The Jeep Liberty CRD, North America’s first diesel-powered midsize SUV when launched last spring, ends its high-profile run with the ’06 model year, according to WardsAuto.com.

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Chrysler reportedly confirmed the Liberty’s US-specification, 160hp 2.8L I4 CRD [supplied by Italy’s VM Motori] will not meet pending Environmental Protection Agency emissions standards.


However, Liberty CRD production for Europe [at Toledo, Ohio], where it is called the Jeep Cherokee, will continue, Ward’s notes, while plans to build a European diesel version of the new Dodge Nitro SUV, which shares a platform with the Liberty and is expected in showrooms next year, also are unaffected.


“The EPA standards that came out for ’07 are definitely tougher, and we would have to make engineering modifications to the engine and other parts of the vehicle,” a Chrysler spokeswoman told Ward’s, adding: “We just couldn’t make a credible business case to do it – especially for a limited-production vehicle.”


Chrysler had projected sales of about 5,000 diesel-powered Libertys. To date, however, deliveries total more than 11,000, Ward’s noted.

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“It definitely exceeded our expectations,” the spokeswoman reportedly said, adding the decision to end production of the Liberty CRD should not be misconstrued. “We are definitely committed to diesel technology.”


WardsAuto.com noted that the move to end North American sales of the Liberty CRD comes hard on the heels of a similar decision by Volkswagen of America which will drop diesel versions of its Golf, Jetta and Beetle models from the 2007 model year range.


WardsAuto.com also noted that the newly-announced US-specification diesel-powered Jeep Grand Cherokee, which is expected in showrooms by first-quarter 2007, will be available only in 45 states because it will not meet more stringent emissions requirements in California, New York, Massachusetts, Vermont and Maine.


The report said the Grand Cherokee’s new Mercedes-Benz-built 215-hp CRD will not feature the German brand’s revolutionary Bluetec emissions-reducing technology, which is scheduled to debut in the US this autumn for the Mercedes E-Class car line.


Ward’s said the ’07 E320 Bluetec has a 210 hp, three-litre V6 direct-injection turbodiesel engine that reduces carbon dioxide emissions by combining exhaust gas recirculation with components such as an oxidising catalytic converter and a particulate filter but, unlike the Grand Cherokee’s 3.0L CRD, however, the Bluetec’s performance is contingent on the availability of low-sulphur diesel which only began flowing from US oil refineries on 1 June.