US Jeeps to get diesel?
The likelihood that a U.S. Jeep will gain a diesel engine notched up a tick recently when Chrysler employees were invited to provide their feedback on future Diesel Exhaust Fluid (DEF) fillers. DEF systems are used on the Heavy Duty Ram chassis cab trucks; rumor has had DEF spreading in 2013 to trucks that are legally exempt from using the fluid, since it can increase gas mileage versus Ram’s other method of reducing diesel particulate emissions (which are believed to be carcinogenic).
The invitation noted that “more of our trucks and Jeeps will have these systems” in 2013 and 2014. This may indicate that the Jeepers pining for a return of diesel engines may be finding them, most likely in late 2013, as part of 2014 model-year Wranglers.
European Jeeps all have diesel-engine options, and as North American and European emissions standards converge, the costs of developing systems for North America appear to be decreasing; at the same time, increasingly stringent gas mileage rules are changing the economics behind diesels, which will compete against hybrids, mild-hybrids, electric cars, dual-fuel vehicles, lightweight materials, efficient transmissions and axles, and other ways to gain higher EPA ratings.
