Despite promises of the Volkswagen Golf GTD making its way to America, Automotive News is reporting that the prospect of VW's diesel hot hatch arriving in America is looking like a dim prospect.
According to AN, the high output version of VW's 2.0L TDI engine can't be built in Volkswagen's Mexican factory that supplies the engines for Golf in North America (though it does build the standard TDI engine). Although VW wouldn't elaborate, the cost of the GTD (factoring in the engine, which would have to be imported from Germany), would make the GTD cost prohibitive for North America.
On the other hand, VW will have no less than three additional hatchbacks for North America: a lower priced version of the Golf TDI, a TDI Golf Sportwagen and the Audi A3 TDI Sportback. Given the small market share for diesels, it's possible that Volkswagen is satisfied that these models will sufficiently cover the diesel hatchback market in America.
Previous, VW was projecting that the GTD would account for as much as 10 percent of Golf TDI sales. But it's possible that VW was scared off by a last-minute product plan change over at Audi. The A3 TDI Sportback wasn't initially planned for America, but enthusiast demand apparently spurred Audi to import it to America.
The A3 TDI will likely run close to the GTD's projected $27,000 price tag – close enough that VW may have been worried about cannibalization between the two cars. Unlike Europe, America has neither the demand for diesels, hatchbacks or manuals (the A3 TDI is only offered with a dual-clutch transmission) to support two similarly priced entrants with little differentiation.
from The Truth About Cars http://ift.tt/Jh8LjA
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