Diesel Pickups Dumped By Detroit?
January 15, 2009
By Bill Visnic
Remember those diesel-engine light-duty pickups we're supposed to be seeing this year? Get ready to hear the words "back burner" in relation to those product plans.
General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler LLC all said as long ago as 2007 they would have diesel engines, respectively, for the GMT 900 pickup line (Chevy Silverado/GMC Sierra); the Ford F-150 and the Dodge Ram. GM is developing an in-house 4.5-liter V8; Ford, an in-house 4.4-liter V8 derived from a European diesel and Chrysler said it would collaborate with longstanding diesel-engine partner Cummins Inc. to produce a V6 diesel.
Each of the Big Three's light-truck diesels was to launch this year. But trade journal Automotive News reports this week that Chrysler has postponed until "at least 2011" a seperate deal to use Cummins' large inline 6-cylinder diesel in heavy-duty (commercially oriented) versions of the new Ram pickup. It represents another in a string of deals between Chrysler and major suppliers recently torn asunder. The announcement casts a distinct shadow of doubt as to whether the Cummins-made light-duty V6 diesel will ever be consummated, and injects yet another reason to question Chrysler's future as an autonomous automaker.
Also this week, Ford effectively ended a long and generally prosperous relationship with its heavy-duty diesel supplier Navistar International Corp. After heavy bickering about problems with the previously successful PowerStroke heavy-duty diesel for Ford's larger F-Series pickups, the companies swapped lawsuits centered around Ford's plan to develop and build its own light-duty diesel.
Now, the two companies' decades-long heavy-duty diesel relationship is over after this year - and although Ford has said it intends to use its own diesel V8 for the light-duty F-Series this year, the Navistar development and the ongoing savaging of the pickup segment lends a pall of uncertainty to Ford's plan. The automaker was silent at the recent Detroit auto show about the diesel-powered F-150, despite formerly insinuating the engine could be earmarked for other light trucks or SUVs as well.
The same is true of GM. Although the company has produced a ground-breaking design for its all-new diesel V8 and confirmed it would be launched for light-duty pickups for the '10 model year, little has been said about the engine since the middle of last year.
Both GM and Ford have in the past cited concerns about the cost of diesel engines and the complex exhaust aftertreatment systems they require - and whether customers of personal-use pickups would embrace such expense. This was before the meltdown of the pickup segment and the broad auto market, not to mention prior to the severe financial distress to grip the Detroit automakers.
One other factor continues to weigh on the resolve of the Detroit automakers to carry out their diesel-pickup plans: the cost of diesel fuel remains stubbornly high in relation to gasoline. Although diesels are expected to return about 25 percent better fuel economy than a comparably-powered gasoline engine, diesel fuel continues to be priced markedly more than 25 percent higher than gasoline at the retail pump. If the fuel-economy advantage of diesel is erased by the cost of the fuel, the automakers believe even fewer customers will opt to lay out the considerable extra cost for the diesel-engine option.
Photo by GM
GM's all-new 4.5-liter V8 boasts a ground-breaking design and is earmarked for use in '10, but recent events cast doubt on the Big Three automakers' resolve to use the fuel-efficient engines in light-duty pickups.
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 4:53 AM under Chrysler , Companies , Ford , GM , Technology | Comments (1) | digg this | Seed Newsvine
11 Series 60 Detroits that are running up and down the road. They are great engines. The older 2 strokes are not up to par with the later (now they are getting older too) inline 6 engines.
http://www.chiefenterprises.com
Posted by: chief01 | January 15, 2009 at 5:36 AM