DETROIT -- Europeans prize diesel engines for their fuel efficiency and power, but US buyers have been slow to embrace them because of environmental concerns and bad memories of the belching diesels of the 1980s. Only about 3 percent of the vehicles sold in the United States last year had diesel engines, compared to 50 percent of the vehicles in Europe.
But automakers are betting that will change now that diesel is getting cleaner, gas prices are rising, and consumers are paying more attention to fuel economy. Diesels are 30 percent more efficient than gas engines, and unlike gas-electric hybrids, which get better fuel economy in city driving, diesels are equally efficient on the highway.
''This really, I think, is a whole new direction this market can take," DaimlerChrysler AG chairman and chief executive Dieter Zetsche told reporters this week here at the North American International Auto Show.
Zetsche promoted DaimlerChrysler's Bluetec diesel technology, which will make its US debut this fall on the 2007 Mercedes E320 sedan. DaimlerChrysler says Bluetec is so clean it can meet emissions regulations in all 50 states, including the five states where diesels aren't sold because they can't meet emissions standards: California, Massachusetts, Maine, New York, and Vermont.
Zetsche said DaimlerChrysler plans to add Bluetec technology to other brands in its lineup, including Chrysler and Jeep.
Ford Motor Co. is displaying the Ford Reflex concept at the auto show, a sports car with a hybrid-diesel engine it says can get 65 miles per gallon.
Honda Motor Co., which already sells diesels in Europe, said it's monitoring US demand, while Nissan Motor Co. president and chief executive Carlos Ghosn said the company is working on diesels and will be ready if consumers demand them.
© Copyright 2006 Globe Newspaper Company.
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