Frank
Klegon is Executive Vice President of Product Development at
Chrysler LLC According to a recent J.D. Power and Associates survey, 23 percent of Americans said they would consider purchasing a clean diesel-powered vehicle – double the consideration of a year ago.
That’s the good news. The bad news is that the consumer is only willing to pay about an additional $1,500 dollars for diesel, according to the study, which is far less than the current actual cost which can add more than $5,000 to each vehicle. We still have a job to do educating consumers on the costs and benefits of diesel. Nevertheless, we anticipate that diesels will comprise up to 15 percent of the market in the next decade. Chrysler intends to remain in the forefront of diesel technology and promoting the use of clean, renewable biodiesel fuel. Our commitment to this fuel-efficient technology and renewable fuel is solid. We intend to maintain our leadership in the years ahead.
Modern diesels can improve fuel economy by up to 30 percent, and reduce CO2 emissions by up to 20 percent compared with a comparable gasoline-powered vehicle. Real-world tests show that diesel can even be more fuel-effective than gas-electric hybrids, depending on use. But the issue with the diesel engine has never been fuel economy, where the benefit over gas engines is quite clear.
The challenge has always been achieving comparably clean emissions. The conventional wisdom has been that diesel engines simply would not or could not be made to run as clean as gas engines. That’s no longer true; thanks to the BLUETEC system Chrysler shares with our partners at Mercedes-Benz. BLUETEC is a collection of technologies that help meet the most stringent emissions regulations worldwide.
Our current U.S. diesel lineup includes Dodge Sprinter, Jeep Grand Cherokee and the Dodge Ram Heavy Duty. Our BLUETEC Ram Heavy Duty, with a 6.7-liter Cummins Turbo Diesel engine, meets 2010 emissions standards for heavy-duty pickups for all 50 states – three years early!
In addition to the Ram Heavy Duty, Dodge will introduce an all-new Cummins turbodiesel engine in the Ram 1500 after 2009. This new engine will also meet emissions standards in all 50 states. Along with great power and low-end torque, this new engine will provide up to 30 percent improvement in fuel efficiency and up to a 20 percent reduction in CO2 emissions compared to an equivalent gasoline engine.
Here’s another preview of things to come: Starting in model year 2009, the Jeep Grand Cherokee diesel will meet emissions standards in all 50 states, making it another clean-diesel BLUETEC vehicle from Chrysler.
Globally, we sold about 295,000 diesel-powered vehicles last year. We have designed our passenger car, minivan and SUV offerings for Europe to meet the exacting demands of customers who prefer fuel-saving diesels. In fact, about two-thirds of our European sales are diesels. It’s safe to say that we’ll see a continued migration of some of those products brought here to the U.S. market, where we are also exploring additional penetration of our 3.0-liter V-6 diesel engine, and the possibility of a four-cylinder diesel.
So when we say we intend to remain the leaders in diesel, we mean it. And drawing on the diesel expertise of partners like Mercedes-Benz and Cummins, we intend to keep building on our diesel leadership in the years to come!
