General Motors today is taking the wraps off its first diesel-powered car for the U.S. since 1986.
It's the diesel version of the
Chevrolet Cruze compact, and the sheet is coming off here at the
Chicago Auto Show.
On the outside, other motorists will barely notice anything is different, except for maybe the "2.0 TD" badge on the outside. (TD is for
Turbo Diesel.)
But under the hood there will beat a 148-horsepower
diesel engine that is expected to get 42 miles a gallon on the highway, although GM officials underscore that testing is still underway.
Since the car carries more than 15 gallons, that's more than 600 miles of range, a key selling point. Plus, it is expected to accelerate from zero to 60
miles per hour in 8.6 seconds.
That's faster than its chief competitor, GM says. And what is that? GM executives don't hold back: The diesel Cruze is aimed straight at the oil-burning version of the
Volkswagen Jetta, one of several diesel models that
VW has shown are popular with buyers.
Starting at $25,695, Cruze diesel will be priced similarly to Jetta diesel.
Like the growing list of automakers who are bringing diesels back to the U.S., GM goes to lengths to say that the Cruze diesel will be clean and quiet, unlike those of the past.
"Cruze turbo diesel is the cleanest operating diesel engine ever produced by General Motors," said Gary Altman, chief engineer for GM's small cars, in a conference call with reporters earlier this week. "We leveraged our global engineering expertise to take a great diesel engine from
Europe and improve it to meet the stringent U.S. standards."
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