After a long drought, an American-made compact car will finally offer a diesel engine later this year.
The 2014 Chevy Cruze Clean Turbo Diesel will bring the diesel engine to the world of US automakers in July, and consumers in this country are expected to receive the technology with open arms. The introduction could be a step forward for Chevy, as well as for an American auto industry that's searching for solutions to looming corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) mandates.
"The time and place is exactly right for this," Michael Siegrist, assistant chief engineer of General Motors Powertrain, told Design News recently. "We think there's a pent-up desire for this product."
Click on the image below for a closer look at the Chevy Cruze Diesel.
With a starting price of $25,695, the Cruze Clean Turbo Diesel is expected to appeal to those who want to combine high fuel efficiency with an engine that offers high torque. (Source: Design News)
Indeed, the higher energy levels of diesel fuel could appeal to Americans, many of whom wonder why diesel technology has grabbed about 40 percent of the European auto market, while being virtually ignored by North American-based manufacturers of passenger cars. Chevrolet, for example, hasn't offered an American-made diesel compact since the 1986 Chevette.
But that will change over the next few years, experts say. Chrysler will market a diesel version of it Jeep Grand Cherokee SUV and Mazda plans a diesel for its Mazda6 midsize sedan later this year. Moreover, diesel car sales are expected to jump from 3 percent of US sales in 2012 to 6 percent in 2015, according to market research firm Baum and Associates.
Chevy's new product, slated to hit the streets in July, will take a step in that direction by using diesel technology to deliver a luxury twist to Cruze's entry-level customers. Instead of the 150 lb-ft of torque offered by the Cruze's gasoline burning inline four-cylinder engine, the turbo diesel will provide 258 lb-ft of torque at 2,000 rpm, while maintaining Cruze's fuel efficiency at approximately 42 mpg.
"If you're on an on-ramp, you won't need to squeeze the throttle and you won't need to downshift," Siegrist told us. "This engine has an immense amount of torque. It accelerates to highway speeds almost effortlessly."
The 2.0-liter diesel engine will also employ a turbocharger to help with low-end torque and high-end horsepower. The variable nozzle turbocharger, manufactured by Honeywell, employs a pneumatic actuator to change the position of its vanes when the engine's ECU decides it needs a boost.
Designed at General Motors' (GM's) diesel center of excellence in Torino, Italy, the Cruze engine already has served in several GM vehicles in Europe, including the Astra small family car, Insignia large family car, and the Zafira minivan. Engineers in Torino worked closely with counterparts in Michigan to tweak the design for US emissions and diagnostic requirements, as well as for the wider temperature swings and higher altitudes often experienced by American cars.
Germany has been at the forefront of diesel engine technological advances for years. The design and application of the diesel engine takes a different mindset and also a different customer base. GM virtually singlehandedly destroyed the desirability of passenger car diesels when they "dieselized" the 350 small-block. Cummins helped bring it back with the 'B' series developed with UPS and others for small and medium size trucks but that is much too large and heavy for a passenger car. Volkswagen, Mercedes and BMW have outstanding diesel engines which operate exactly the same as a gasoline burning engines to the point that your typical driver will not notice the difference until they go to a filling station. I am confident American manufacturers can adopt European engines for installation into American cars. I am much less confident American manufacturers will be able to design and manufacture a diesel engine from 'scratch' and would be extremely reluctant to buy one. Engine design seems to be somewhat intuitive and achieveing the 'optimum' design is an iterative process which needs a good starting point and years for improvement.
In Latin America, it's common to see diesel Toyota Camrys and Corollas, among other small Japanese passenger cars. Any idea why the diesel models of these cars aren't sold in the US? Is there a regulatory reason, or do they just not sell well in the US?
It may be that it's just a little to techie in the US. Here you need to use a DEF additive to reduce NOx emissions. This may be a put off.
VW TDIs are fairly common though. Currently the Cruze ECO gas engine is a better deal economically since it gets 42MPG on regular Gas. Diesel is more $ so 42 MPG would not be competitive. I don't find 55 MPG HWY too hard to get with the Cruze ECO but I do need to be careful.
BUT, the torque could be a game changer. I think the target is the VW TDI here. Not the broad market so much.
All this from THE Company that single handedly soured the American public opinion for Diesel powered Autos with the ill conceived Olds Deisel onversion of the late 70's.
There has not been any legislation against Diesel autos in this country, just a long held prejudice against them stemming from that ill fated excusion that lingers to this day.
Two things are the death of diesel engines, both related to poor filtration, and that engine sufered from both and was doomed from the start. Inadequate oil filtration and inadequate fuel/water separation.
Both of these things are amply covered in all true heavy equipment, truck and marine applications and have helped to make diesel use in those fields the mainstay of those industries.
Is GM to be trusted a second time, only time will tell. One can only hope they learned from thier earlier fiasco.
You took the words right out of my mouth. The 350D is the design single handedly responsible for America saying yuck to diesel powered cars for the last 30 years. The diesel has gained much ground back in the truck market, but with the EPA choke hold on anything holy, the diesel is a more complicated mess of ill fitted emissions controls than any underpowered dog of the 1970's...
If I could have a diesel without the garbage, I'd take it. People have a hard enough time maintaining cars with gasoline engines in them, imagine the mainstream disaster this will bring. Truck owners tend to be more mechanically inclined, and apt to pick up on things if they are going wrong. Can you picture a 19 year old tiny bopper going to college, who can barely drive, let alone figure out where the oil goes and forget what grade you're supposed to use with one of these?
Second disaster in the making. Hope I'm wrong, but generally speaking, GM hasn't had the best of luck in breaking new ground... Chevy volt bring back any memories?
California and Mass essentially banned diesel cycle, so car companies don't want to put a product on the road that can't enter the largest market in the country. The EU has lower standards for NOX. The car companies have now developed CATs that can lower the NOX and have particulate traps to reduce those emmisions so they can be sold in CA.
Diesel more expensive than gasoline to produce? Never heard that song sung before. I'd always assumed that the reason ships (even giant container ships), locomotives, commercial vehicles, buses, military armoured vehicles, standby generators, stationary power generators etc all use diesel engines is because the fuel is cheaper and the engine more efficient.
In my country, diesel is more heavily taxed than gasoline, the reasoning being that the goverment will claim the same tax figure even if your engine is more fuel efficient. Commercial users get a tax rebate.
If you want fuel efficency, diesel is the way to go.
But I don't think Germany tries to reach the same low emission levels required here in the US. We'd be far better off with more, clean, diesels on the road. We could probably shave 1-3% of our total liquid fuels consumption.
Diesel is very well suited to US market. The only weak point of diesels is lower power @ same engine volume due to lower max RPMs. But from driving experience it only matters when passing somebody @ 120 MPH - impossible on US roads. Always rent diesels when in Europe; all of them are 2.0L (Europe tax larger engines heavily), turbos for larger power. GM (Opel) are the worst of all (VW, BMW, FIAT, RENAULT): very narrow turbo RPM range (3000-4000) so turbo is practically useless.
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