Volkswagen has come a long way since its legendary Beetle and Bus took the streets in the former half of the 20th century. These days, the German car manufacturer has a wide variety of offerings, from popular models like the Jetta to Volkswagens that have ChatGPT incorporated to a sub-$35K electric car it says it plans to reveal in the next few years. However, when searching for vehicles among the brand’s many offerings, you will find one type largely absent from Volkswagen’s catalogue: diesel cars.
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Vehicles that take diesel fuel are often appealing to buyers because they are more efficient than those that use gasoline. However, diesel exhaust contains fine particles that can affect human health if the proper filters are not installed. As a result, the federal government issued new regulations to prevent the emission of nitrous oxide in diesel engines in the mid-2000s.
Many automakers adhered to these regulations by installing a new system in diesel vehicles that neutralized the nitrous oxide before it was emitted, but Volkswagen had another plan. It installed a different system it called Clean Diesel into its diesel cars. But ultimately, this system backfired and would become the reason that you can’t buy a new Volkswagen diesel car in the U.S. today.
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Volkswagen is still feeling the effects of dieselgate
In 2014, a group of researchers testing emissions from various vehicles found that two diesel Volkswagens were not following the emissions regulations set out by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Upon closer inspection, it was revealed that Volkswagen had installed technology that could lower the emissions coming from the vehicle during a test but return to high emission levels once the vehicle returned to the road.
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Known as the infamous dieselgate scandal, the company had to fork up close to $40 billion in reparations for installing this system on more than 500,000 cars in the U.S. Car owners could essentially choose to have the system fixed or for Volkswagen to buy their vehicle back altogether. In response, Volkswagen decided to also invest $2 billion in electric. Diesel sales were already declining at the time of the scandal, and some blame Volkswagen for driving in the nail in the coffin for this fuel option.
Due to the scandal, you might be able to find a used diesel Volkswagen that has waited years to receive the engine fix it needs to be ready for the road again. But you’ll be hard-pressed to find a new diesel Volkswagen after dieselgate. Instead, you’ll have a much better chance finding something electric.
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