Green Daily

I'm a little underwhelmed by some of the hybrids on the market today. Yeah, they get better mileage than their gas counterparts, but I keep expecting the gap to grow so large that there's really no reason not to go with a hybrid. Fortunately, that day may come in a few weeks, when Volkswagen introduces its new diesel-hybrid Golf at the Geneva Motor Show. Supposedly, the new Golf gets 69.1mpg (hwy?), blowing the Prius and the Civic hybrid out of the water.

The new Golf is being geared specifically for the US market, with a focus on the very hybrid-friendly state of California. It's expected to meet US BIN 5 emission standards and releases only 89g/km of CO2 -- compared to the Prius' 104g/km. According to the UK's Channel 4, the diesel-electric power train will eventually be offered on other models like the Jetta and the Audi A3.

This is the closest that Volkwagen has come to having a production-ready hybrid since they started working on them in the early 90's. Of course, since the vehicle is not yet in production and VW hasn't released a timetable -- I have to maintain some skepticism -- but hopefully it will be ready for the 2009 model year.

[via AutoBlogGreen]