Honda developing clean diesels for sale in the US

Clean diesels should have been out 10 years ago...damn auto/oil industry!!! =)

I can't wait to hear JT's comments on this.
Let's see how long it will take Toyota to figure out that diesels will be a huge part of the auto industry.

It seems that the Germans were right again.

American's just don't have the eye or desire for diesels right now. We are too wrapped up in horsepower and performance than fuel efficiency and the environment. Now I am not ragging on anyone or saying that I am not enjoying the ever colorful discussions that go on within this site, but I would like to see more and more people start to maybe like the idea of cleaner fuels. And no one is saying that cleaner fuels won’t find a way to have a performance side either. The ever so wonderful R&D guys with manufacturers haven’t come up with them yet.

I personally like diesels and love them for the torque. But like most people, they either think of 80’s MB or big trucks.

Around here diesel is running about $2.84 a gallon and Regular is about $2.94.

Same formula, better price, better mileage. The new wave of diesels don't smoke and perform as good as the gas counter parts. The VW TDI Passats and Jetta are very common around here.

Now comes the real question, who will market the first diesel/electric hybrid in the US?

You don't care about diesels? Your tone will change over the next few years, I bet.

Just wait till the first time you need replace a battery pack. Did you know that California is considering adding a hazardous materials surcharge for the battery dispoal on the hybrids?

Lets see,,, pay $7k-$10k more for the hybrid andbthen add the surcharge of $1500. Or pay about $1k to $1500 for the diesel and get the same mileage or better. Price is a factor for many the the diesel pays you back sooner.

There will always be a market for the gas hybrid, but it is still a stop gap.

Being not exposed to the 'good' diesels that europeans have, I don't know quite yet what they can do. I'd like to know but then again I live in America. :)

But I say bring it on. Honda, BMW, someone.

Don't worry too much about JT. According to him if Toyota/Lexus/Scion does not make it, then it is junk to him.

Now, That said, when Toyota finally releases a diesel over here, he will be all over it and heralding the revolution. He seems to be late to the party most of the time. I guess he likes putting his eggs all in one basket.

You know very well why I'm gloating ;)

A nightmare for everyone else? Not unless they can figure out what makes German diesels so good and do it quickly. MB is releasing the Bluetec in a few months.

You are right Toyota does make diesels, but their technology is stuck in WWII. I don't think you want a HINO diesel in your LS.

Don't fool yourself that they are ahead in hybrid technology. Did you read about the new Chrysler hybrid?

How about fuel cell technology? Damiler has been testing it in public for a few years now with UPS trucks, public buses, etc.

It seems to me that the Germans are leading and the Japanese are just waiting to hit the "copy and paste" button.

Here you go:

http://www.worldcarfans.com/news.cfm/country/gcf/newsID/2060428.011/general/manufacturers-develop-ecvt-for-hybrids

BMW, GM, and Daimler hybrid. It makes the Toyota hybrid look primitive. Daimler already has the clean diesels. It looks like the Germans have all the bases covered. Time for Toyota and Honda to hit the "copy and paste" button again.

You're a funny guy.
Here is a good example of Toyota’s primitive hybrid technology:

http://www.askaprice.com/torque-article.asp?article=Diesel_more_economic_than_Hybrid!&item=313

It will take Toyota at least 5-6 years to make a decent diesel.
Either way you look at it the Germans beat them again. The WORLD'S greatest engineers.

The boneheads at Toyota and Honda need to make a U turn quickly...LOL

When are you going to get it?
Today's hybrid technology sucks. It's a huge scam.
Toyota’s great marketing is taking advantage of people that don't know any better. Did you even read my link?
The ML320 CDI had an 11% better MPG than your RX400h. It will outlast the RX 10 fold.

Nice try with the Saturn. You are comparing the world's cheapest hybrid to Toyota's hybrid. On top of that it's not even the same technology. How do you come up with this stuff?
The Saturn is already out. The new BMW, GM, Daimler hybrid will begin production sometime next year.

The diesels will crush Toyota’s primitive hybrids. Mark my words.
It seems that Honda is getting the message, but Toyota and JT are in the SLOW lane.

That is what we have been talking about! It drives like a gas powered car. A little less hp but gobs more torque. These cars are very drivable, with little trade off. BTW before you hybrid nutz go off. These cars are fitted with particulate filters so that is a mute point. Smoking of the old diesels simply not there and the clatter is very minimal.

Honda Vtec 2.2 i-CTDi <br><br>
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http://world.honda.com/news/2005/c050601.html<br><br>
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Ethanol and Bio-diesel are the solution to our gas problem.<br><br>
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Eventually HHO will be the next be break through.

Wake up, all you "cut and paste" people. Toyota brought hybrid to market. So, who's cutting and pasting - MB, BMW, Ford...<br>
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Funny how all the anti-Japanese, pretentious Euro-garb lovin' folks don't see that while MB and BMW bring useless electronic gadgetry to market as innovation, Toyota brought a revolutionary drivetrain. There's no cut & paste in that. Takes engineering, execution, and bank, which, at $19B, Toyota definitely has. <br>
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There's a reason Toyota makes more than any other auto manu in the world: They produce efficiently and sell profitably the products that people want.

For the record, toyota has diesels, I presently drive a 1998 3l turbo diesel hilux surf (four runner) and the engine is very very good, and thats how long its been around. The prado here (think GX470) has a new common rail 3l turbo diesel engine. The have all types of diesels in europe, from a diesel rav 4, to diesel cars, to diesel land cruisers (4.2l turbo diesel which needs updating becuase its so old). So anyone saying toyota dosen't have diesels are sadly mistaken. Honda just recently introduced a diesel engine in europe (last 4 or so years) after not having any for years and years. Before that they had none, so they need to develop some diesel lines. Mitsubishi have diesels (Montero, and Montero sport and their pickups) Even suzuki has diesel vitaras. i will agree the european car manufacturers do have better diesles, the most interseting of the lot is audi, but BMW and MB do have a whole host as well. On one note a friend in the UK has a 1.9 TD VW golf and dare i say it does sound loud, louder than my 3l td..but its a sweet engine...
And for the record, the only reason why european pertol (gas and diesel) prices are so high is just because of tax, nothing more.Strip it down and yes its slightly higher but not as high as someone here suggested...
Europeans aren't interested in hybrids because they have diesels that get beeter fuel economy on a consisten basis..Gas hybrid isn't the future..diesel hybrids are....
Americans are just not interested in diesels for what ever reasons, and some of the maufacturers don't seem to be aiming at it. Ford is introducing a truck that runs on hydrogen, E85 ethanol or gasoline a big V10 engine, and no diesel or bio diesel?
It's unheard of in Europe to have a big SUV that is not diesel much less a truck..In america i seriously doubt they can preene buyers from gas guzzlers..look at the new tahoe, and escaldes they are selling like hot bread in a year where gas prices are 3 dollars a gallon (chump change to most americans it seems)..and here i thought torque was more important for big vehicles to pull them along especially in trucks when you are pulling..Man they have gotten that the other way around.
Also before anyone say it yes i do know that ford etc have diesel trucks but we are talking some 6 - 8l monsters that return 14 - 18 mph..Look at volkswagon, a v10, 5 l with combine fuel economy of 24 mpg? Until fuel is in serious shortage, and until the american consumer is payin close to 5 dollars a gallon they will never care about fuel efficiency....

Our slow move to diesel cars had more to do with our former cheap fuel than with oil company opposition to diesel engines. Getting current clean and quiet diesel engine technology has taken a long and costly technological development. Until recently, the required electronics and advanced fuel injection systems were not available at any cost.<br>
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I expect diesel autos to increase market share steadily over the next several years. The Japanese can enter the market easily if they choose because the engineering requiremetns are well understood by all of the major auto producing nations.

Our slow move to diesel cars had more to do with our former cheap fuel than with oil company opposition to diesel engines. Getting current clean and quiet diesel engine technology has taken a long and costly technological development. Until recently, the required electronics and advanced fuel injection systems were not available at any cost.<br>
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I expect diesel autos to increase market share steadily over the next several years. The Japanese can enter the market easily if they choose because the engineering requiremetns are well understood by all of the major auto producing nations.

It's about time Honda! I hope the 6-cylinder version is an in-line engine. Hybrids are not cost effective because of the higher initial capital cost to the consumer and higher life-cycle maintenance cost due to increased complexity. I fully agree that the Germans have
perfected the diesel art but the Japanese are very good at cloning existing diesel practice and improving upon it.

I'm not a conspericy theory guy, but... diesel technilogy has been kept down for a long time. It was first developed by Dr. Diesel about a hundred years ago with the goal of having a reliable engine that runs on nothing but vegitable oil. And it does. I know this scares the crap out of alot of gas people here in america, but people need to get to know diesel technology FOR THEMSELVES before makeing a decision to cast it aside. It has progressed in every way since the old MB's of 25 years ago, even though these older models are still around in large numbers today.