European carmakers take the strong public stance that diesel engines are a better way to save fuel than petrol-electric hybrid powertrains, and many of the national governments agree with them.
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In France, for example, diesel fuel costs about 85 cents per litre, while regular unleaded petrol is €1.10. It is no surprise that Renault and PSA Peugeot Citroën are among Europe’s leaders in sales of diesel passenger cars.
In France in March, 67.5% of all cars sold were diesels, and in all of Western Europe, 43% of cars sold last year were diesel-powered.
“It is the conviction of all the European automakers that the hybrid is not a good solution where diesel is well accepted,” said Jean-Martin Folz, chief executive officer of PSA Peugeot-Citroën, in an interview in March.
This diesel emphasis has some basis in technology. Diesel fuel is richer in energy content and, with modern high-pressure common rail and unit injectors, diesels burn cleaner than ever.
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By GlobalData“A general consensus is that diesel engines are 25% more efficient,” said Larry Burns, GM’s vice-president for advanced development.
That means fewer shiploads of petroleum need be imported, and fewer tonnes of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere.
There is also a political element that goes beyond technology and global warming. Europe’s preference for diesels helped the European carmakers stay well ahead of Asian and American competitors for several years, as both America and Japan have strong anti-diesel lobbies.
In America, the general public doesn’t care about saving fuel, but in Japan it is important, and Japanese leaders Toyota and Honda both developed petrol-electric hybrid powertrains that save as much fuel as diesels do.
“Japan is pushing hard for hybrids,” said Burns in an interview. “Why? Japan is 99 % dependent on imported petroleum, and they are pretty much an anti-diesel society. With high gas prices, a lot of stop-and-go travel, short distances and congested cities, hybrids make sense, right? So if you are Japan as a government, you’re going to push your home industry’s standard and try to shift the world there.”
North America has become a powertrain battleground. Toyota’s Prius is a huge success, while Honda’s Insight and Hybrid Civic are smaller hits.
On the diesel side, Volkswagen has been selling more than 20,000 diesel-powered Jettas, Passats and New Beetles, and this year DaimlerChrysler is selling a diesel-powered Mercedes-Benz E-Class and a Jeep Liberty (aka Cherokee, which has a European-made VM 2.8-litre turbodiesel though a Mercedes unit is used in the diesel PT Cruiser).
Each technology has a marketing advantage: Diesels cost customers about $US1,200 more than a petrol version, and hybrids cost about $3,000 more, but hybrids are cleaner and quieter.
US carmakers caught in the middle
The American companies, Ford and GM, are caught in the middle. As global players, they are forced to develop diesels in Europe, which they each do in partnerships with European carmakers. They also must develop hybrids.
Ford will introduce hybrid drive in its small Escape sport utility this autumn and has two other projects in development. Some General Motors buses and full-size Silverado and Sierra pickups in fleets have mild hybrid systems now, and for 2007 GM plans a full hybrid system for the Tahoe and Yukon full-size sport utilities.
The raging worldwide powertrain battle has spread elsewhere. Korea recently changed its laws to allow diesels, and GM will introduce one there in 2006. Toyota is pushing its Prius in about half of Europe.
“Hybrids are going to catch on,” said James Rosenstein, vice-president of Toyota Europe.
The first generation Prius sold only 4,000 units in Europe in five years, but the second-generation car amassed 3,000 orders in its first two months, Rosenstein added.
Because the battle is global, Europeans with international ambitions – all of them – can’t ignore hybrids. Just as Toyota and Honda have developed diesels for Europe, the Europeans are forced to develop hybrids.
PSA, which gained four points of European market share since 1997 based mainly on its diesel offering, might publicly dismiss hybrids in Europe, but that has not stopped the company’s development of alternatives.
And PSA will have the first European belt-driven stop-and-go system in two B-segment cars this fall.
“We can save substantial fuel with stop-start, without the complexity of the Prius system,” argues Folz.
While not a true hybrid, it is a step in that direction.
More telling, PSA is participating in a British government project with Ricardo Engineering to develop a diesel-hybrid Citroën Berlingo that would emit just 89.5g/km of CO2, compared with the 112g/km achieved by the Citroën C3 with a 1.4-litre HDi diesel.
Two other European carmakers, MG Rover and DaimlerChrysler, are also developing hybrid projects funded by the British Department of Transportation.
The powertrain battle and its demand for engineering resources is risky business.
“There is plenty of work for engineers to do,” notes Burns. “It’s not just the fundamentals of doing the gasoline engines and diesel engines and the ‘hybridisations’ of those, but you also have the transmissions. That proliferation, I don’t know if that’s sustainable for our industry.
“Especially I would say for some of the smaller companies. Focus is critically important in any business. There is not anything that is clearly and unambiguously defining where that’s going to end.”
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