Diesels gaining market acceptance in the US
Both ends of the spectrum at GM will go diesel by 2010'Supermarket' brand Saturn and traditional prestige heavyweight Cadillac are two GM brands that will market diesel-engined passenger cars within three years.
The announcement was made by GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz on the Fastlane enthusiast forum here
Lutz, who is best known in Australia for pushing the Holden Monaro into the US as the Pontiac GTO, was careful to avoid promoting diesels as an instant fix for American companies' current bete noir, CAFE ('Corporate Average Fuel Economy') legislation.
Diesels will not comply with Californian emissions legislation and nor will they comply in other American states adopting the Californian system.
Mr Lutz said "We're doing a bunch of (diesel vehicles) right now. We will be introducing diesel passenger cars in the US. We are going to have a V6 diesel engine for passenger cars, crossovers and light trucks."
Chris Preuss, speaking on behalf of GM said "Getting those engines to be compliant in the US is a matter of cost and emissions compliance. How we can market those in the US is still a question, but we still see diesel having some limited role in the US in the next couple of years."
GM is working on two diesel engines currently. The 2.9-litre V6 is being jointly developed with VM Motori SpA in Italy and will power the 2009 Cadillac CTS sold in Europe. Subsequently, the diesel CTS will also be sold in North America.
The other engine is a 4.5-litre V8 which will find its way into light commercial vehicles and SUVs.
GM is also said to be working on Diesel/hybrid systems similar to the Chevrolet Volt concept shown at the Detroit motor show earlier this year (NAIAS).
The Volt uses an 'e-flex' system, which is GM's jargon for an internal combustion engine that does nothing more than recharging a battery to power an electric motor.
An e-flex Opel Vectra with a diesel engine is expected to be unveiled at the Frankfurt motor show in two months.
This concept may also be shown in Saturn Aura guise at next year's Detroit motor show. The Aura (pictured) is a re-bodied Vectra for the US market.
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