[getsmart-l] diesel is also getting a new pitch to make engines run more economically and pollute less.

[John O'Gorman]

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20080115.RDETROITDIESEL15/TPStory/?query=diesel
DETROIT AUTO SHOW: ALTERNATIVE FUEL

Push on for 'clean diesel'
JOHN CRAWLEY Reuters News Agency/Globe and Mail January 15, 2008

DETROIT -- A fresh mandate from Washington for auto makers to sharply increase fuel efficiency has given an unexpected boost to a historically unpopular alternative in the United States - diesel.

The fanfare at the North American International Auto Show includes gasoline-electric hybrids and futuristic technologies such as fuel cells, all geared to fight soaring pump prices and conquer what President George W. Bush calls the U.S. "addiction" to oil. 

But diesel is also getting a new pitch, as a viable option to make engines run more economically and pollute less.

Diesel, an oil-based product long favoured in Europe where gasoline is more expensive, has been perennially stalled in the United States because of unacceptably high tailpipe emissions. 

"American consumers still have a negative impression of diesel," Takeo Fukui, chief executive officer of Honda Motor Co., told reporters at the show on Sunday.

But Mr. Fukui also predicted that Honda's new line of "clean diesel" cars due to roll out in the United States in 2009 will make money from day one. The new system will clear the same emissions regulations as gasoline in the United States, he said.

Advanced technology has spawned a cleaner-burning diesel fuel and Honda and other foreign auto makers are using the Detroit show to broaden its appeal for the U.S. market.

The backdrop of a new U.S. law requiring a 40-per-cent jump in fuel efficiency by 2020, and tougher diesel emissions regulations coming at the end of the decade, are driving executives to rethink and improve diesel technology.

Cleaner diesel filters out more pollutants and, for the first time, meets smog pollution laws in all states, according to the Massachusetts-based Union of Concerned Scientists. Clean diesel also delivers power and gets better mileage than gasoline. But the technology costs more to produce than gasoline engines.

"It is a major step forward in fuel saving and we are going across the board to promote technology," said Dieter Zetsche, CEO of Daimler AG and Mercedes-Benz.

"Modern diesel engines provide tremendous torque and a very smooth run and a boost of 20 to 30 per cent in fuel efficiency. Those are very strong arguments for this technology," he said.

Auto makers are expanding their diesel products globally. "There is a trend toward diesel in emerging markets," said Phil Popham, managing director of Britain's Land Rover, a unit of Ford Motor Co.

Ford is hoping for an efficiency bounce with its turbocharged Ecoboost gasoline engine, whose fuel injection technology is borrowed from the diesel concept.

BMW AG is introducing two diesel sedans for the U.S. market beginning next fall. Mercedes has offered clean diesel vehicles in the U.S. market, while Audi and Volkswagen have fuller diesel plans. Land Rover introduced a concept sport utility vehicle that runs on clean diesel.

One of the top developments at the Detroit show came on Sunday when Toyota Motor Corp. president Katsuaki Watanabe said the Japanese auto maker will launch a diesel-powered Tundra pickup truck and Sequoia SUV in the United States soon - an about-face to Toyota's hybrid-centred product strategy. Mr. Watanabe cited a need to help meet new U.S. fuel standards.

Toyota set the standard for hybrid production, and will likely surpass General Motors Corp. as the top global vehicle sales leader when final 2007 sales numbers are in.
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