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

by Cameron Aubernon

August 6th, 2014 2:27 AM

general motors prepares to enter diesel car light duty pickup games

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.”

#2014ManagementBriefingSeminars #Canyon #Chevrolet #Colorado #Cruze #Diesel #GeneralMotors #GMC #Light-dutyPickups #MidsizePickups #Silverado #PassengerVehicles #Sierra #SteveKiefer

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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.

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- FreedMike on Aug 06, 2014
  
  True, and there were lots of other reasons too, like the Gawd-awful, slow, hard to start. smoky and generally nasty Mercedes, VW, Volvo and Peugeot diesels that came out around the same time. They didn't blow up like the GM motors did, but they were no picnic. Plus diesel fuel pumps were scarce back then. I remember having to scout around for diesel for my dad's '85 Mercedes 300 diesel back in the day - no fun. It'd take a pretty awesome diesel to make me consider one today.
  
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- Bball40dtw on Aug 06, 2014
  
  @FreedMike How about the 6.7L Powerstroke or 6.6L Duramax? I want the 6.7L Powerstroke in my C-Max.
  
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- SCE to AUX on Aug 06, 2014
  
  @bball40dtw No doubt today's diesels are vastly better. But relatively cheap gas plus the dreadful converted GM 350 back then have hindered diesel adoption for decades. Today, the problem is the iffy payback due to high diesel fuel prices and the engine price premium. My Optima Hybrid gets 35-45 mpg; why would I want a smelly diesel? Therefore, most Americans are only interested in diesels for their torque - which is nice - but not for the same reasons that make diesels wildly popular in Europe.
  
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- Krhodes1 on Aug 06, 2014
  
  @SCE to AUX Torque is the reason diesels are popular in Europe too. You can get a car with the economy of a gutless 1.2l gas motor that actually has decent performance. If you don't drive enough or can't afford the diesel, you just get the 1.2l. A lot of people seem to think that diesel is somehow massively less expensive in Europe. It's not, it is just slightly cheaper. When I was last there in '11, it worked out to be less than a dollar per gallon difference, when you are talking $10-12/gal gas at that time. And most countries tax diesels more annually. On a strictly TCO basis, you still need to drive a TON of miles even over there. People do it because they are nicer to drive than an equally economical gas engine.
  
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- Hybridkiller on Aug 06, 2014
  
  @FreedMike "It’d take a pretty awesome diesel to make me consider one today." I'm not going to say that driving one would automatically make you want one, but if you haven't driven a modern turbo diesel you really have no idea...
  
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- NoGoYo on Aug 07, 2014
  
  @hybridkiller Not even modern, my neighbor's MkIV TDI Jetta possesses far more punch than its 100 hp would suggest and impressed me in one drive.
  
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- 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...)
  
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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.

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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.

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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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