Diesels We Can't Buy in North America

North America has been, let's face it, utterly slow in accepting diesel as an alternate fuel for passenger cars. To the average North American driver a diesel is what powers dumptrucks, farm tractors, and 18-wheeled rigs.

On the other side of the Atlantic where they average automobile driving consumer is somewhat more enlightened, diesels account for about half the passenger cars on the road.

Autobloggreen.com put together a gallery of 10 diesels available in Europe that are not sold here in North America.

Check out some of these numbers:

10) Chrysler Grand Voyager CRD - 9.4L/100km (25 mpg US)
9) Porsche Cayenne Diesel - 9.4L/100km (25 mpg US)
8) Volvo XC60 - 7.6L/100km (31 mpg US)
7) Jaguar XF S Diesel - 6.7L/100km (35 mpg US)
6) Honda Accord Tourer Type-S - 5.9L/100km (40 mpg US)
5) VW CC Blue TDi - 5.6L/100km (42 mpg US)
4) BMW 116d - 4.4L/100km (53 mpg US)
3) MINI Cooper D - 3.9L/100km (60 mpg US)
2) Ford Fiesta ecoNetic - 3.7L/100km (64 mpg US)
1) smart ForTwo CDI - 3.3L/100km (72 mpg US)

From minivans, to SUVs, to luxury sedans, to wagons, to compacts and subcompacts... each of these vehicles is sold in North America (not always the same name, but the same vehicle nonetheless) with a gasoline burning engine that doesn't even come close to the fuel economy of their diesel burning counterparts, and in some cases doesn't even match the performance numbers either.

Volvo's DRIVe Technology

I think it's absolutely great when an automaker steps back for a moment, takes a look at the vehicles they produce, and asks "how can we make this just a bit better without sacrificing the car itself?"

That's exactly what Volvo has done with their DRIVe technology, which analyzes a vehicle's efficiency and then optimizes it for economy. Volvo calls it a "holistic approach to eco-performance"... which I find irritatingly haughty sounding, but that's just me. The principles and technology involved are totally sound.

Volvo took their diesel powered C30, S40, and V50 and looked at 4 different areas of each of the cars and optimized them accordingly: they reduced aerodynamic drag, they lowered rolling resistance, they used higher gearbox ratios, and a finally, implemented a more efficient driveline.

The end result: an average increase in fuel economy of about 10% over the equivalent standard models, which were already very efficient cars to begin with.

Take a look at the cars in the picture... aside from the unusual looking wheels you can't really see a difference, can you? It just goes to show that automakers can make a difference when they put their minds to it.

Read all the details HERE at greencar.com.