Seven years ago the VW 3L Lupo TDI drove around the world, 33,333 km through Africa, Asia, Australia, North and Central America and Europe, using 792.57 litres in an unmodified production car, on real roads in real traffic and driving at realistic speeds. That is 98.9mpg US!”
It would seem that Japanese car makers have their sights set on the European small car market, specifically diesel compacts and superminis. The European competition among diesel subcompacts include the Citroen C1, Fiat Panda, and VW Lupo / Fox. Mercedes has been testing a diesel Smart since 2005.
Green Car Congress reports that Fuji Heavy will introduce a diesel-powered Impreza in Europe in 2008. To compete in the European market, the new Subaru a year will feature the new boxer turbodiesel engine from Fuji Heavy.
This announcement follows a recent announcement from Honda that it was dropping the hybrid Accord, but would introduce a diesel version. Honda has made a significant commitment to producing a diesel engine. This is a major shift in marketing as diesels have failed to make much of an inroad in the U.S. or Japan markets.
The Suzuki Swift is a fuel-efficient compact diesel on the Global Market and truly a ‘global car’ manufactured in Hungary, Japan, China and India”.
As the Japanese produce more vehicles for a global market they face the demand for more economical vehicles. Suzuki makes a compact diesel and in January Mitsubishi signed an agreement under which PSA Peugeot Citroën will supply MMC with common rail diesel engines.
Yet the biggest move in diesel passenger cars on the global market is the recent announcement by Nissan-Renault. They plan to offer for use in the United States a Nissan Maxima with Tier 2 Bin 5 diesel engine. “The passenger car will be powered by an all-new Alliance engine co-developed with its partner Renault.” And, by global market, Nissan plans to launch vehicles with clean diesel engines in Japan, the United States and China by 2010. Much of this strategy may be how much new car buyers in China and India may decide to choose a passenger vehicle with a diesel engine.
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Xavier Navarro writing for Autoblog Green notes:
Navarro notes that Japanese and Korean manufacturers offer products in this market segment. He cites the new Toyota Auris hatchback as an example. Toyota offers three models in Europe: the Corolla sedan, the Auris hatchback and the Verso MPV.
A range of D-CAT are currently available installed in these three compact models and the RAV-4.
Citroen C1 / Peugeot 107 / Toyota Aygo are
basically all the same vehicle just with minor changes in styling.
Sam Abuelsamid notes:
A Toyota – Isuzu press release recently announced joint development of small diesel engines to be installed in vehicles sold by Toyota. Production is expected to start around 2012.
Isuzu is a major developer of diesel engines and will play the leading role in the development and production of the new engine, which will be will be 1.6-liter engines with an aluminum cylinder block. Diesel engines are about 20% to 30% more fuel efficient than gasoline engines.
By taking advantage of Isuzu’s diesel technology, Toyota could boost sales in Europe, where about half the vehicles sold are diesel powered and it is locked in a sales battle with General Motors Corp.
The joint operation will also help Isuzu boost its supplies of diesel engines, which it currently provides to GM.
Spokesmen for both companies said they are still discussing details of how they will produce the new engines, such as whether they should manufacture the engines through a joint venture or put one auto maker in charge of output.
Toyota and Isuzu have been discussing their collaboration in R&D and production since they formed a partnership in November when Toyota took a 5.9% stake in Isuzu.
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