Volkswagen has had one of the best December’s in sales since 1972 so they say. Their overall sales in the United States were up an astonishing 26.3 percent for 2011, due to a number of new models including the fill sized Passat sedan and the new Beetle.
Digging further into the sales charts we see that Volkswagen TDI Clean Diesel models commanding some 21 percent of all sales in the United States. Given they offer their turbo-diesels in several models, you can now almost count on one out of every five new Volkswagens you see on the road.
Volkswagen offers their 2.0 liter four-cylinder clean diesel TDI option in the Jetta, Jetta Sportwagen, Passat and Golf in the United States. The engine will also be available in the all new redesigned Beetle later in the year according to the company.
Their Touareg SUV offers a larger 3.0 liter turbo-diesel V6 which accounts for a good margin of sales in that model as well. The compact Tiguan SUV is said to be getting a TDI option sometime next year.
If these sales numbers don’t knock down the argument by many American brand automakers that American’s just don’t want diesels, nothing will. When an automaker can offer a diesel in six and seven of their models and sell 21% of them with the option, that says something.
