I was watching FutureCar on the Discover Channel the other night and they showed a race car that averaged 155MPH and 113MPG in an endurance race. I figured there must be real-world production cars somewhere in the world that the average American didn’t know about. So I hit Google (… what else is new).

…There is another green car already here, although virtually unheard of in the United States. That car is the Lupo, a small four passenger car produced by Volkswagen that uses a high-technology ultra-clean burning diesel engine and gets 90 MPG [real-world experiences show 70-85 mpg]. This car was launched throughout Europe in the fall of 1998. Volkswagen engineered not only eye-opening fuel economy into their diesels, but also dramatically lowered emissions. 

Volkswagen is not standing still, however. They remain the world leader in diesel technology and have announced that they expect to produce a four-seat diesel powered car that can get 190 MPG! Moreover, new filter designs introduced at the Frankfurt Motor Show earlier this year will reduce particle emissions by another 60%, putting diesel engine vehicles within striking distance of complying with ultra-low emissions standards.

It was the diesel powered Lupo, not a hybrid car, that won the “100 Kilometers on 3 Litres of Fuel” competition. That a diesel was the first vehicle (clean burning to boot) to fulfill this challenge from European environmentalists, and not a hybrid, says it all.

Source: Green Diesels

I should point out two things, first, the above excerpt needs to be credited to Ed Ring, and second, this article was written in November of 2000 !

I’m getting pretty peeved that the world can build affordable efficient cars. It can also build huge trucks, ultra fast exotic racers, and the preverbal minibus. Why is it, that those of us in the USA have our hands tied behind our backs ?!

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Posted in Diesel, Environment |

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