VW XL-1 tdi powerplant in an e-Golf as a REX?

I wonder how hard it would be for VW to put an XL-1 power plant with 3 gallons of fuel in an e-Golf, and have a VW e-Golf - REx. Thoughts, from VW?

I'd certainly like to see them offer a REx model vs. plug-in hybrid.

But looks like they've already gone for latter:

http://www.autoblog.com/2015/10/09/2016-volkswagen-golf-gte-first-drive-review/

Assuming VW comes out of this scandal alive, I seriously doubt they will bring the TDI back to the US for many years, if ever again. Diesel powered cars and light trucks were never big here, and a lot of automotive pundits blamed the infamous GM 350 diesel of the late 70's/early 80's for Americans' distaste of diesel power. Now they can add the VW TDI scandal to that.

Even in Europe, where diesel has long been popular, they're starting to re-think their views towards diesel being a "clean" fuel.

RonDawg said:

Assuming VW comes out of this scandal alive, I seriously doubt they will bring the TDI back to the US for many years, if ever again. Diesel powered cars and light trucks were never big here, and a lot of automotive pundits blamed the infamous GM 350 diesel of the late 70's/early 80's for Americans' distaste of diesel power. Now they can add the VW TDI scandal to that.

Even in Europe, where diesel has long been popular, they're starting to re-think their views towards diesel being a "clean" fuel.

Click to expand...

If you need work actually done, nothing gives the calories or miles per gallon like diesel fuel. Nothing even comes close. Which is why all shipping, trucking, mining, farming etc, all use diesel or bunker fuel. Because it gets the work done, efficiently.

I just did a trip from Los Angeles to Reno and back, over 5 days. 49.4 MPG in a DSG automatic 6 speed transmission, in a 2014 VW Passat TDI SE with 18" tires. I paid $2.09 a gallon for diesel in Independence, CA, both going there and coming home, on highway 395, doing 65 to 70 the whole way. The passat is very comfortable on long rides, and rides much, much smoother than the e-Golf. Granted, it's not as sporty, but for extended drives, where I need to cover a lot of miles in a day, it's perfect for my needs.

I don't think VW will let politics get in the way of business on their TDI's. This stuff will blow over with EPA and CARB looking like they are doing their jobs right before an election will blow over, and it will be back to business as usual. VW is just buying time until the elections are over.

The fact of the matter is both the EPA and CARB look like shit for not doing their jobs, for not verifying and measuring diesel emissions for years. Government is the one that have eggs on their face, for not doing enough, too little, too late.

I think the diesel was the biggest reason why the XL1 was not imported to the US.

There is no reason they couldn't do an 800cc 2 cylinder gasoline in a non-unobtanium version of the XL1 - and I hope they do!

Even if you don't let politics get in the way of business, business will get in the way of business. You can't sell what nobody will buy, and right now VW is the pariah brand.

Sales are down...WAY down over the previous year. Yes it's largely due to the fact they can't sell any TDI's, but post-Beetle, VW's sales were never that strong in the US, certainly not enough to be a threat to Detroit much less the Japanese (and later the Koreans), and the scandal is just going to hit them that much harder on the PR department. GM and Toyota and Honda can weather (and have weathered) massive scandals; VW in the US not so much.

It's not just the US sales that are negatively affected either. VW's sales in the UK (2nd biggest market for them in Europe after Germany) are down 20% between November 2014 and November 2015: http://money.cnn.com/2015/12/04/news/companies/volkswagen-sales-down/ This article says that VW sales were down a further 13.9% in January 2016 vs. January 2015. Europe is not affected by the stop-sales edict on diesels like the US is, and car sales in the UK are up overall, so it's clearly due to bad publicity.

As a longtime VW owner, you probably remember the early 90's when it was rumored that VW might pull out of the US market due to very poor sales. That was a time when VW dealers in the US were closing left and right. Three long time dealers in my area closed during that time, and only one has since re-opened under a different name.

You're old enough to remember the Audi 5000 unintended acceleration scare of the 1980's, and how Audi sales of both the 5000 and smaller 4000 were badly affected. Audi USA ended up renaming the cars to be more like what they are called in Europe (100 and 90 respectively) in the hopes that consumers would think they were different cars, even though they weren't. And that turned out to be overblown, particularly with a 60 Minutes article whose "test" turned out to be rigged. However VW has nobody to blame but themselves for this one.

Except for their service/parts departments, VW dealers seem to be ghost towns nowadays. The only thing holding them up in North America right now is Audi and Porsche, who don't seem to be as badly affected.

I was old enough to buy a $22,000 MSRP used 1983 Audi 5000TD with 67k miles on it for $4000 in 1986, private party sale, when everyone was claiming sudden acceleration in the gas models. I drove the wheels off of it, 255k miles on it when I sold it for $1500 in 2000. Great driving car. What a hoax that was... Only mistake Audi made was that ergonomically, the brake pedal was a bit too close to the throttle pedal. Noticeable with wide construction Red Wing boots on. Otherwise, not noticed.

Americans have short term memory. Most of the millenials staring at their smart phones aren't reading the news, they are texting or tweeting or facebooking, or what ever. It will blow over. VW will reinvent and remarket itself. Time will tell.

I think an e-Golf REx TDI would interest me a lot, if it could replace my Passat and my e-Golf with just one car. Maybe a e-Passat REx TDI.

VW would be in a much better position if they would hurry up and get the CrossBlue to market. They should also follow through and deliver it with a PHEV drivetrain like they showed in concept form. While they're at it, they should bring the Golf GTE and make a US Passat Plug-In also. My wife would be all over the European Passat GTE Estate. However, there's no way we're ever getting that car here.