A new diesel engine expected to return 45-46 mpg on the highway has been announced for a number of new Volkswagen vehicles.

The Volkswagen EA288 diesel engine will debut in the second half of 2014 according to a company press statement.

"(The engine) will eventually replace all the 2.0-liter TDI Clean Diesel engines fitted in Audi and Volkswagen TDI Clean Diesel models," said VW in a press statement.

Volkswagen confirmed this week that the 2015 Volkswagen Golf, Beetle, Passat, and Jetta.

Fuel economy estimates for the new diesel engine have not been officially released.

The 2013 Volkswagen Jetta TDI with a 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine returns 30 mpg in city driving and 42 mpg on the highway according to the EPA.

"We're hoping it should see an improvement of around 8 percent on the highway," said Mark Gillies, a Volkswagen spokesman, according Edmunds.

Volkswagen said the new engine is a turbocharged, common-rail direct-injection four-cylinder engine that achieves 150 horsepower. The engine will be "more clean, fuel efficient and powerful" according to Volkswagen.

The automaker has sold over 47,000 clean-diesel vehicles, including over 10,000 last month.

"This represents nearly 78 percent of the diesel sales for passenger's cars in the United States this year," said the company.

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