April 2014 - Hybrid Dashboard Report

Brilliant ... really ?

Perhaps diesel buyers were stupid enough to think their cars are fuel "efficient" in terms of money/mile, but VW has sure disabused them of that notion LOL

I certainly may be wrong, but I view the US diesel market about the same as the plug-in or EV market: a relatively inelastic group size that once the people in it have bought their cars the market will collapse. Plug-in and EV have a chance to increase their pool of potential buyers as prices drop and technology improves, but what can diesel offer other than leather trim ?

 

Yes.
A manufacturer's buyer incentive is a cheaper way to boost sales without making a better more competitive product.

The "Fuel card" helps mitigate atleast temporarily concerns over the higher fuel cost of diesel and the slightly lower fuel efficiency. As long as the cost of fuel is reasonable stable - there is a diminishing financial return in fuel efficiency from 40 mpg to 50 mpg... thus for buyers not concern about emissions - other product features like cargo capacity, power, and initial cost can appear to be more important. However - should the price of gas jumps to $6/gallon - the fuel card isn't going cover much and the buyer would be better off in the long term getting a vehicle with better fuel efficiency. Whether to get a cheaper less fuel efficient car or to get a more expensive but more fuel efficient car is a buyer's gambit. One can consider the premium for getting a Prius hybrid - something akin to a one-time premium for insurance against high gasoline prices... and learning hypermiling techniques on a Prius is like getting an extended warranty on the one-time premium for insurance against high fuel prices.

 

I view either as hedges. And just by chance, they offer similar discounts.

 

Sedans is my guess for the reason. The gap between the diesel models is about the same scale between the models on a whole. The Beetle diesel is the one actually bucking the the trend. Overall, it sells better than the Golf, but the diesel model only sells half as many.

The Jetta wagon would also be a bigger draw for those needing cargo space. I know previous model years also had a 1 ton tow rating. The Passat diesel wagon hasn't been available since the mid-2000s. There doesn't appear to be even a gas one available now.

The diesel Jetta and Passat cost about 1 cent less per mile for fuel than their efficient gasoline equipped models.
Compare Side-by-Side
Factor in that most diesel drivers best the EPA numbers(the 2014 Jetta numbers is 4mpg above combined for diesel vs. 1mpg for gasoline), and the cost of DEF could be covered.

But people can't think past the fuel station signs they see everyday. So the 'fuel' card is brilliant marketing

The gasoline VWs are rated as clean as the Prius in California. The diesels are a ULEV to the PZEV there. Not the best, but magnitudes better than the high mileage, old age dump trucks we have all been behind at one time or another. Diesel emission control technology is still relatively young. How much cleaner is the Prius to a car from the mid-80s, and that one to a pre and first year emission regulated car?

As to fuel cost, my guess is that the diesel to gasoline gap will shrink, when the ultra low sulfur gasoline starts rolling out.

 

The EPA rates the 2014 Toyota Prius Liftback emissions cleaner than every single version of the 2014 Volkswagen Passat and Jettas model line - including the brand new VW Jetta Hybrid ...

Not listed below are the other versions of the Prius...Surprisingly the 2014 Toyota Prius c emission levels are not much better than the Prius Liftback and the 2014 Toyota Prius V emission levels are not as good as the Prius liftback.

2014 Toyota Prius Liftback (uses regular gas)
179 grams of CO2 Tailpipe + 042 GHG emission per mile
Compare Side-by-Side

2014 Volkswagen Jetta Hybrid 1.4L, Auto 7spd, (uses Premium gas)
200 grams of CO2 Tailpipe + 046 GHG emission per mile
Compare Side-by-Side

2014 Volkswagen Jetta TDI
298 grams of CO2 Tailpipe + 81 GHG emissions per mile (2.0L 6spd)
297 grams of CO2 Tailpipe + 82 GHG emissions per mile (2.0L auto)

2014 Volkswagen Jetta gasoline
303 grams of CO2 Tailpipe + 66 GHG emissions per mile (1.8L, 5spd)
308 grams of CO2 Tailpipe + 74 GHG emissions per mile (1.8L Auto 6spd)
316 grams of CO2 Tailpipe + 80 GHG emissions per mile (2.0L, 5spd)
344 grams of CO2 Tailpipe + 99 GHG emissions per mile (2.0L Auto 6spd)
334 grams of CO2 Tailpipe + 76 GHG emissions per mile (2.0L Auto 6spd, Premium gas)

2014 Volkswagen Passat TDI
289 grams of CO2 Tailpipe + 79 GHG emissions per mile (6spd)
289 grams of CO2 Tailpipe + 89 GHG emissions per mile (auto)
Compare Side-by-Side

2014 Volkswagen Passat gasoline
337 grams of CO2 Tailpipe + 89 GHG emissions per mile (5spd)
350 grams of CO2 Tailpipe + 93 GHG emissions per mile (Auto 5spd)
317 grams of CO2 Tailpipe + 79 GHG emissions per mile (6spd)
323 grams of CO2 Tailpipe + 73 GHG emissions per mile (Auto 6spd)
338 grams of CO2 Tailpipe + 88 GHG emissions per mile (2.0L 6spd premium gas)
390 grams of CO2 Tailpipe + 92 GHG emissions per mile (2.0L Auto 6spd premium gas)

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How much cleaner is a Prius to a car in the mid-80's?? About 50% cleaner. Albeit the 1985 Honda Civic CRX HF and the 1990 Geo Metro XFI approaches a 2014 Prius Liftback's emission levels.

1985 Honda Civic CRX HF (1.5L 5spd)
217 grams of CO2 Tailpipe + 53 GHG emission per mile

1990 Geo Metro XFI (1.0L 3 cyl, 5spd)
189 grams of CO2 Tailpipe + 47 GHG emission per mile

...

1984 Honda Accord (1.8L, auto)
355 grams of CO2 Tailpipe + 88 GHG emission per mile

1985 Toyota Camry (1.8L, Auto)
377 grams of CO2 Tailpipe + 100 GHG emission per mile


Amazingly the 1st generation Honda Insight beats the 2014 Toyota Prius Liftback with respect to emission levels

2000 Honda Insight (1.0L, 3 cyl 5spd)
168 grams of CO2 Tailpipe + 41 GHG emission per mile


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My 2010 Prius (which has the same emission levels as a 2014 Prius) replaced a 1990 Honda Accord (Auto) which had an EPA rating of 404 grams of CO2 Tailpipe + 100 GHG emission per mile. So by switching to a Prius my vehicle emissions dropped by an estimated 60% even without considering that I'm getting 20% better fuel efficiency by hypermiling. If one factors in the improved FE due to how I am driving my emission level drops to about 65% - a drop of about 2/3.

 

Walter, when people around here speak of tailpipe emissions being cleaner or dirtier, they usually mean the non CO2 pollutants.

 

non CO2 pollutants = GHG

hope this helps
Walter

 

GHG that are not CO2 is mostly methane.

'Other tailpipe pollutants' are those measured by the EPA etc: NOx, SOx, CO, particulates, non-methane hydrocarbons. These also have a greenhouse effect, but they are measured and regulated for health reasons and due to smog rather than their GHG effect.

You might be wondering why the GHG effect of these other tailpipe emissions are ignored. While I cannot remember the relative GHG effect of a molecule of Nox compared to say CO2, the relative emissions amounts from say a Prius tells the tale:

CO2: About 6000 grams every 50 miles, or 120 grams a mile
Nox: ~ 15 mg/mile

As GHG, the other tailpipe emissions are a rounding error of the total burden.

 

I'm only familiar with GHG meaning green house gases. If you are pulling the GHG number from the EPA fuel economy entry for the car, that is what it means. It's the green house gas emission levels for the production of the fuel the vehicle used. It's GHG and not CO2 in that case to cover things like methane.

These emissions are purely a function of vehicle fuel economy. Though diesel contains more carbon per gallon than gasoline. The only way catalytic converters, EGR, and other emission control equipment affect these numbers is in how they affect(likely reduce) the vehicle's fuel efficiency.

When I and others talk of emissions, it is the smog emission levels. The NOx, hydrocarbon, particulate, and CO emissions. NOx was the one given the most focus since the start of controlling eissions for vehicles. Not to downplay GHG, but these have a direct effect on the local population's quality of life and health.

The early generation manual Insight has lower GHG than the Prius of the time simply because it had a higher mpg rating. Its ULEV smog rating was dirtier than the Prius' SULEV. These were Tier I designations, and are dirtier than the current Tier II ULEV and SULEV, which will generally have a II on the end to reduce confusion. Which is why I guess the EPA doesn't list older cars' emission ratings on the Fueleconomy.gov anymore. It only gives a 1 through 10 rating, but the actual limits for those bins have changed.

This is a quick overview on the history of the US regulations of car emissions.
http://www.epa.gov/otaq/consumer/f99017.pdf

 

Around here, VW is pushing the heck out of TDIs on TV, while Toyota is showing their entire line and just mentioning the Prius in passing.

 

prius c is no more of a prius liftback twin than the camry hybrid. The camry hybrid is a 4 door sedan It does better than the smaller but higher mpg civic hybrid 4 door sedan. A prius c sedan based on what, a yarris sedan, would not be popular with a tiny trunk. We know that Toyota is working on making a hybrid corolla in China for the Chinese market. IMHO that camry hybrid definitely is a better seller, than these cars.

 

Top 20 Best-Selling Cars In America - May 2014

May 2014/May 2013
#1
Toyota Camry
49,584/39,216
#2
Honda Accord
39,637/33,218
#3
Toyota Corolla/Matrix
36,611/27,997
#4
Honda Civic
36,089/30,268
#5
Nissan Altima
36,053/31,940
#6
Ford Fusion
33,881/29,553
#7
Chevrolet Cruze
32,393/23,0554
#8
Ford Focus
23,683/27,186
#9
Nissan Sentra
21,932/12,504
#10
Hyundai Elantra
21,867/25,090
#11
Hyundai Sonata
20,404/20,194
#12
Chevrolet Malibu
19,288/18,899
#13
Toyota Prius 18,636/16,008
Toyota Prius Sedan ^ 15,944/15,330
Toyota Prius Plug-In ^ 2692/678
#14
Kia Optima
16,843/15,368
#15
Kia Soul
15,606/11,420
#16
Volkswagen Jetta
13,915/15,910
#17
Chevrolet Impala
13,348/10,841
#18
Subaru Outback
11,641/12,270
#19
Nissan Versa
11,243/8614
#20
BMW 3-Series & 4-Series *
10,915/9307