Clean diesel power: Could it save the U.S. auto industry?

July 7, 6:44 PMNY Autos ExaminerNick Yost

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    The Volkswaagen Jetta TDI SportWagen is rated 30 mpg city, 41 highway. Powerful BMW 335d, below, is rated 23/36.

What will it take to restore the U.S. auto industry to financial stability?

George Hoffer, Virginia Commonwealth University professor of economics who has been researching the industry for 40 years, says the answer is a messiah vehicle.

He defines a messiah vehicle as one that already is in production and can become very popular with one small alteration. As an example, he cites the sport-utility vehicle, which sustained U.S. manufacturers for many years.

That, he said, would allow automakers to charge much higher prices for the vehicles than it costs to produce them.

He believes it will come, but he does not see it on the horizon. Nor does he see the forced proliferation of green technology as the necessary stimulus because the technology is not developed enough to have a significant impact anytime soon.

Could the messiah be hiding in plain sight?

I’m talking about the modern diesel engine. Americans and American manufacturers do not seem to have caught onto the virtues of diesels, apparently because they still recall the days when diesel-powered vehicles were dirty, noisy, smelly and slow.

That is no longer true. Today’s diesel engines are clean, powerful, quiet, fuel efficient, odorless, adaptable to existing vehicles of almost any size and available from the U.S. manufacturers’ overseas partners and subsidiaries.

Contrary to a popular misconception, diesel fuel is readily available almost anywhere and in many places it’s now cheaper than regular-grade gasoline.

It is true that modern diesel engines are more expensive than gasoline engines, but the difference is no greater – and probably less-- than the price difference between gasoline/electric hybrid powerplants and gasoline engines.

The German manufacturers -- particularly Volkswagen and Audi – have launched ambitious advertising campaigns to get us to pay attention to their message.

Consider these important points from the Audi campaign.

• A U.S. Environmental Protection Agency analysis found that if one-third of Americans fueled their cars, pickups and SUVs with clean diesel fuel, Americans would need 1.5 million barrels less of foreign oil per day.

• One drop of diesel fuel has 12 percent more power than one drop of gasoline.

• Turbocharged, direct-injection clean diesel engines reduce carbon emissions by 20 percent over gasoline engines.

• If one-third of Americans switched from gasoline to clean diesel, it would be the equivalent of planting 2.2 billion trees.

With clean diesel engines, Americans can keep their SUVs, pickup trucks, campers, and powerful automobiles while reducing harm to the environment and basically eliminating the need to import foreign oil.

So there you have it, Mr. Fowler, a suggestion for the “one small alteration” that could change existing vehicles into messiah vehicles and lead the American auto industry back to profitability.

As the folks at Audi like to say, “Diesel is no longer a dirty word.”