Car Companies Pushing Diesel Technology Might be Missing Their Mark
Posted: 2:11 PM -06:00
The new Audi A3 TDI marketing campaign for the Super Bowl was recently brought to my attention. Some people were really worked up - the same kind of crazy that is usually reserved for politics. Let me start with a couple of assumptions: they were going for a B movie look, and they weren't really thinking through the choice of the marketing phase "Green Police" which refers to the police force that was in place during Nazi Germany.
Putting those two items aside I think Audi fell into a common trap of not having hedged their research and development bets with some sort of electric option - either hybrid or full electric - so instead of talking about what they are doing internally they attempted to discredit the leading technologies and make us laugh.
The first plan of action was to create cutesy videos of how to recycle. Environmental veterans watching the videos won't find them very insightful and novices may find them confusing. I watched the one which tried to explain what can be recycled and what can be composted but a majority of Americans don't have a composting option alongside their trash service and even if they do there is no color standards for bins which is implied by the skit.
The second plan of action was to try to make the argument why Diesel technology is better than hybrid technology (electric and gas combo). The plan isn't effective because their comparisons aren't valid. They select the worse of hybrids (yes I do think that a car that only gets 1 or 2 mpg better than its non-hybrid counterpart is misleading and a waste) in their comparisons which when examined in detail don't actually state why Diesel is better. In fact of the 4 main bullet points not a single one addresses why Diesel is better, not a single one!
Audi isn't the only car company that is trying to promote Diesel. Volkswagen has been trying to push the clean Diesel popularity of its TDI engines as well. As a person who has owned both a Diesel Volkswagen and a hybrid Prius let start with the facts. Except for the Golf Diesel, at best Diesel has been an on and off option in the US for VW and only available on a select few models of VW products. Even then the actual number of Diesel cars available has been low relative to the total amount of cars sold. I sold my Jetta (after the blown engine was replaced!) because it was so small I couldn't even jam in an infant car seat in the back seat (in reverse position). The Prius is much roomier on the inside even though the outside looks small. In terms of MPG car companies tend to brag about highway miles but in general most people drive locally and most non-hybrids do considerably worse in stop and go traffic.
The simple truth as I know it is the Prius is hands down the best car sold in any volume for reasonable price in terms of MPG. Most Prius owners average 40 - 50 MPG without trying and those who are passionate about eking out every last mile crush the 50 MPG mark.
I am not sure why but Diesel is unpopular in the US. It is true that Diesel used to kick out tons of pollution and black gunk but with modifications in the fuel standards AND the engines most of those issues are a thing of the past. The biggest issue with Diesel is the noise which most car companies have done a good job of silencing with design modification. Instead of trying to discredit the amazing progress hybrids and by default their electric cousins I would have gone down the path of promoting the new improvements of Diesel technology in order to dispel problems of the past that are no longer an issue. Then I would have promoted the idea (which VW has a concept car for) of hybrid technology in addition to Diesel to leverage the best of both worlds. Both technologies in conjunction should be able to break the 100 MPG barrier.
Finally, instead of telling other people what to do about recycling why not show what steps Audi and VW are taking in their factories. Toyota's factories are zero-waste and maybe Audi or VW aren't as far along down that path but progress is all customers are really asking for. In car companies it is sorely overdue.