Nissan to Introduce Diesel Engines for Future U.S. Models

Anthony Fontanelle
April 18, 2007

It is a common move for car manufacturers these days to produce smaller vehicles with a lower fuel consumption. This move is triggered by the increasing prices of gasoline.

The spikes on gas and prices has forced car buyers to turn away from bigger cars which more often than not consume a lot more fuel compared to smaller cars. One solution to the demand for fuel-efficient vehicles is the hybrid technology. Several car manufacturers are now employing the hybrid technology on their models. Toyota, Honda, and even Ford have all introduced a hybrid version for some of their popular models.

Toyota has a hybrid version of the Camry, Honda with the hybrid version of the Accord, and Ford with a hybrid SUV that is the Ford Escape Hybrid. While Asian brands are supposed to lead the way with hybrid technology, a prominent Asian car brand has stayed away from the hybrid bandwagon.

For years, Carlos Ghosn, the Chief Executive Officer of Nissan, has been put down the idea of using hybrid technology on their vehicles for they were deeming the technology as an impractical step. Recently, he announced that instead of focusing on hybrid technology, Nissan will be offering clean diesel engines in the U.S. auto market.

Ghosn, just like his counterparts in other car companies, is also looking for ways to meet the market’s demand for fuel efficient vehicles. He and Nissan will also have to find a way to make their cars safer to the environment. The increased awareness of the global community about the threat of global warming has increased the demand for “green” or environment friendly vehicles. In this regard, Nissan has to come up with diesel engine technology which will significantly reduce greenhouse gas emission. After all, diesel engines are known to produce more greenhouse gases than gasoline engines.

Ghosn recently sat down with The Washington Post’s reporters and editors. During the meeting, he stated that the problem currently being faced by the auto industry is in fact caused by its shortsightedness. “The car industry... because it has been a little bit shortsighted, saying all the time" that a change in fuel-efficiency standards "is not possible, this is too expensive, this is not going to happen, put itself in a situation where everybody is focusing on the car industry,” says Ghosn. “The carbon dioxide emitted by a car looks more damaging than the carbon dioxide emitted by everybody else,” he added further.

He also talked about the impact of tougher CAFÉ or corporate average fuel economy. He said that if the government enacts tougher CAFÉ standard for the auto industry, they should also do the same for other industries. “If you take up CAFE for the car industry, just make sure that the other industries also have something similar,” says Ghosn.

As far as the company’s effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions of their vehicles, Ghosn stated that they would be cooperating with their partner, Renault. Carlos Ghosn is also the President and the Chief Executive Officer of the French car brand.

In the past, the collaboration between the two companies has resulted in the development of high quality diesel engines and it would seem that the new generation of diesel engines that Nissan will be introducing to the United States will be even more fuel efficient and would produce lesser amount of greenhouse gas emissions.

For now, the public will have to wait what Nissan will be bringing to the table when it releases Nissan vehicles equipped with diesel engines. One thing is for sure though, diesel engines from Nissan pack a lot of torque which gives any vehicle a good acceleration. That would mean that if the diesel engines are designed to produce a lot of power, highly efficient brake components such as EBC rotors are needed to stop a vehicle equipped with Nissan’s diesel engine safely.

Source:  Amazines.com