Urban Sprawl & Selling Diesels

GRAHAM: Urban sprawl could be as bad for kids as junk food…

This is the Environment Report, I’m Lester Graham.

There’s no shortage of finger pointing when it comes to the cause of childhood obesity.
And now DOCTORS are getting into the blame game. Jennifer Guerra’s been looking into this…so Jen, who are we talking about here?
GUERRA: Well, it’s a group called the American Academy of Pediatrics. They put out something called a “policy statement,” in Pediatric Magazine this month. And it basically says urban sprawl is one of the main causes of childhood obesity because often kids can’t walk to parks or schools.
GRAHAM: You said a policy statement…is it actually for policy makers?
GUERRA: Surprisingly…yes. I talked to June Tester – she’s the lead author. She says the current statement is pretty atypical. Most of the time the group just puts out statements for other doctors to read. Since this statement was aimed at lawmakers, it was a little controversial within the group:
SPRAWL2 :14 “…a big difference.”
A lot of time physicians are too busy or feel uncomfortable about being in the role of an advocate. But it’s a shame, because when physicians are actually motivated enough to speak to legislators, it can actually make a big difference.
GUERRA: Tester says she’s gotten a lot of positive response from the urban planning community. Now she hopes lawmakers keep the research in mind when they go to vote for legislation that will affect a community’s design.
GRAHAM: Thanks Jen
GUERRA: Sure!

(((STING)))

This is The Environment Report.

If you’re thinking about buying a cleaner, more fuel-efficient car, you might think a hybrid is your best option. But some automakers want people to look at an older technology when they’re looking for green cars: the diesel engine.
Julie Grant reports.

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Lots of automakers make diesel cars – BMW, Ford, General Motors, Volkswagon. But they sell most of them in Europe, not the U.S. Diesel engines have a bad rap here. Just ask Jerry Doble, he used to drive a diesel truck…

DOBLE: THEY’RE NOISY AND THEY’RE SMELLY AND THEY’RE HARD TO START IN THE WINTER. AND THAT’S ABOUT IT, I GUESS. [:10]

But Doble hasn’t seen the new diesel cars making their way from Europe.

Mike Omotoso is an auto industry analyst with JD Power and Associates. He says diesel carmakers have lowered their tailpipe emissions. They’ve put in extensive filtering systems. Plus, the fuel, itself, is cleaner than it used to be.
Diesel used to have lots of stinky sulfur – up to 500 parts per million – now it has only 15 parts per million.

But Omotoso says when most Americans think of clean cars, diesels aren’t the first thing that come to mind.

OMOTOSO: WHEN PEOPLE THINK OF CLEAN VEHICLES THEY THINK OF THE PRIUS FIRST, AND THEN THEY THINK OF TOYOTA AND THEY THINK OF HONDA AS WELL. THE MANUFACTURERS, ESPECIALLY THE GERMAN MANUFACTURERS, ARE HAVING TO DO A JOB CATCHING UP TO THE POSTIVIE PUBLICITY OF HYBRIDS. SO THEY HAVE TO PERSUADE THE AMERICAN PUBLIC THAT DIESELS CAN BE CLEAN AS WELL. [:23]

That’s why you may have seen those Volkswagon commercials on TV – where one neighbor has a Prius, and the other a new Jetta TDI – diesel:

COMMERCIAL: VW: A TDI SET A GUINESS WORLD RECORD 58 MILES PER GALLON.
PRIUS OWNER: 58 MILES PER GALLON!
VW: BUT THIS BABY HAULS.
IT’S LIKE ERRR…ERRR…
WHAT DOES YOUR PRIUS SOUND LIKE?
PRIUS OWNER: OOOO
VW: OH, THAT’S COOL. [:13]
[MUSIC OUT]

There’s a couple of things going on in that commercial.
It’s pushing the diesel as a green car. It’s also trying to dispel the image of diesels being slow and clunky. They’re trying to push diesels as green, muscle cars.


At this Volkswagon dealership, salesman Aaron Heinlein
says these commercials are having some success. He says the only people who used to buy diesels worked with the railways, in construction, or on farms. But this week, he sold a TDI Jetta to a dietician:

AARON: SHE WOULD BE THE CUSTOMER THAT IF SHE CAME IN FOUR YEARS AGO, I WOULD HAVE SAID, WOW, YOU WANT TO LOOK AT A DIESEL? COOL, I’LL SHOW YOU ONE. NOW IT’S JUST, THAT’S THE NORM. IT’S THE LAWYER, IT’S THE DENTIST, IT’S THE TRAVELING SALESPERSON WHO IS IN THEIR CAR A LOT AND NEEDS BETTER FUEL MILEAGE THAT YOU WOULDN’T HAVE SEEN FOUR YEARS AGO. [:22]


Diesels cars still makeup less than one percent of the market. Americans want power and speed and that’s not how they think about diesel engines. Things are different in Europe, where gas is upwards of 8-dollars per gallon and consumers are focused on good gas mileage.

Auto industry analysts are expecting to see a jump in diesel sales in the U.S. in the next few years. But JD Power and Associates doesn’t expect all this marketing to make a huge dent in American car sales. They’re forecasting diesel car sales at 4-5-percent of the market by 2016. That’s when the new federal fuel standards take effect.

By the way… the EPA says the Volkswagen TDI will get 41 miles per gallon highway… not the 58 advertised. But reviewers say we’ll only know after some real world driving… it might be better than the EPA’s estimate.