[urq] Future Audi : is there a TDI planned ?

[Huw Powell]

This is true (the dirty/clean fuel issue mentioned below), but I 
wouldn't expect a massive flow of product into a market that is only a 
year or two old.

They have to develop US emissions friendly versions of the hardware and 
software, and it has to be for a current model.

There's no point in building a whole bunch of 2009 MY cars in 
anticipation of appropriate fuel being available in 2011.

Also, I bet they were nervous about "leftover" dirty diesel providing 
enough contamination to ruin a few engines, killing their reputation.

And, as someone mentioned, there's the generally negative perception of 
diesels here - noisy, smelly, dirty, slow, etc. - that will take some 
time to overcome.

Also, in my limited experience, many places that have diesel pumps don't 
have them set up for self-service payment by plastic - often because 
they are set up on both sides on a lane so big trucks can fill both 
tanks easily.

I don't think the technician base will be a big deal - I remember when 
Audi brought out its V8, they ran classes for their techs, and the 
aluminum body cars came with similar info for the body people.  How 
radically different are they going to be from any given other model with 
its own peculiarities to learn, anyway?

I think we'll see more and more of them as the years go by.

On 4/13/2011 11:19 AM, laraa at sympatico.ca wrote:
> Yeah, but that situation is corrected now : all the fuel produced in North America is of the low-sulphur variety.


>> I remember a few years ago hearing that the main reason more diesels are not brought over from Europe is the quality of our fuel.
>>
>> Something about sulphur content etc. Anyone else remember hearing such?



-- 
Huw Powell

http://www.humanspeakers.com/audi

http://www.humanthoughts.org/