Clean Diesel Is Coming! Clean Diesel Is Coming!

With diesel fuel prices down and rivals' diesel programs halted, German carmaker Audi has launched a U.S. marketing push

By David Kiley

Around 20 people—including three former members of Congress; environmental advocates; former Bush, Clinton, and Reagan White House advisers; and lobbyists—gathered at the Watergate Hotel in Washington for a dinner organized for German automaker Audi (NSUG.DE) on May 27. An evening of conversation about alternative fuels, energy policy, and specifically "clean diesel," the event, one of several like it around the country, had the flavor of a campaign stop of a largely unknown third-party political candidate looking for support for a long-shot run at the White House.

The candidate, in this case "clean diesel," with Audi executives serving as campaign managers, has about as good an image with the public as "clean coal" and higher taxes. If the dinners have a theme, it might be "Diesel. It's No Longer a Dirty Word," which happens to be the slogan for a new consumer ad push the German automaker has kicked off just before the big July 4 driving weekend. Unlike past ads from Mercedes-Benz (DAI) and even Audi's sister company, Volkswagen (VOWG), Audi is not just pushing green trees and feel-good environmentalism, or even its Formula One racing wins with a diesel engine. Rather, it's flogging a quasi national security theme, repeating the Environmental Protection Agency statistic that if one-third of Americans drove vehicles that run on "clean diesel," the U.S. could save 1.5 million barrels of oil a day, roughly the amount imported daily from Saudi Arabia.

Audi's Energy Security Ad Campaign

Audi of America, which recently moved its headquarters from beleaguered Detroit to the outskirts of Washington, reckons that consumer resistance to buying diesel vehicles can be broken down if key political influencers understand it better as new energy policy is hashed out at the federal and state levels. "It's very difficult to get an elected or even appointed official today to stand next to a clean-diesel vehicle, unlike a hybrid or electric vehicle," says Audi of America President Johan de Nysschen.

The first ad in the TV campaign, produced by San Francisco ad agency Venables Bell & Partners, shows thousands of oil barrels rolling down streets, eventually converging at an oil tanker, ready to be put back on the ship that brought it. Foreign car companies pushing more fuel-efficient vehicles haven't pushed the energy security button as directly before. "We are out to change the conversation," says de Nysschen. Beyond TV, the campaign has gone to social networking sites, Facebook.com specifically, by way of ads and soon a game that gets people to compare the carbon footprint of their current vehicle vs. an Audi TDI (diesel) on the same trip. Even gas pumps at Shell stations that have digital ad screens will carry the energy security message.

Audi, of course, is self-interested. It is introducing diesel-powered versions of the Q7 SUV and A3 compact this year. In Europe, diesel accounts for almost half of new car sales, as European Union countries tax regular gas more than diesel to encourage people to opt for diesel, which gets about 20% to 35% better fuel economy. The more diesels Audi, together with Volkswagen, can sell in the U.S., the easier it will be to hit newly passed fuel-economy regulations without worrying about much pricier hybrids and electrics.

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