Bob Lutz Lukewarm At Best On GM Plans For Diesel

[hatrack]

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- In a video posted to his official General Motors blog Thursday, GM vice chairman Bob Lutz took pains to point out that fuel-efficient diesel engines, popular in Europe, will not provide an easy an easy answer to America's petroleum dependence. "Do not assume that the diesel engine is a panacea and is going to make everyone get to a fleet of 36 miles per gallon," Lutz says in the video.

The popular notion Lutz is trying to refute is that diesels, already popular in Europe, offer the fuel economy benefits of gasoline/electric hybrid vehicles but without all the added cost and complexity of gasoline/electric hybrid technology.

The problem, according to Lutz, is that making diesel engines work for the American passenger vehicle market, which is very different from Europe's, will require adding technology. That means adding complexity and cost, just like hybrids. What's worse, along with adding cost and complexity, is that these technologies will also reduce a diesel vehicle's fuel economy, taking away the very reason for turning to diesel in the first place, said Lutz.

The basic problem, according to Lutz, has to do with increasingly tough vehicle emissions standards in the United States. In most of the United States, these standards are already much more stringent than in Europe and they're getting tougher. In some states, those that follow California's emissions standards, these rules are tougher still.

EDIT

http://money.cnn.com/2007/07/13/autos/lutz_on_diesel/index.htm

[Strelnikov_]

1. And the beat goes on

Honda, however, has already announced it will begin selling a 4-cylinder diesel-powered car in 2009. It will be available in all states and it will not use urea injection, the company has said. Mercedes-Benz has also said it would begin selling diesel SUVs in all 50 states.

GM has already announced plans to introduce a 4.5-liter diesel engine that will be available in the company's light-duty trucks and SUVs, including the Hummer H2, in late 2009. That engine will use urea injection and will be available in all 50 states, a GM spokeswoman said later.

A smaller V6 engine mentioned by Lutz in the video will not be used in the United States, as currently planned, the GM spokeswoman said. It will be used in the Cadillac CTS sold in Europe.

[leftupnorth]

2. And they say it's the UAW that's destroying domestic automakers.nt