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The Joy of Driving Green

Carmakers aim to improve mileage and control emissions, while maintaining performance and luxury

Paul A. Eisenstein
From the Print Edition:
Dennis Haysbert, Nov/Dec 2006

"It's going to take time" to find a way to meet the new rules, asserts General Motors' car czar, Bob Lutz, and by some estimates, the added emissions hardware could bump up the price tag of the typical diesel by as much as $5,000. In practice, however, manufacturers, despite their complaints, find surprising ways of figuring things out, and equally amazing ways of bringing costs down.

Lamentably, diesels have been scarce on the U.S. market in recent years. With the exception of some large domestic trucks, oil burners have largely been limited to a handful of European imports, such as Mercedes and Volkswagen. With the advent of the next-generation emissions standards, manufacturers are actually cutting back on their diesel offerings. But only temporarily.

No automaker has made more diesel products available in the States than Volkswagen. It's pulling several of these models for 2007, but will continue offering a V-10 TDI version of its upmarket Touareg SUV. Look for that stump-pulling turbodiesel to be replaced by a next-generation V-6 TDI in mid-'07.

Jeep has abandoned its Liberty Diesel, but that's little loss. The engine was outdated. The new-for-'07 Grand Cherokee Diesel borrows a Mercedes power train that's about as clean, quick and smooth as anything you can find, here or abroad. Mercedes itself is making a mid-model-year transition with its E320 CDI. This fuel-efficient sedan will get a heart transplant as Mercedes migrates to its new BlueTec diesel technology. The automaker expects to be able to meet the most stringent diesel rules, which are still to come. But getting to that level will require the use of a special urea additive, which has not yet been approved by federal regulators. So stay tuned on Mercedes and its sibling divisions on the Chrysler side.

Other automakers, ranging from Honda to Audi, are also talking up the diesel of late, and, if the market responds, it's a fair bet that they will weigh in with offerings of their own. The market research gurus at J.D. Power and Associates estimate that, by the middle of the next decade, diesels could account for as much as 10 percent of the American market—perhaps more, if gasoline prices resume their upward march.

SMALLER IS SWEETER?
Once U.S. fuel prices tipped $3 a gallon, a surprising shift took place in the American market. For the first time in two decades, motorists began rethinking their love of large SUVs and pickups. While prices had slipped as we went to press and could dip closer to the $2 mark by year's end, auto industry analysts believe we have seen the proverbial paradigm shift, and that there's likely to be no going back. The shift has been a bit less significant in the luxury market. Full-size luxury vehicles, like the Cadillac Escalade, have remained in strong demand, often because of their large cargo and towing capacity.

Nonetheless, a subtle shift to smaller products has become increasingly apparent. It's not an easy sell. American motorists tend to associate size with price. But vehicles like the Audi A3 and the Mini Cooper show that a manufacturer can command a premium for a downsized automobile with big-car attributes. Mercedes will try to crack the code when it finally begins the long awaited launch of its pint-size Smart car, in 2008.

Don't expect to see an end to the luxury horsepower race. The market for 500-plus-horsepower Ferraris and 1001-hp Bugatti Veyrons will likely remain. There will almost certainly be buyers for big SUVs, such as the Lincoln Navigator. But whether motivated by fuel prices, politics or social stigma, even the most affluent American drivers are rethinking their motoring habits and looking for vehicles that are cleaner and more fuel-efficient. Luckily, a range of tantalizing offerings exists to meet that growing push.

Paul A. Eisenstein, a Cigar Aficionado contributing editor, also publishes the Internet magazine www.TheCarConnection.com

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