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Dieselgate is still pretty fresh in everyone’s minds—fresh enough that Volkswagen Group board members and executives still when they hear it mentioned. And they should cringe; the scandal cost the company millions in restitution payouts and recalls, and millions more in damage to Volkswagen’s reputation and plummeting sales.
After years of shamelessly flaunting “Clean Diesel” as an alternative to hybrids and electric cars, the company finally got caught in a cloud of smoke—or perhaps exhaust fumes—of its own making.
But in Europe, that hasn’t stopped them from remaining (quietly) committed to clean diesel technology. The group has a different plan for America, though. A senior source reporting to Car and Driver recently confirmed that there’s very little chance that Volkswagen, Audi, or Porsche diesel engines will ever return to the United States—regardless of how clean they are (or claim to be).
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Peter Mertens is Audi’s newly crowned development boss. At Berlin’s Formula E race, he fielded questions about the new, ultra-clean, next-generation diesel engines that the company is developing. Mertens was quick to quash any rumors of a possible relaunch of the diesel engines in the U.S. market, saying that the Americans are simply not “suited to diesel.”
According to Mertens, whether diesel can live on in the U.S. comes down to a clash of beliefs, culture, and driving style. He explained, “We Europeans tried to give an answer maybe to a question that wasn’t asked.”
Of course, that’s if you ignore the impact that Dieselgate had on consumers. It’s worth noting that Mertens just joined Audi in May—he’s previously worked for General Motors, Jaguar Land Rover, Volvo, and Mercedes-Benz—and is in no way connected to the diesel emissions scandal, which is still raging on in Europe.
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Mertens believes the fuel’s image is the problem. There’s a reputation that diesel is bad, according to Mertens. “It’s not helping us and it’s not helping the environment,” he said. He went on to explain that “alternative facts” have shaped the public’s impression of diesel fuel, and it’s an impression that’s very hard to fight.
So can diesel be clean? Last year, the New York Times ran an article titled “The Dirty Truth About Clean Diesel,” which claimed that diesel engines are behind the drastic decline in air quality in major cities across Europe, including London, Paris, and Rome, where nitrogen oxides and soot combine to create apocalyptic smog.
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Diesel engines are inherently efficient, and in general, they produce less carbon dioxide emissions per mile. But the idea that they’re somehow “green” is nothing more than an industry marketing ploy, according to the Times article.
The reality is that diesel is dirty. We’ve all seen diesel rigs spewing black smoke, and this is diesel’s Achilles heel. In cities where stop-and-go traffic means cars move at low speeds, incomplete diesel combustion causes pollution that can have serious effects on human health.
Maybe it’s not the worst thing in the world that diesel engines won’t be coming back across the Atlantic.
