and "winter diesel".IIRC "winter diesel" contains less "energy" than summer diesel and,as a result,gives poorer mileage.
Others may have different experiences regarding cold weather starting but my limited experience is,IMO,amazing.
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