Buick Will Likely Offer Diesel Verano, Considering More Powerful Encore
Chevrolet will not be the sole brand in GM’s stable to offer a diesel passenger car. According to reports, Buick is next up for a diesel engine. It’s not known which Buick would get an oil burner but the likely candidate is the Verano, which shares a platform with Chevy’s Cruze, which is now available with a four cylinder turbo diesel in the U.S. The Opel Astra, even more closely related to the Verano, already offers a 1.9 liter CTDI diesel in Europe.
The European companies that Buick sees at its competitors are increasing the number of their vehicles offered in the U.S. with diesel power as more consumers look for better fuel economy.
While Buick is looking of ways to improve the fuel economy of the Verano with a diesel, the brand is considering options for what will likely be a more powerful of the Encore. While the company sold more than 3,200 of the small crossovers in September, according to GM sources the primary reason why people who had shopped the Encore didn’t buy it was because of a lack of power. The only available engine in the Encore is GM’s 1.4 liter turbocharged four cylinder petrol engine that puts out 138 horsepower. The GM Ecotec 2.0 and 2.4 liter engines used in other Buick models won’t fit in the Encore’s engine compartment so GM will likely use their new 1.6 liter four.
More by TTAC Staff
Comments
Join the conversation
The Encore and Verano only are offered with 18" wheels mind you.
Why doesn't GM put the new 2.5 four cylinder from the 2014 Malibu into the Verano/ for a real justification of its price bump over the Cruze??
Wouldn't it make more sense to stick a diesel into Regal, since it's Euro twin Insignia is available with the same diesel?
The Cruze is already certified. Verano is similar enough to use some, likely all of that work. Regal would be more involved (time/$) to certify. Regal and Malibu are similar enough to benefit in the same way, but either carline would be a new certification program compared to Verano. The big challenge in America is compliance with tough diesel emissions standards, with onboard urea injection and sophisticated control algorithms necessary to make it all work. Once you get the design you have to conduct a certification process that requires many thousands of miles and careful monitoring. Diesels are more expensive to start with, and the after treatment adds additional cost. The real plus of today's diesels is low end torque for great drive away. In a casual "diagonal slice" meeting, GM's Global Powertrain Engineering VP once made the statement that diesels were viewed as performance vehicles in Europe. It did not make much sense to me then, but After watching the Lemans winning Peugeot diesel accelerate away in the night at the Sebring 12 hours quietly and with otherworldly acceleration, I understood what he meant. Torque, after all, is what we feel,the attribute we measure so as to calculate horsepower.