Diesel TDI model grabs 81% of VW Jetta Sportwagen sales in June
2009 Volkswagen Jetta Sportwagen - Click above for high-res image gallery
General Motors, Ford, Chrysler, Honda and everyone else may not think there is much of a market for mainstream diesel vehicles in the United States, but Volkswagen would beg to differ. Since it launched its new generation diesels last fall in the Jetta and earlier this year in the Touareg, they have been selling like hotcakes with June being its best month yet. Last month was the best sales month to date for the Sportwagen with 1,982 sales and a whopping 81% of those were equipped with the 2.0-liter TDI four-cylinder.
Among the 8,431 Jetta sedans sold in June, 40% were diesel powered. And while the Touareg followed most other SUVs with a 41% overall decline to only 330 units in June, 29% of those had the 3.0-liter V6 TDI engine. Rabbit sales were down 69% in June, but a redesigned Golf is arriving in September, including a TDI – and if fuel prices keep climbing through the summer, it could see a huge sales spike as well.
[Source: Volkswagen]
News Release Issued: July 1, 2009 1:39 PM EDT
Clean Diesel Fuels Volkswagen's June Sales
Over 25 percent of sales were Clean Diesel TDI's
HERNDON, Va., July 1 /PRNewswire/ -- Volkswagen of America, Inc. today announced June 2009 sales of 19,027 units, representing an 18 percent decrease over June 2008. However, Volkswagen's award winning clean diesels posted their best sales month since their re-launch with 5,072 units, representing an impressive 26 percent of total sales.
The Jetta SportWagen once again posted its best sales month ever with sales of 1,982 units. Clean diesel TDI's accounted for 81 percent of SportWagen sales, 40 percent of Jetta sedan sales, and 29 percent of Touareg sales.
"Volkswagen of America is encouraged by the momentum of our clean diesel TDI sales," said Mark Barnes, Chief Operating Officer, Volkswagen of America, Inc. "It appears that U.S. consumers are starting to realize the many benefits of today's clean diesels--vehicles that attain more than 30 percent better fuel economy while emitting 25 percent less greenhouse gas emission, all without sacrificing driving dynamics," Barnes added.
Volkswagen also announced today that they have been named a corporate leader in Strategic Visions Total Quality Index® (TQI). For 2009, Volkswagen has the most models across the segments that were measured than any other brand--New Beetle, Rabbit, Jetta, CC, and Tiguan were all recognized as TQI leaders in their respective segments.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
zamafir 6:53PM (7/01/2009)
Awesome. I've never owned a more solid, fuel efficient or comfortable car than my 02 or 05 TDIs.
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RK 7:39PM (7/01/2009)
Maybe that will change GM's mind not to offer their 4.5 Diesel
zamafir 8:58PM (7/01/2009)
Relevance? Who cares? VW's doing a phenomenal job of selling them here, Americans are doing a phenomenal job of buying them, GM has zero presence in the passenger car diesel market, I'm struggling to understand the relevance.
boost4 2:02AM (7/02/2009)
Add me to the list of satisfied TDI Volkswagen owners. On my second 2000 model Golf, which was the first full model year for the MK IV chassis in the US market. So, I've owned two of the "before bugs were worked out" models, and I figure those bugs must have just been early teething issues since I've experienced next to none. 217K on my current TDI Golf that averaged 51 MPG on it's last trip. Solid, solid goods those Golfs have been.
Feedback is the fifth gen cars have been much better than the ones I've had. Truthfully, if the new ones were half as good they would still be at the top of my list.
zamafir 11:08AM (7/02/2009)
I spent a few days with the MkVI TDI, it's a fantastic car for the money. Handles great (we get it with sport suspension standard), gobs of torque, fantastic fuel economy and an unrivaled interior in the class, plus it looks a lot better from the outside.
Cole 7:00PM (7/01/2009)
Agreed. My 99 TDI was the best VW I ever owned.
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Art 1:24AM (7/02/2009)
best VW is kinda like most benign cancer, right?
focused67 7:03PM (7/01/2009)
Isn't it true that they'd bring more of these to the US if they didn't have to import the TDI engine from Germany? I'd be surprised if they aren't making much if any profit on the TDIs. Let's hope that the Chattanooga plant will produce diesel engines as well -- that might bring down the cost and raise the supply.
I'd buy one if the nearest VW dealer weren't an hour away.
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zamafir 7:08PM (7/01/2009)
"Isn't it true that they'd bring more of these to the US if they didn't have to import the TDI engine from Germany?"
No.
audi_arena 7:36PM (7/01/2009)
^Lol. No, focused... the problem is the American perception of diesels. Audi is spending big money right now launching an awareness campaign in the hopes that they can bring us yanks into the 21st century on the topic.
http://www.audiusa.com/us/brand/en/exp/innovation/audi_tdi.html#source=http://www.audiusa.com/us/brand/en/exp/innovation/audi_tdi/experience.html&container=layerModal
focused67 8:08PM (7/01/2009)
After I posted, I read this (http://www.autoblog.com/2009/06/29/first-drive-2010-subaru-legacy-improves-commercial-appeal-reta/) on why Subaru isn't bringing their diesel for the new Legacy/Outback:
"By their own estimates, Subaru officials confide that they believe that that the leader in affordable diesel, Volkswagen, is "subventing" their stateside TDI offerings "by several thousand dollars" – a nice way of saying that they're losing money on each unit sold in order to test the waters and gain share."
You'd have to think that if the TDIs were making money, VW would bring more, but the supply has been constrained for years.
atc98092 8:18PM (7/01/2009)
The reason VW diesel numbers were constrained in the past was an EPA rule that limited them because they weren't 50 state compliant. That is no longer the case, so availability is far greater now.
Personally, I'm waiting the the Audi A4 TDI.
zamafir 9:01PM (7/01/2009)
Focus, again, you're wrong, ATC, you're correct. When I purchased my 05 it was the last year VW was allowed to sell the cars in California. Thanks to the then governor, they could only sell a handful period, I believe the number was 1500 or so. VW then spent a significant effort engineering a solution that would allow them to exceed previous caps by polluting a lot less. it worked. I'm not sure any comment I've read today is as preposterous as the assertion you (focus) are making that the tens of thousands of diesel sales already on the books are a constrained number. I guess by that logic Mini is deliberately holding back and ford's deliberately holding back all their hybrids, as VW's TDI's outsold the Mini brand and ford's hybrid sales last month.
This crap's entertaining, keep spewing it.
cdwrx 11:54PM (7/01/2009)
@ zamafir,
Relax bro. Just have a polite conversation.
MBS 2:55PM (7/02/2009)
@focused: The reason that Subaru isn't bringing their diesel to the U.S. is that it's bad. They spent all this money on developing the first boxter diesel and it turns out it has none of the benefits of neither diesel nor the boxter design.
Unfortunately, a small, good diesel in a forrester would be awesome. The n/a gasoline mill is just much too lackluster for that car.
JohnV 7:08PM (7/01/2009)
I stopped by a local VW dealer yesterday, as I might have to purchase a commuter car.
the dealer had 13 Jettas - 9 of which were TDIs (one was the wagon)
Sadly only one was a manual and it was a bad color with the cheapest alloy wheels.
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zamafir 7:11PM (7/01/2009)
Yup, manuals don't sell well in the US, regardless of brand. If you'd like one with a specific combo, you'll have to order it. When i picked up my '02 wagon there were pretty much two options, base and fully loaded, so it's nice to see a lot more this time around.
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kis_ev 11:53AM (7/02/2009)
I'm loving my 01 Golf TDI. 190K miles on the ticker and going strong. I bought a Bentley manual and cruised TDIclub.com before purchasing (since I knew that all european cars seem to have them electrical gremlins). Aside from the typical relay 109 and flaking interior texture spray, I've had absolutely no problems. I plan to keep it until something catastrophic happens, so it'll be awhile before I buy another TDI...but my 3 of my friends bought TDIs after driving mine.
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audi_arena 7:22PM (7/01/2009)
Are you reading this Audi??? Bring me the damn 3.0 A4 TDI!!!
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zamafir 9:02PM (7/01/2009)
psch, A5 3.0TDI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'd buy it in a heartbeat.