Will there be any compact diesel trucks, like the old VW pickup, for sale in the U.S. in the near future? These little trucks were light-duty but got great gas mileage.
Unfortunately, no, there aren’t any plans we know of for a small diesel truck in the near future. There haven’t even been any smaller diesel truck concepts in recent memory. In fact, diesels were a rare breed in 2007 — even more so than previous years — because of the new, stricter clean-diesel requirements commanded by the federal government. See here for a list of non-heavy-duty diesels available in 2007.
BMW and Audi have announced they will offer more diesel options for 2008, and Volkswagen will bring back its Jetta diesel after it’s re-engineered to meet the feds’ new low-sulfur requirements. The newer diesel engines will make their way into mostly sedans and SUVs, as the automakers who are bringing back diesels don’t have existing pickup chassis in the states for now.
Keep an eye on our auto show and new-car coverage on KickingTires, though, just in case something pops up.
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in the late 80's i spent about 3 years in israel. my business partner and i drove a toyota 4-door short bed pickup - everywhere. power was a 4 cylinder diesel with a 5 or 6 speed tranny. i want that rig to drive here in usa. about 40 plus mpg and all the torque i needed. top speed about 90 to 100 mph - all day in the desert heat.
gimmee one.
Dodge will be offering v-6 and v-8 diesels in the Durango, Dakota, and 1500 Ram pickups in the near future(2009?). They will be Cummins engines, built in Columbus, IN..
Ford ranger is called the thunder in Eupope and Canada. It can be had with a 3 litre diesel and a 2.8 litre diesel. I guess we are to "dumb" in America to get 35 per gallon in a 4 wheel drive that already exists!
The Big Three (and yeah, Toyota) don't want to ruin sales of their gas-sucking monsters. Most folks don't need big p/u trucks but drive them for status and machismo. Now that short-sighted idea is killing their sales.
Good.
I can do w/o an 8' bed in a pinch--though it's handy for those who really use trucks as they were intended. I have a '95 F150 (V8--20mpg highway)that does farm work and gets driven about 1000 miles/year for hauling, not commuting. It's shameful that newer gas-burners cannot match that, but the horsepower/machismo race made everyone in Detroit and Tokyo stupid until gas went up.
So many truck owners like me are just not served by companies today. Yet modern diesels--even the one in our '02 Jetta TDI--are smooth and quiet and have tons of torque. The Jetta ain't no truck, but we get nearly 50 mpg on the highway.
All Ford needs to do is import their European trucks with changes to make them 50-state compliant. As a lover of Ford trucks, I'd wait in line for a "Thunder" (even has a macho name!). But the second another company offers one I'm defecting.
We recently traveled to South Africa. All the cars and trucks were 4-cylinder diesels. They had great horsepower, awesome pulling capacity, and terrific mileage. Those folks were all laughing up their sleeves at those stupid Americans who aren't smart enough to be driving such vehicles. So, just why don't we have those wonderful cars over here?
Traveler
The 2010 VW Robust pickup.
http://www.topspeed.com/cars/car-news/-volkswagen-robustnew-rendering-ar61929.html
Hope they put the clean diesel engine in their new pickup.
rember in 83 chevy made an s10 with a diesel 4 cyl 5 speed I had one that i sold in 99 in michigan
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don't forget that mahindra will be coming to our shores with some diesel offerings
...and...
that diesel showing up in the maxima just might show up somewhere else ;-)