Volkswagon Diesel cars have been around since the gas revolution of the 70's. When Volkswagon was first introduced just after WWII, and then finally exported into the states in the early 60's with the bug, the cars were run on the normal leaded gas of the day. During WWII, Volkswagon looked for an alternative fuel to run their vehicles in case the allies prevented them from getting any more petroleum based products. In the early 40's, the Volkswagon diesel engine was conceived, but quickly scrapped because it was still based on a petroleum product. In the 70's, there was a large push to eliminate all of the lead in the fuel. This meant that all of the cars of the day had to be refitted to run on lead-free gas. For most car companies, this was a simple fix, and most car manufactures simply tweaked their engines to use the new gas. Then the great gas crisis hit the nations of the world, continuing the problem with using gas as propulsion for the vehicles of the time; however, diesel was not part of this problem though it was petroleum based.
In the mid 70's, instead of tweaking the engine, Volswagon pulled out the old Volkswagon diesel engine, and added it into the new vehicle that they named the Golf. With the new Volkswagon diesel engine, the Golf quickly skyrocketed to popularity, even competing with the immensely popular bug. The next vehicle Volkswagon come out with had an even more improved Volkswagon diesel engine. This new vehicle’s engine was a new concept altogether, and gave the car a acceleration speed, and an unheard of ability of endurance. This new car was called the Rabbit, boasting a 35-40 mpg tag that was unheard of even in today's standards. With the release of fuel problems, Volkwagon went back to making traditional gas vehicles. The Volkwagon diesel technology still lived on in certain models that were produced, but the days of mass production waned into the past.
With the new gas prices rising to hysterical rates, the R & D department of Volkswagon went back to the original Volkswagon Diesel concept, and improved the refinement of diesel and the ability to burn it in an engine. Their first vehicle with the new Volkswagon "clean-diesel" technology was the 2007 Jetta. The public did not receive it with open arms as they did the gulf 30 years before, since it was little more than the old Jetta with a new engine. The Hybrid craze was ruling the gas lines, and few would look at anything that took any type of petroleum product. However, in 2008, Volkswagon introduced the new clean-diesel Polo with an impressive 70 mpg badge that has only been achieved with electric pieces under the hood, Volkswagon again proved themselves as the innovators of gas mileage and vehicle development.