Diesel Options Enjoy One-Third Take Rate
We’ve hosted our fair share of diesel skepticism over the years here at TTAC, but the latest data on diesel take rates indicate that oil-burners are more popular than you might think. Dieseldriver.com broke down sales of every passenger vehicle with a diesel option, and found an overall take rate of 32 percent over the first three quarters of 2010, and trending upwards. In the third quarter, over half of the two Audis with diesel drivetrains optional were ordered as oil burners, and the vast majority of Jetta Sportwagons sold are diesel-powered. And no wonder. Modern diesel engines can be glorious things, offering gobs of torque, shocking levels of refinement and great fuel economy. Diesel prices may have climbed somewhat in the last year or so (it’s no longer cheaper than gas), but they’re close enough to make diesel a real option. Well, at least for buyers of German cars.
More by Edward Niedermeyer
Comments
Join the conversation
speaking as a former Jetta TDI sportwagen owner, that number is bogus when it comes to buyer preference. For 2010, VW killed the 2.0T gas engine option on the sportwagen. Your only options for engines are now 'TDI' or 'boat anchor'. Of course people are going to take the TDI by default.
None of these models are sold in quantities. That's probably both the cause and the result of equipping it with a diesel engine. Even the VW models.. you know VW has a market share of 2%, right?
It's too bad that they didn't include Canada in those figures, especially for VW. Ontario has a high takeup rate for the TDI's, somewhere around 40% and Quebec is even higher. I think that Quebec has the highest diesel sales in all of NA for VW. BTW those quoting Cali gas figures as gospel, give it up. Diesel hasn't been higher that regular for over 2 years and doesn't look like that going to change anytime soon. Cali is an outlier, not mainstream.
Diesel is really cheap (think 1999 prices) if you make it yourself.