BilikFamily.com

How timely! Today's Wall Street Journal has an article on page R4 (subscription req'd) entitled The Other Alternative: Hybrids get all the attention, but biofuels are also starting to gather steam. It's primary focus is on the E85 ethanol ready 'flex-fuel' domestic vehicles and the diesel imports. They mentioned the following tidbits which I found interesting in context of the negotiations I went through on Saturday for our Jetta diesel. Excerpt follows:

Biodiesel already appears to be having some impact on diesel vehicle sales in the U.S. Diesel vehicles accounted for 3.37% of new-vehicle registrations in 2004, the latest data available, up from 2.25% in 2000, according to R.L. Polk, an auto-data provider in Southfield, Mich.

Perhaps even more significant, many diesel automobiles are selling without incentives and close to their suggested retail price -- an anomaly in the discount-driven car business. And diesels are holding their value significantly better than their gasoline counterparts.

The diesel version of VW's Jetta, for instance, is selling for 98.8% of the sticker price, compared with 95% for the gas version. A 2003 diesel Jetta is selling for an average of $16,209; that's 85% of its original sticker price and some $5,000 more than the gasoline-engine Jetta, according to auto-information firm Edmunds.com, based in San Monica, Calif.

In Seattle, some dealers say biodiesel is driving much interest in diesel vehicles. VW dealers there say they're ordering as many new diesels as they can, especially since VW will stop diesel production later this year in preparation for cleaner-diesel technology coming in late 2007. They scout auction and used-car sites looking for bargains, knowing Seattle's growing biodiesel market will drive sales for the near future. A VW spokeswoman says any production disruptions will be minimal.

Matthew Welch, general manager at Carter Volkswagen, in Seattle's Ballard neighborhood, says 50% of Jetta orders are diesels, which he'll increase to 75% soon as VW begins to phase out production. Mr. Welch says he thinks biodiesel has caught on in the area because "more and more people are making statements" about foreign-oil dependency and the environment.

That's pretty close to what I experienced. VW had incentive-based options for financing on other models, but nothing on any of the TDI line. The dealers didn't feel a lot of pressure to deal on price either. It reminded me of when we were buying our Odyssey back in 2001. There were waiting lists to get one so you didn't have much haggle room. On the plus side, the VW dealer I dealt with was willing to give me a trade-in at what the WSJ said should be expected for my Accord. So overall I didn't feel too ripped off.