2017 Audi RS5 TDI: Altering the Game For Diesels [Video]

Audi wants to prove that diesels are not just for fuel savings.

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2017 Audi RS5 TDI: Altering the Game For Diesels [Video]

Time to let old diesels die?

Got an old diesel auto? Recycle and replace it with a newer car and you might quickly be in a position to claim a a single-off £100 payment from the government.

Well, you will if motoring body the RAC and car recycling specialist Remove My Automobile get their way.

The 2 organizations are calling on the government to take action to boost the air good quality in the UK by incentivising folks with extremely polluting diesel automobiles to scrap them and invest in newer models.

They want it to provide £100 for any motorist who recycles a diesel vehicle aged 10 years or older.

Remove My Car’s Steve Queen mentioned: “We’ve seen in the past that scrappage incentives do function, and we’re confident that financially incentivising motorists to scrap their old diesel vehicles will help to drive down the high emission levels that we’re currently suffering from.”

Some thing in the air

Breathing in dirty air is thought to kill about 30,000 individuals in the UK each year, although study indicates that the poor top quality of the air in Britain shortens life expectancy at birth by 6 months.

That’s a single of the motives the UK has a target to slash its greenhouse gas emissions by 80% (from 1990 levels) by 2050.

There is still a extended way to go, although – and motorists are amongst the main contributors to dirty air in Britain’s cities due to the emission of dangerous gases such as nitrogen oxide, which has links to lung cancer, asthma, diabetes and heart troubles.

Down the Smoke…

London in particular has really high levels of nitrogen dioxide, which is emitted by old diesel powered automobiles that frequently throw clouds of fine black dust from the exhaust when accelerating.

And with about a single in 3 British motorists driving a diesel car, it has been estimated that removing the particles from the air will have a larger effect than eliminating all road traffic accident deaths, or deaths from passive smoking.

This is regardless of the fact that contemporary diesel cars truly emit fewer dangerous gases than equivalent petrol models.

Taking action

The environmental influence of all the older diesel automobiles on Britain’s roads prompted the RAC Foundation to commence calling for an incentivised scrappage scheme aimed at encouraging drivers to swap their old diesel vehicles for newer, cleaner vehicles earlier this month.

Now, its campaign has been joined by Get rid of My Automobile, which hopes to persuade the government to add £100 to the immediate quote provided by its site for all those hunting to recycle diesel cars that are more than 10 years old.

“The option is waiting for these old diesel automobiles to turn into unroadworthy, but that could take a lot of years,” Queen said.

“We look forward to speaking to the Government on the problem of harmful diesels and hopefully we can perform with each other to combat this.”

Ton of problems

The only dilemma is that, even if the government agrees to stump up the cash, £100 may possibly not prove adequate to persuade money-strapped drivers to trade in their old cars offered the cost of getting a not too long ago-built or new auto.

Time to let old diesels die?

BMW USA Chief Ludwig Willisch on Diesels, Manuals, and Body-Style Proliferation

BMW is generating a substantial push to expand its diesel sales in the U.S., possessing added an oil-burner choice to the 3-series, 5-series, and, most recently, the 7-series and X3. But it appears as although BMW’s efforts are not paying off in the vehicle models—at least not yet. The automaker’s U.S. CEO, Ludwig Willisch, is less than impressed by sales of the diesel-powered 3-series and 5-series, and told us so in a current interview.

According to Willisch, “The 328d is promoting so-so, the 5-series is a bit disappointing.” He added: “These are nevertheless early days, and low fuel costs haven’t helped diesel technologies.”

The executive is much more upbeat about BMW’s diesel-powered SUVs, saying that he is satisfied with the diesel take rate in the X5 lineup and is “quite positive that the X3 diesel will do effectively.” He is referring, of course, to the new-for-2015 X3 xDrive28d, which boasts an attractive—for a luxury crossover—34-mpg EPA highway rating. In our testing, the diesel-powered X3 returned 28 mpg, a substantial 5 mpg better than we recorded in a 2013 X3 with the base gas-fed turbocharged 2.-liter 4 we tested last year.

Moving on to the subject of the proliferation of new BMW models and body variations, Willisch denied the automaker’s lineup is becoming confusing. Speaking to a single distinct instance, the 3-series sedan–aping 4-series Gran Coupe, Willisch said: “We will be genuinely happy to have the 4-series Gran Coupe since it will attract consumers that so far have have not looked at sedans.” That may possibly be correct, but then who is the 3-series Gran Turismo for?

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As for manual transmissions, Willisch is not ready however to speak about the future of the stick in the M5 and M6. These models’ U.S. consumers have really championed the retention of the manual option, even though the rest of the globe is content material with automatics. Willisch’s only comment: “They nevertheless have a life cycle of yet another 4 years.” On the flip side of the identical coin, manual transmissions are deemed an integral element of the M3 and M4 heritage everywhere. But apart from the M models, the manual take price in standard 3- and 4-series cars is low, “in the low a single digits,” Willisch revealed.

We’re not quite very good at hiding our support of diesels and manual transmissions—don’t overlook to save ‘em!—but for now it seems BMW is backing both. That said, it in the end is on the client to make a decision the fate of the diesel and the manual, so let’s hope they make the appropriate choice.

BMW USA Chief Ludwig Willisch on Diesels, Manuals, and Body-Style Proliferation