Published Oct 8, 2012 on blogspot.com

Growing up with diesels, I always have had a sort of soft corner for them. Diesels were noisy, spewed black smoke and every vehicle I remember had NVH levels not a soul in the developed world would have approved of. But hey, I grew up in India where diesel engines were ubiquitous, offered higher fuel efficiency, lasted longer, could easily run on kerosene (an even cheaper fuel) and often available for 1/2 to 1/3rd the price of petrol (or gasoline / gas as is known in America). 

I have numerous memories of road trips I have taken in Mahindra Jeeps (yes the Jeep trademark was used in India till the 90s) and in Ambassador diesel. Conversion of old petrol vehicles to diesel ones was a cottage industry up until the late 90s, so much so that this was eating into the sales of new "diesel" vehicles.  It was funny to see older Maruti 800s, which were too small and light to support a diesel engine being beefed up and a diesel engine somehow shoved into their engine bays. 

For the uninformed, it is worth mentioning that until the late 90s in India, there was hardly any luxury appeal with the cars sold. Though the personal car market was revolutionized once Suzuki was allowed to launch the Maruti 800 in 1983, it wasn't uncommon to see up to 6 adults stuffed in such a small car. Even today, the most important buying consideration is fuel economy and unlike other developed countries, the bare bones base models make up the bulk of sales numbers. Almost every compact car sold in India today offers a diesel model and it generally outsells its petrol twin 2:1.

So with this history behind me, when I landed in Chicago in 2005, the very first vehicle I noticed as I walked out of the airport doors was a GMC Yukon Denali. It was cold so I could see vapor coming out the exhaust but there was no noise of a diesel engine or soot at the end of the tailpipe. I had heard about gas being the American fuel of choice but took a few minutes to realize this first hand. Soon I got into a cab (a minivan, petrol of course) and headed to the city. On the way, while my wife was worried about our hotel accommodation and finding an apartment, I was wondering how these people can afford to drive such big cars on petrol :).

Over the next few weeks and months, as I got accustomed and got my driver's license, a couple of things became clear to me 

1. On this land, diesels are only meant for buses and large trucks. 

2. Here diesel actually costs more here than petrol (trust me, this one was not easy to digest).

I cannot express the joy I felt the day I saw a Jetta TDI parked on a street. I immediately said to myself, the owner of this car must be a very smart person :). Hey, it is immaterial that the cars I have owned in the US have been petrol/gas (this is not hypocrisy). 

A little bit of research pointed to the fact that diesels were introduced in America in the 80s. However,  poor design led not just those cars to fail but seriously damaged the reputation of diesel engines in America. Who killed the diesel car, eh?

In the seven years since, I have seen the slow but steady re-introduction of diesel models in the passenger car space. VW has done its part by bringing more refined powerplants to its mass market offerings like the Jetta, Jetta Wagon and Passat. Audi, Mercedes and BMW have also brought their diesel technologies not only in large SUVs like the Q7, GL class and X5 but also to the smaller cars like the BMW 335d (though I am sad that the 335d may get chopped in favor of a hybrid). Its all Germans now though which is understandable considering that diesels account for 50% of sales in Europe and German manufacturers are the major suppliers to US. 

I would love to see the big three and Japanese get into this market and make diesels more affordable. Toyota has a lot of diesel expertise and sells a large number of diesel SUVs and trucks across the world. Subaru is launching some fabulous diesels in Europe and so are the Koreans. Ford and GM sell some nice diesels across the pond and so does Fiat. I wish they brought them here.

Americans regularly drive longer distances than their counterparts elsewhere in the world, either to get to work or take road trips. Diesels are more efficient than gas engines, have loads of torque and compared to hybrids are a lot less complex. Only a few manufacturers have seen success with hybrids, but almost all have great diesel technology at their disposal. It only makes sense that if manufacturers start bringing their clean diesels to American shores they will see much more success as compared to hybrids.