2015 VW Golf to Offer Next-Gen Diesel Power

With the all-new 2015 VW Golf expected to go on sale in the United States later this year, Volkswagen now has confirmed that redesigned compact also will boast an all-new turbodiesel engine among its powertrain choices. Part of the automaker's advanced EA288 engine family, the cutting-edge TDI powerplant provide the same 2.0 liters of displacement as the current four-cylinder TDI unit, and the same stout 236 lb.-ft. of torque, but adds a bump of 10 hp to bring its total to 150 horses.

Now, Volkswagen has yet to reveal EPA information about the 2015 VW Golf TDI, but owners can expect it to be even greener and cleaner than the model it’s replacing, and that car already showcases some fairly gaudy fuel-economy numbers: Regardless of transmission, the 2014 version is rated at 30 mpg city/42 mpg highway/34 mpg combined, and that's while emitting some 13 percent fewer grams of CO2 per mile than the gas-powered 2014 Golf. Along with the 2015 VW Golf TDI, diesel drivers also can expect to see the new engine in the clean-diesel models of the 2015 VW Beetle, Beetle Convertible, Jetta and Passat, all of which are scheduled to go on sale in this country before the year is out.

The unstated goal for Volkswagen: exceeding its record-setting TDI sales total from 2013, when the brand sold more than 100,000 diesel vehicles in this country for the first time ever and held almost 75 percent of the marketplace for diesel-powered passenger cars and SUVs.

“The Volkswagen Group is a leader in Clean Diesel technology,” said Douglas Skorupski, manager of Technical Strategy for Volkswagen of America. “With the introduction of the new EA288 engine, we are excited that our family of TDI Clean Diesel vehicles is continuing to improve and will be even cleaner and more fuel efficient and powerful. We’re excited to see the increasing numbers of customers able to enjoy the reliability, durability, fuel-efficiency and power of Clean Diesel engines.”

(Note: Audi, another member of the Volkswagen Group family of brands, also will offer the new engine in key members of its lineup, including the new 2015 Audi A3 sedan.)