Diesels and Hybrids hitting the streets

Diesel-powered and hybrid vehicles are expected to nearly triple in the next half-dozen years. By 2015, these types of grocery getters are expected to make up nearly 17 percent of auto sales in the United States.

The rise is diesel and hybrid vehicles are due to the raise in fuel standards - automakers need to hit 35 mpg by 2020 to comply. Of course money is the issue. It's estimated that the tab to reach these levels is $4,000 to $5,000 per vehicle, or a total of $68 to $85 billion.

Excerpt:

Cost is the main reason why there will be fewer hybrids than diesel-powered or flex-fuel vehicles sold in 2015, even though hybrids have the most cachet. But "the price premium for hybrids is the highest," Omotoso said.

Last year, 353,000 hybrids were sold in the United States, accounting for 2.2 percent of the total market. They are expected to comprise 7 percent of the market by 2015, while the share of diesel-powered vehicles is expected to increase to 10 percent from 3.2 percent of the light-vehicle market over the same period.

Compared with hybrids, diesels are struggling with image problems among some U.S. consumers, he said. But cleaner diesel technologies marketed aggressively by German automakers and cleaner, low-sulfur diesel fuel -- plus wider availability of diesel at fueling stations -- will stoke demand.

Read the entire article here.