Sep

Frank Klegon on Chrysler’s diesel future

Posted by admin Published in Diesel, Chrysler

Over on the new Chrysler Blog, Product Development boss Frank Klegon has put up a post about diesels at Chrysler. Chrysler has said on several occasions that they expect diesels to eventually form up fifteen percent of the US market by the next decade, a figure comparable to what they expect for hybrids. Now that Chrysler is independent again, they mean to continue working with Mercedes-Benz on diesel systems, including the BlueTec after-treatment technologies.

The latest heavy duty Ram pickups are already compliant with 2010 Tier 2 Bin 5 standards for all fifty states. A new fifty-state legal Cummins diesel V-8 is plus being introduced for the light duty trucks in 2010. Next year for the 2009 model year the Jeep Grand Cherokee diesel

is being upgraded with BlueTec to plus prepare it fifty-state compliant. All the rest of Chrysler’s models that get abroad sales are already engineered for diesel installations and whether diesel sales take off in the US they may bring those models here as well.

The biggest issue Klegon sees is getting society to accept the concept of a $5,000 premium for diesels, particularly clean diesels. A recent J.D. ability survey indicated that the number Americans willing to consider a diesel had doubled. Unfortunately they only indicated a willingness to pay $1,500 for the increasingly efficient engine.

[Source: Chrysler]

Original post by Sam Abuelsamid