U.S. diesel auto sales up 27% in 2011 while hybrid share shrinks

[cawimmer430]

U.S. diesel auto sales up 27% in 2011 while hybrid share shrinks



A plethora of new diesel  offerings is driving sales, according to a new report from the Diesel Technology Forum. Sales of diesels rose 27.4 percent in 2011, according to numbers from HybridCars.com and market researchers Baum and Associates.

The Diesel Technology Forum pegs the overall market growth in 2011 at 10.2 percent, putting diesels' increase considerably ahead of the curve. Interestingly enough, the group says hybrid sales were down 2.2 percent. The non-profit coalition of diesel engine and technology companies includes such auto industry heavyweights as Chrysler, Daimler, Ford, General Motors, Mazda and Volkswagen.

Diesel sales are expected to grow to over six percent of the U.S. market by 2015, according to the report, and could reach as high as 7.4 percent by 2017, as more diesel models hit the market. Diesel-powered versions of the Jeep Grand Cherokee, Cadillac ATS, Porsche Cayenne, Chevrolet Cruze and Mercedes-Benz S-Class are slated for near-term U.S. release, according to the group.


Link: http://www.autoblog.com/2012/01/11/u-s-diesel-auto-sales-up-27-in-2011-while-hybrid-share-shrinks/


Press Release

U.S. Clean Diesel Auto Sales Soar To 27 Percent Increase In 2011
Consumer Confidence in New Generation of Clean Diesels and New Fuel Efficiency Standards In U.S to Drive Future Growth

Washington, D.C. ? The sales of new clean diesel automobiles in the U.S. increased by an impressive 27.4 percent in 2011 over 2010, according to updated sales information compiled by HybridCars.Com and the market research firm Baum and Associates.

"Without a doubt, 2011 was a key year for the industry's effort to reestablish clean diesel automobiles in the United States," said Allen Schaeffer, the Executive Director of the Diesel Technology Forum.

"This 27 percent increase in annual sales is a strong sign that American drivers are understanding the benefits of new clean diesel technology in terms of better fuel efficiency and reduced emissions. I fully expected clean diesel auto sales to increase further as several new diesel cars enter the U.S. market in the next couple of years.

"The new federal fuel efficiency standards that will required a 54.5 mpg average by 2025 will also boost clean diesel auto sales, as diesel cars are 20 to 40 more fuel efficient than gasoline versions," Schaeffer said. "



2011 Clean Diesel, Hybrid and Overall Market Sales By Month

The HybridCars.Com and Baum and Associates sales summary showed that clean diesel auto sales increased 27.4 percent in 2011 compared to the overall market's increase of 10.2 percent.

Month (2011 v. 2010) Clean Diesel +/- Hybrids +/- Overall Market +/-

Dec. 2011 +16.2% +8.7% +8.7%

Nov. 2011 +0.7% +24.4% +14.0%

Oct. 2011 +0.7% (-17.2%) +7.5%

Sept. 2011 (-5.1) (-20.6%) +9.8%

Aug. 2011 +20.4% (-11.8%) +7.5%

July 2011 +43.7% (-17.7%) +0.9%

June 2011 +25.7% (-41.4%) +7.1%

May 2011 +33.8% (-42.1%) (-3.9%)

April 2011 +42.2% +4.8 % +17.7%

March 2011 +36.3% +46.4% +16.8%

February 2011 +37.5% +39.0% +27.2%

January 2011 +59.5% +12.1% +17.2%

2011 Totals +27.4% (-2.2%) +10.2%

New Clean Diesel Automobiles Bound For the U.S. Market

Announced This Week At North American International Auto Show

Chrysler this week at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit announced that it will be introducing a Jeep Grand Cherokee diesel in 2013 or 2014, and possibly other Jeep diesels later;
General Motors announced that a diesel version of the Cadillac ATS would available in the U.S. in the near future;
It was also announced that a diesel powered Porsche Cayenne would be coming to the U.S. in 2012.

In addition, major clean diesel announcements made prior to the Detroit show include:

    * A diesel version of the hot-selling Chevrolet Cruze will begin sales in the U.S. in 2013
    * Mazda will become the first Asian car manufacturer to sell diesel cars in the U.S. when it introduces its SKYACTIV-D 2.2-liter clean diesel engine here
    * The S350 BlueTEC marks the return of the diesel-powered Mercedes-Benz S-Class to the United States in 2012 after a 17-year absence
    * The Volkswagen Passat, which was recently named the Motor Trend 2012 Car of the Year, began production of the Passat diesel in its new Chattanooga, TN plant in the summer of 2011.

"While most auto makers have clean diesel autos on the market in Europe, Asia and Australia, there are growing indications that even more diesels are on their way to the U.S. market," Schaeffer said.

By 2015, Baum and Associates expects diesel car sales to grow to 6.0 to 6.5 percent of the entire U.S. market, compared to just over 3.0 percent today. The research firm J.D. Power & Associates sees the U.S. diesel market share growing steadily to 7.4 percent by 2017.


ABOUT THE DIESEL TECHNOLOGY FORUM

The Diesel Technology Forum is a non-profit national organization dedicated to raising awareness about the importance of diesel engines, fuel and technology. Forum members are leaders in clean diesel technology and represent the three key elements of the modern clean-diesel system: advanced engines, vehicles and equipment, cleaner diesel fuel and emissions-control systems. For more information visit www.dieselforum.org.

[Byteme]

Percentages are kind of meaningless without a basis.  Did they give actual numbers of units sold? 

Apologies if it's in the article and I missed it.

[GoCougs]

Percentages are kind of meaningless without a basis.  Did they give actual numbers of units sold?  

Apologies if it's in the article and I missed it.

Bingo. Say 10,000 diesels where sold in 2010 and 13,000 in 2011. That's a ~30% increase but doesn't tell the whole story in the context of 12MM cars old in the US in 2011...

Statistical significance context is required.

[sportyaccordy]

Any incomplete presentation of statistics is bad.

IT would be no worse if they presented the raw numbers incompletely (i.e. "there were 3,000 more diesels sold in 2011 than 2010")

[93JC]

    * Mazda will become the first Asian car manufacturer to sell diesel cars in the U.S. when it introduces its SKYACTIV-D 2.2-liter clean diesel engine here

In the 1980s Mazda sold a diesel 626, Nissan sold a diesel Maxima and Toyota even sold a diesel Camry.

[cawimmer430]

In the 1980s Mazda sold a diesel 626, Nissan sold a diesel Maxima and Toyota even sold a diesel Camry.

Autoblog has a history of screwing up the little details. How well did those diesel Japanese cars sell by the way?

A few weeks ago they claimed that the "Honda/Acura NSX created the mid-rear-engine layout"... 

[AltinD]

Bingo. Say 10,000 diesels where sold in 2010 and 13,000 in 2011. That's a ~30% increase but doesn't tell the whole story in the context of 12MM cars old in the US in 2011...

Statistical significance context is required.

Any incomplete presentation of statistics is bad.

IT would be no worse if they presented the raw numbers incompletely (i.e. "there were 3,000 more diesels sold in 2011 than 2010")

Bllah, bllah, bllah .... how about you read the posted part of the article? 

"... By 2015, Baum and Associates expects diesel car sales to grow to 6.0 to 6.5 percent of the entire U.S. market, compared to just over 3.0 percent today. The research firm J.D. Power & Associates sees the U.S. diesel market share growing steadily to 7.4 percent by 2017 ..."

[Tave]

Bllah, bllah, bllah .... how about you read the posted part of the article?  

"... By 2015, Baum and Associates expects diesel car sales to grow to 6.0 to 6.5 percent of the entire U.S. market, compared to just over 3.0 percent today. The research firm J.D. Power & Associates sees the U.S. diesel market share growing steadily to 7.4 percent by 2017 ..."

That sort of proves their point, Mr. Angry. Even if the experts are correct and diesel share DOUBLES, it will still only account for a very small fraction of the overall market. The percentages look so good because there were so few diesels to begin with, not because Americans are embracing diesels en masse.

[hounddog]

77,877 diesel cars sold in the US in 2010 according to one source:'

http://www.thedieseldriver.com/2011/02/diesel-economics-2010/


So they sold about 98,903.79 diesels in 2011.  Not too bad of an increase.   

[Madman]

Nearly 100,000 units is a number too big to ignore.  The American public is finally beginning to wake up to the fact diesel is a proven technology that doesn't rely on expensive batteries that WILL eventually fail.  Nobody is going to spend $5,000 replacing a failed hybrid battery on a ten year old car which means the car will be thrown on the scrap heap.  How environmentally friendly is that?

Hybrids are a technological dead-end.  Diesels are the way forward.

[3.0L V6]

Nearly 100,000 units is a number too big to ignore.  The American public is finally beginning to wake up to the fact diesel is a proven technology that doesn't rely on expensive batteries that WILL eventually fail.  Nobody is going to spend $5,000 replacing a failed hybrid battery on a ten year old car which means the car will be thrown on the scrap heap.  How environmentally friendly is that?

Hybrids are a technological dead-end.  Diesels are the way forward.

There has been a number of documented cases of Toyota hybrids still kicking past the 200k miles mark. Past 150k miles, any major failure (transmission, engine, whatever) usually means any car will be dumped. No point putting more than $2k into a vehicle that will likely suffer more expensive repairs.

Diesel is about $0.50-0.75/gallon more than gasoline. That hurts the economics of the diesel, and the emissions are harder and more expensive to clean up (the premium for a diesel engine is several thousand dollars), which further weakens the case for them.

Cool tech and all, but unless a drastic change happens, not the panacea the supporters make it out to be.

[hounddog]

Right now diesel where I am is about $0.20 more per gallon than regular, and the same as premium.

There is no reason for diesel to cost more because it is created a couple steps earlier in the refining process, and, more diesel can be created from a gallon of oil then gasoline.

Diesels have inherently more useful powerful, and, are more economical by way of mpg than their gasoline counterparts.  There are diesels out there reaching 65+ mpg highway in production right now.  They are still many years from that with hybrids.

Emission are currently more difficult to clean up, mostly because there has not been as much effort and money put into their development as with hybrids.  In the end, diesels passenger could pay for themselves between 4-6 years.

[sportyaccordy]

Diesel is definitely the better option. America has no reason not to embrace it- given the added demand doesn't skyrocket the price.

[cawimmer430]

Why is diesel so expensive in the US?

I'm hearing conflicting reasons for this...

1) The oil companies driving up the price of diesel fuel to create less demand for ECONOMICAL cars...

2) The government driving up the price to discourage the use of diesel cars...

3) The fact that not all gas stations sell diesel making it a rarity in the US and thus charging high for it means profit. Yeah, baby!

[GoCougs]

Bllah, bllah, bllah .... how about you read the posted part of the article? 

"... By 2015, Baum and Associates expects diesel car sales to grow to 6.0 to 6.5 percent of the entire U.S. market, compared to just over 3.0 percent today. The research firm J.D. Power & Associates sees the U.S. diesel market share growing steadily to 7.4 percent by 2017 ..."

And if the US market had returned to 17MM units before the '08 crash?

Diesels are a mostly irrelevant footnote, for good reason, and I hope to see fewer of them - loud, stinky, and slow.

[3.0L V6]

Why is diesel so expensive in the US?

I'm hearing conflicting reasons for this...

1) The oil companies driving up the price of diesel fuel to create less demand for ECONOMICAL cars...

2) The government driving up the price to discourage the use of diesel cars...

3) The fact that not all gas stations sell diesel making it a rarity in the US and thus charging high for it means profit. Yeah, baby!

http://www.caranddriver.com/columns/should-american-vehicles-go-diesel-just-when-the-world-is-running-short-of-it

North American refineries are not set up to produce large amounts of diesel - according to Csaba Csere, US refineries use catalytic cracking of convert a barrel of oil into 50% gasoline and 15% diesel. In Europe, the mix is 25%/25%.

Diesel is taxed (slightly) higher also. 

[hounddog]

And if the US market had returned to 17MM units before the '08 crash?

Diesels are a mostly irrelevant footnote, for good reason, and I hope to see fewer of them - loud, stinky, and slow.

You are remarkably uninformed.

[cawimmer430]

http://www.caranddriver.com/columns/should-american-vehicles-go-diesel-just-when-the-world-is-running-short-of-it

North American refineries are not set up to produce large amounts of diesel - according to Csaba Csere, US refineries use catalytic cracking of convert a barrel of oil into 50% gasoline and 15% diesel. In Europe, the mix is 25%/25%.

Diesel is taxed (slightly) higher also. 

I see. 

[Madman]

Diesels are a mostly irrelevant footnote, for good reason, and I hope to see fewer of them - loud, stinky, and slow.

How's the weather back there in 1978? 

[AutobahnSHO]

diesel > gasoline

[hounddog]

There has been a number of documented cases of Toyota hybrids still kicking past the 200k miles mark. Past 150k miles, any major failure (transmission, engine, whatever) usually means any car will be dumped. No point putting more than $2k into a vehicle that will likely suffer more expensive repairs.

200k miles with or without battery changes?

Would you be able to provide some specific examples, I know it is probably pretty unlikely but it would still be nice to have some proof.

[CJ]

Over 300k miles, though not in very good condition.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/2001-01-Prius-Sedan-Hybrid-Highway-miles-Runs-Excellent-Drive-fine-54-mpg-/290658573880?pt=US_Cars_Trucks&hash=item43ac99de38#ht_26335wt_1165


Almost 220k miles...

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/2001-Toyota-Prius-4-Door-Sedan-/260935228871?pt=US_Cars_Trucks&hash=item3cc0f39dc7#ht_1814wt_1165

160k miles...

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/2001-PRIUS-HYBRID-RUNS-AND-LOOKS-GREAT-WARRANTY-55-MPG-WOW-/270883921345?pt=US_Cars_Trucks&hash=item3f11f09dc1

[Colonel Cadillac]

http://www.caranddriver.com/columns/should-american-vehicles-go-diesel-just-when-the-world-is-running-short-of-it

North American refineries are not set up to produce large amounts of diesel - according to Csaba Csere, US refineries use catalytic cracking of convert a barrel of oil into 50% gasoline and 15% diesel. In Europe, the mix is 25%/25%.

Diesel is taxed (slightly) higher also. 

The refineries can adapt to the market.

[hounddog]

Over 300k miles, though not in very good condition.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/2001-01-Prius-Sedan-Hybrid-Highway-miles-Runs-Excellent-Drive-fine-54-mpg-/290658573880?pt=US_Cars_Trucks&hash=item43ac99de38#ht_26335wt_1165


Almost 220k miles...

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/2001-Toyota-Prius-4-Door-Sedan-/260935228871?pt=US_Cars_Trucks&hash=item3cc0f39dc7#ht_1814wt_1165

160k miles...

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/2001-PRIUS-HYBRID-RUNS-AND-LOOKS-GREAT-WARRANTY-55-MPG-WOW-/270883921345?pt=US_Cars_Trucks&hash=item3f11f09dc1

For the first two there is nothing to support whether they do or do not have new batteries, so how do we know?

For the second one, it falls 40k sort of 200,000 so it does not count.  

I appreciate the effort you put into looking, but I was asking for some that had gone that far without battery changes.   I do realize I did not make that clear at all.