January 8, 2007. Copyright 2007, Graphic News. All rights reserved

Bluetec may trigger American love affair with diesels
By Neil Winton

LONDON, January 8, Graphic News:  Every other new car bought in Europe is a diesel, but only about one in 25 American cars is powered by an oil-burning engine.

There are powerful reasons for this. Europeans pay roughly three times the price for gasoline compared with Americans, so the around 30 percent improvement in fuel economy which diesels can give is a powerful incentive on that side of the pond. American experience with diesel engines has not been happy. Diesels appeared briefly during the fuel crisis of the late 1970s and were noisy, smoky and unreliable. Because of this, diesel has a negative connotation with American drivers. And to buy it now, they often have to queue up with the truckers.

But fuel prices in the U.S. are rising, and Americans have been forsaking their gigantic gas-guzzling Sport Utility Vehicles. Worries about climate change, said by some scientists to be caused in part by the carbon dioxide created by using fossil fuel-powered vehicles, have caused some drivers to seek more environmentally-friendly and economic personal transport.

Introducing Bluetec, the antithesis of the old, clunky diesel.

DaimlerChryslerÕs Mercedes Benz has joined with Volkswagen to promote clean diesel with the Bluetec system, which uses exhaust gas traps, filters and urea injection to clean up emissions. Urea injection systems spray an ammonia-like acid into the exhaust, sharply cutting emissions of oxides of nitrogen (NOX).

Mercedes kicked off the Bluetec project late last year, offering its E-class sedan with a 2.7 litre Bluetec engine in the U.S., coinciding with the introduction of ultra-low-sulphur diesel. Diesel sales were inhibited by the high sulphur content of U.S. diesel compared with European fuel. This made it impossible to clean emissions economically and remove dangerous NOX. The introduction of ultra-low-sulphur diesel in October 2006 allowed this for the first time.

This year, Chrysler will put the engine in a Jeep Grand Cherokee. Mercedes R, M and GL-class vehicles will eventually use Bluetec. VWÕs new Tiguan compact SUV will offer the engine when it goes on sale late this year. AudiÕs Q7 SUV (VW owns Audi) will be Bluetec-equipped too, and will make its debut at the Detroit car show, which opens to the public from January 13-21. BMW is also expected to join the group later this year.

U.S. automotive consultancy J.D.Power reckons diesels will more than double sales to take nine percent of the market in 2013 from 3.8 percent in 2006, and reach 15 percent by 2015.

Peter Schmidt, Editor of European newsletter Automotive Industry Data, says that modern diesels are so good, when Americans find out about them, they wonÕt be able to resist.

ÒWhen word gets around about the dieselÕs fuel economy, the additional torque, the longevity, the silky-smoothness, we could see the momentum and explosive growth we have seen in Europe. There could be even more rapid growth. By 2020, 2025, diesels could be as significant in the U.S. as they are in Europe now,Ó Schmidt said.
/ENDS