So the other day my wife and I go to the VW dealer in Los Angeles to test drive a diesel Jetta Wagon. Immediately as we walked on the lot, a young affable salesman in a tie greeted us and asked what we were interested in.
"I'm sorry we don't have any of those, how about trying out the V6, I have a silver one right here," said the salesman.
"We are kind of focused on the diesel because it gets 45 mpg," I offered.
"That's true but diesel costs about the three times as much as gas," said the salesman.
I reply,"You sir, are a goddamned liar. Could I please speak to someone else?" (Really) The salesman, non-plussed got his manager. I asked the manager the same question. "There aren't any VW diesels anywhere in Southern California."
After being lied to by the first salesman, I took this information with a grain of salt.
"Why not," I asked. "You'd think that in the biggest car market in the world, with some of the worst traffic and pollution problems, they would make their 45 mpg models available."
"I guess there's not enough demand."
Wrong!
Mystified, I did a little research...
Turns out that "Diesel cars on the market today cannot be sold in California and several other states that have more strict pollution requirements,"
according to the Washington Post.
It appears that diesel passenger cars don't meet CARB standards. According to this
article from 2003, Carmakers aren't bringing their fuel efficient diesel cars to the US because of their inability to meet the future strict standards of California and a couple of other states. Although I haven't read the new energy bill, I'm not sure that any of that regulation is going to change.
Diesel cars rock. I went on a wine-tasting trip with my wife in Alsace a couple years ago and rented a turbo-diesel station wagon. The performance was impressive. I rolled that baby up to 135 mph on the autobahn with no problem. I want a fuel efficient car but I don't want to pollute. I'm a little surprised that even VW salesmen don't know why they don't sell any diesels in LA. My question is: What is the biggest impediment to bringing diesel to CA? Are the air regulations too strict and sacrificing the opportunity for fuel efficiency for marginal pollution benefits? Is their some missing pollution control technology for diesels? Do car makers need an incentive to solve the problem?