Since the demand for diesel as a fuel is set to go up in the coming decades, the growth will also partially be driven by the increased need for the fuel to power passenger cars.
Volkswagen and Audi’s US marketing strategy has always had a whiff of “you should try the diesel, before buying the gasoline model” about it, and now, according to an Autonews report, officials have announced that, as of the next generation A4, which is coming in 2014, Stateside buyers will have a diesel option available.
It is a masterful move by Audi, since the A4 sedan is its long-running best-selling model. The plan is to wait for the new generation of the A4, in order to add a 2.0-liter TDI engine to the range.
In addition, since the engine can be had in a variety of states of tune and power outputs, we suspect that the 140hp variant will make up the bulk of A4 diesel sales, while a more powerful version of the engine, possibly derived from that which powers the new Golf GTD, could possibly be offered as well. A 3.0-liter V6 diesel was also considered, but it was deemed unjustifiable.
The addition of a diesel means that sales of the A4 can only go up, not that the current numbers aren’t impressive as it is – Audi sold 139,310 vehicles in the US in 2012, and one fourth of them were A4s.
By Andrei Nedelea
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