VW Jetta: Diesels coming to the US?

A clean diesel powered VW Jetta was spotted in the US! Is this the first sign that the TDI will have its entry in the US? Hopefully yes. If so, forget all those hybrids. TDI will rule the streets.

All right, big news: I personally was in the presence of a 2008-model Jetta TDI this afternoon! It was at the Boston "Altwheels" festival as a clean-diesel demonstrator car, and will be there tomorrow and Saturday as well for any who want to see it in person. The car was beautiful, and seemed to be set up in an unusual way. It had a 6-speed manual, a nav system, leatherette seats, GTI-style projector headlamps, really nice uplevel wheels, and of course the new-generation 2.0L Common Rail TDI, which they said is clean enough for 50-state certification.

I spoke extensively with the VW guys who brought the car there--one was an emissions chief in Michigan named Norbert, with a German accent, and the other was a government-relations honcho based in DC--and they were a little vague on the details, but at least they let me take some pictures. They said the engine has about 140hp and 240lb-ft, and would start out in Jettas but probably end up in at least the Rabbit as well, and maybe more models beyond that. From what I could tell looking at the engine (they wouldn't let me pull the plastic cover off), it has a timing belt arrangement like the old VE-pump cars, with what might be a high-pressure fuel supply/lift pump mounted where the rotary injection pump went on the older motors. Everything else looked like it does on a current-model Jetta PD. The redline looked to be at about 4500 rpm, so basically where it is now. I have to say, this engine was so quiet I literally had trouble believing it was a diesel. It was far quieter than the new Toyota Camry gasser idling next to it, for instance. They said there is extensive exhaust aftertreatment, including catalyst, particle filter, etc, but no urea injection (a good thing, I'd say).