UK vehicular history was made last July. For the first time ever the number of diesel vehicles sold outpaced the number of gas powered vehicles sold. Diesel vehicle sales rose to become 50.6% of automobiles sold in the UK in July while gas powered vehicles plummeted by 13.2%.

The diesel engine has made amazing strides in recent years with it becoming consistently clean and efficient compared to its gas counterpart. Point and fact, the Green Car of the Year Award has gone to a diesel powered vehicle (like the Audi A3 TDI pictured above) for the last two years in a row.

A likely cause for the sharp change in buyers preferences has to do with the recession the UK is experiencing. As new car buyers are looking to save in any way possible they are taking note of the impressive efficiency offered from the new lines of diesel cars which often out perform their gas cousins by 15 – 20%.

So the only question remaining is, why haven’t American car buyers caught on to the solid quality offered by modern diesel engines?

Volkswagen has a slick dual drivetrain system they’ve been working that Audi is looking at using in its next generation A3 model.

The TwinDrive Hybrid system uses an electric motor, with plug-in capability, to power the rear wheels and a turbocharged 1.6L 4-cylinder diesel engine to power the front wheels. The system is currently being tested in the latest VW Golf.

The TwinDrive Hybrid system, which has plug-in capability, will find a home in future Audi A3 models which will see fleet use in 2012.

Running on it’s electric motor only, the Audi A3 Hybrid will have a 31 mile range and be capable of doing 113 miles on a single gallon of diesel.