Japan: A Change of Heart on Diesels
By Michelle Krebs June 13, 2007Honda plans to sell diesel vehicles in Japan by 2009, the Nikkei business daily reports today. Honda earlier said it could introduce a diesel in the U.S. the same year.
Last year, Honda said it had developed a new and simple diesel as clean as gasoline cars. The engine could be on a car in the U.S. by 2009, Honda said at the time. Nikkei reports the new diesels, development of which Honda has been speeding up, would first go on the compact CR-V sport-utility and Accord sedan.
Hondaâs potential sale of diesels in Japan and the U.S. suggests a shift in strategy by some Japanese automakers.
While Europeans have been ardent proponents of diesels as a way to boost fuel economy and lower emissions, Japanese automakers, especially Toyota, which owns 40 percent of its home market, but also Honda, have promoted hybrids.
But the tide has been turning of late. Honda President Takeo Fukui has hinted he is warming to the idea of a return to diesel cars in Japan. Nissan and Subaru-maker Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd. are eager to add diesels.
Toyota, which offers a diesel in Europe because it has to, remains lukewarm on diesels for Japan and the U.S. It argues the cost of developing a diesel engine clean enough to meet the upcoming strict emissions standards would be prohibitive. Plus, Toyota has dominated the hybrid market, only last week hitting the 1-million sales mark.
But Toyotaâs hybrids suffered a setback as the Wall Street Journal reports today that Toyota has decided not to use lithium-ion batteries for its next-generation Prius, scheduled for a fall 2008 introduction. The technology apparently is not ready for prime time and Toyota is worried about quality problems.
Nissan has taken a different road from the start. Nissan-Renault Carlos Ghosn has been a vocal critic of hybrids. In fact, Nissan, reluctantly, began offering its first and only hybrid â- on the Altima â- only this year and only in a handful of U.S. states. The Altima Hybrid uses Toyota's hybrid technology.
In Japan, diesels are virtually nonexistent due to their poor image as dirty and loud, an image that has changed in Europe and is gradually changing in the U.S. But Nikkei reports Hondaâs introduction of a diesel in its home market could resurrect the all but dead diesel passenger-car market.
DaimlerChrysler currently is the only automaker selling a diesel car, the Mercedes E320 CDI sedan, in Japan. And the automaker says orders have surpassed expectations, hitting 1,000 in April since its launch in August.
What is clear there is no single answer to solving the fuel economy and emissions challenge.
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