Volkswagen Experiments with Advanced Diesel and Hybrid Technologies

Diesel or Hybrid? This is one question that’s always a fiery topic of debate.The advent of clean diesel technology has changed the face of motoring, providing ample grunt, decent fuel mileage, and thanks to advanced technologies such as particle filters and systems such as Bluetec, oil burners are just as clean as gasoline engines. On the contrary, hybrids produce fewer grams of emissions during their operation, have the ability to shut themselves off at stoplights and oftentimes return better mileage in the city than on the highway. Some of the more advanced models are capable of running on pure electricity.

It appears that longtime diesel advocate Volkswagen is preparing to cross over, dipping its toes into the hybrid market. Since a change in management at Volkswagen, there have been many changes to do with VW’s green energy plans. Under Bernd Pischetsrieder, Volkswagen was supposed to produce hybrids for many of its lower end models, such as the Golf (Rabbit), Jetta and Touran mini-minivan, with the Jetta Hybridscheduled to arrive in 2008 as a stopgap for the now defunct TDI, and a way of getting high-mileage Volkswagens around the ludicrously strict Californian CARB/Tier II Bin 5 emissions standards. This plan was scrapped by Volkswagen Auto Group’s new head, Martin Winterkorn (ex-Audi boss), who insists that this route is not financially viable.

Internal estimates peg the cost of adding a hybrid to something like a Jetta would run Volkswagen approximately € 2,000 ($2,600), a hefty upgrade cost for a vehicle that sells in price sensitive segment. Add that to development, testing, after-sales servicing and so on, and you can see why VW would want to shelve the plan. What’s more, a recent announcement introduced a non-Bluetec TDI engine that can meet those emissions standards at a much-reduced cost, and it seems like the hybrid Jetta conundrum is now an open and shut case… it’s shut. The idea of a diesel hybrid, on the other hand, may be something worth pursuing, although the extra expense of a diesel combined with additional costs for a hybrid system, would probably make such a combinationnoncompetitive in the marketplace.

Volkswagen isn’t abandoning hybrids completely, mind you, as the brand’s first electrically assisted vehicle is actually being developed, though it’s saved for a vehicle that needs it most: the Touareg. Facing the ever-softening SUV market, Volkswagen needs to be able to provide an efficient solution for its buyers. According to German publication Automobilwoche, the system will be developed for the next-generation VW SUV, set to debut in 2010, and will feature hybrid components supplied by Bosch. The adaptation of hybrid tech isn’t limited only to VW; the next-gen Cayenne, which was confirmed as sharing the Touareg’s platform, will get a version too.

No word on whether or not Audi will get a hybrid version for the Q7, though it’d be logical given that the Ingolstadt firm has experimented with a gasoline-electric hybrid version a little while back.