The automotive giant Volkswagen is beginning a bold and irreversible transformation of its European catalog. The German brand is officially changing course, preparing to gradually retire diesel units in the passenger car segment. The first major victim of this environmental purge will be the next generation of the popular Volkswagen T-Roc crossover, which will now say goodbye to the classic diesel fuel under its hood.
Instead of the familiar noise of the diesel engine, the new Volkswagen T-Roc will rely on an innovative and extremely efficient self-charging hybrid system. This technological revolution will not stop there, as a little later the baton will be taken up by the eternal bestseller Volkswagen Golf – the model that for decades was synonymous with economical diesel travel.
The reason for this radical turn in Wolfsburg's strategy is clear as day and lies in the tightening regulatory noose on the Old Continent. The upcoming Euro 7 environmental standards raise the bar for harmful emissions so high that the design and certification of diesel engines is becoming economic suicide for engineers. Costs are rising rapidly and the bottom line is melting, forcing manufacturers to look for smarter alternatives.
For Volkswagen, modern hybrids are the perfect bridge between traditional internal combustion engines and full electrification. Preliminary calculations and tests show that the new mild and self-charging hybrid configurations will offer drivers fuel economy that is almost identical to that of the current diesels, but without the accompanying harmful gases.
However, fans of heavy fuel can breathe a sigh of relief for a moment, as diesel technology will not disappear overnight with a magic wand. Internal combustion engines of this type will continue to live in the larger and more massive models of the concern, where the huge torque and unique economy on long highway trips still have no real analogue for buyers. An example of this is the recently shown Audi Q7.