General Motors Prepares To Enter Diesel Car, Light-Duty Pickup Games

Cameron Aubernon
by Cameron Aubernon

General Motors has few diesel-powered wares at the moment, but with the U.S. diesel market expected to hit 10 percent of the overall market by 2020, GM wants as much as it can get.

Automotive News reports GM vice president of global powertrain Steve Kiefer announced his employer’s diesel plans before those in attendance at the 2014 Management Briefing Seminars in Traverse City, Mich., proclaiming the current Chevrolet Cruze “will be the first of many diesel-powered passenger cars General Motors will offer in the United States.”

Meanwhile, the Duramax V8 offered in GM’s heavy-duty pickups will soon be joined by a 2.8-liter four-pot under the bonnets of the Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon midsize pickups. Beyond this, Kiefer hints that torque will be the driving factor on where more diesels will go. Thus, light-duty versions of the Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra may receive diesel engines to compete against the likes of the Ram 1500 EcoDiesel and the upcoming Ford F-150 SFE.

Kiefer concludes by stating GM will introduce more diesel power into the market “as appropriate and as the market accepts them.”

Cameron Aubernon
Cameron Aubernon

Seattle-based writer, blogger, and photographer for many a publication. Born in Louisville. Raised in Kansas. Where I lay my head is home.

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  • SCE to AUX SCE to AUX on Aug 06, 2014

    Ironic, since the US market's fear of diesels is directly traceable to GM's 1980 350 diesel.

    • See 6 previous
    • Hybridkiller Hybridkiller on Aug 07, 2014

      @NoGoYo In that case a MK6 would probably blow you away - feels almost like a malaise era V8 (it just doesn't sound like one...)

  • Hybridkiller Hybridkiller on Aug 06, 2014

    btw, +1 on every single one of krhodes1's comments. He's making all the arguments I would make, and probably doing a better job of it.

  • Motormouth Motormouth on Aug 07, 2014

    That's an interesting figure, diesels are expected to make up 10% of annual US sales by 2020. I've long thought that some OEMs are missing a trick by pushing hybrids over diesels. Why develop expensive hybrid tech to achieve the same (oe worse) mileage as an efficient diesel? One particular case is with Honda, which is clearly focusing on hybrids in North America. The new 1.6-litre i-DTEC is a great engine, but the company has overspent on development. This engine (in detuned state, using a reduced stroke to offer 1.5-litre capacity, for local tax reasons) is now being used in India, but it needs greater exposure to recoup the costs. North America would be the natural choice and the TD could be used in the Civic, Fit and upcoming Vezel/HR-V, but the company (as is standard for Honda these days) refuses to accept that there's some legs in the idea of offering a diesel in the region. I think it's a missed opportunity - particularly if the quoted future marketshare figure for diesels comes to fruition.

  • Les Les on Aug 10, 2014

    I lost all interest in the Cruze diesel when I found out they made space for the emissions gear by deleting space for a spare tire.. The idea of a car that can go 700 miles between fill-ups Really appeals to me, but NOT if it doesn't carry a spare. Hmmmm.... I wonder what the take-rate would be on an Impala with a V-6 diesel in the 3.0+L range?

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