WWII convinced Dad of the prowess of German engineering. As a naval aviator he was awed by the Luftwaffe’s aviation marvels, and after the war he simply had to have a Volkswagen—the people’s car. So, he bought a black 1958 VW Beetle that became a fixture in our household. All of us kids learned to drive by putting our “bug” through the paces around the back pasture. For college, Dad bought me a blue 1968 VW Beetle that I outfitted with grass mats and a leather steering wheel cover … but no peace sticker. The VW had great gas mileage at time when no one really cared—except a college student pinching pennies.

Maybe Americans need another “people’s car.” Guess who has it? Volkswagen does. Fast forward to June 18, 2008, as Volkswagen of North America announced the August roll-out of its new 50-state compliant, clean-diesel Jetta with independently verified 44 miles per gallon fuel efficiency burning ultra low sulfur diesel fuel available right now at your local gas station—all this for the list price of $21,990.00. The VW press release nails the sentiment of most American drivers: “The people want better fuel economy with no compromises.”

As the “people” are searching for answers to their personal energy crises, Volkswagen has come up with the solution to mine; and … it’s no Nancy Pelosi-inspired, pie-in-the-sky, wind/solar/flex/geothermal, flower-powered future car. It’s not a twinkle in the eye of a whacked out environmentalist, or the hope of some basement inventor who says the automakers have conspired to keep his 200 mpg gizmo off the market, or the VW L1, or Obama’s buddies in the ethanol business. My solution is something that exists in the here and now. It’s a real life, ready-right-now alternative—the clean diesel.

You probably haven’t heard from the American auto makers that diesel drives over half of the passenger cars and light trucks sold in Europe. It’s a well guarded secret. In fact, the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (AECA) reported that 53.6 percent of new passenger car registrations in the EU were diesel models. Over 70 percent of the new auto registrations in France, Belgium and Spain were diesel powered. Germany accounted for the most new auto registrations in 2007 at over 3 million of which half were diesel. By the way, there were over 14 million new cars put into service in Europe in 2007 compared to about 16 million in the United States during that same time.

EU “directives” for fuel standards and tough emissions regulations have put the Europeans some years ahead of the U.S. in required reductions of auto pollution and fuel standards, such as zero-sulfur diesel. So, the U.S. consumer has the ability to gain the benefit of observing how AECA and the European consumers have responded to tighter regulation and higher fuel prices. Obviously, the European consumers voted with their pocketbooks: the diesel powered automobile is the trend.

AECA members have also struggled with the costs of tighter environmental regulation: “The environmental challenge becomes one of keeping vehicles affordable in order to promote faster fleet renewal, rather than mandating further reductions in emissions levels for new vehicles … A rapid replacement of older vehicles on the road with newer models meeting [existing regulations] will contribute more to reducing emissions levels than any further tightening of limits could achieve.” In layman’s terms, overall pollution levels will decrease if new cars are affordable.

European automakers also know that future autos will be better tailored to usage stating that, “Most likely, the future will see a number technological combinations entering the market, perhaps tailored for different usage, driving locations or circumstances and consumer preference.” Electric and electric-hybrids will be best for urbanized driving. Diesels will be more fuel efficient and environmentally cleaner for the open road, not to mention much more affordable than exotic hybrids.

Just as it did in 1955, it seems that Volkswagen has a technical vision of the “people’s car” and also empathy for how the people want to feel about the environment. Not to be outdone, Volkswagen purchased one year of carbon offsets from Carbonfund.org for each VW vehicle it sold in the United States from September 1, 2007 through January 2, 2008. If VW keeps that up, it’ll be a deal closer for a lot of folks.

I think Dad was on to something.