One last rant DIESEL 2009

[bruno426]

so I am curious, has anyone heard about the mahindra diesel pickup that is coming to the us by the end of the year. 30mpg, 4door, 6 speed, and a one ton payload. This thing is rediculous. Minus the fact that the tires are fairly small, and there is no extended cab version, this thing is rockin. This may very well be another huge blow to the big 3. BUT I look at it this way, if it takes a foreign company to do what american comapnies should have been doing 20yrs ago, and finally makes american companies get the ball rolling, then good on them. Here is a link. Oh and when you get a chance, check out the 4x4 offroad version, all the pictures of it are yellow, but its BA. Here is a link to a review of the truck with some pictures. http://jalopnik.com/5346873/mahindra...iewed/gallery/

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[harby]

Originally Posted by bruno426

so I am curious, has anyone heard about the mahindra diesel pickup that is coming to the us by the end of the year.

30mpg, 4door, 6 speed, and a one ton payload. This thing is rediculous.
Minus the fact that the tires are fairly small, and there is no extended cab version, this thing is rockin.

This may very well be another huge blow to the big 3.

BUT I look at it this way, if it takes a foreign company to do what american comapnies should have been doing 20yrs ago, and finally makes american companies get the ball rolling, then good on them.

Here is a link. Oh and when you get a chance, check out the 4x4 offroad version, all the pictures of it are yellow, but its BA.

Here is a link to a review of the truck with some pictures.

http://jalopnik.com/5346873/mahindra...iewed/gallery/

Mahindra vehicles are not well made and no where near as big (think Hilux size) or luxurious as the RAM, f150 etc etc so I don't think the big 3 will have many worries...

[Altima_wb]

Originally Posted by bruno426

just found another site that said that cummins may allow nissan to put one in a light truck, I could go for that, matter of fact I am almost so mad that I want them to just so chrysler goes donw for good. There were no less than 40 guys that were willing to put cash on the hood or so they said.

actually nissan has already signed a contract for the 5.0 cummins for use in commercial vehicles in the US (think Sprinter) Nissan so far hasn't confirmed or denied if they going to put it in the titan pickups... I think nissan would be extremely smart to throw that cummins in the titan and beat all the big 3 to the market with a 1/2ton diesel.. Gm has also all but dropped the 4.5L 1/2ton duramax from future plans and ford has a 4.5L diesel ready for the 1/2tons but has said since the beginning that they won't use it until either dodge or chevy do it first...

[kingpin]

I would definitely prefer to see the Cummins V8 make it into the Ram 1500. That said, I have read rumors that fiat might have an in house developed diesel engine in the works. Fiat does have a lot of experience with diesel too. They did most of the R&D and then sold CRD technology to Bosch. The thing that worries me is whether they can put a 1500 diesel in the market without a $5k price increase. IMO, it has to be less than $2000 over the price of a hemi. Maybe they can't do the this with cummins for the correct price point on the 1500. I highly doubt most would-be 1500 diesel buyers would willingly cough up $5k to upgrade to diesel. I want a diesel 1500 bad, but I would probably not buy one if it was $5k extra vs. a very capable hemi.

[Hoss356]

That thing looks like a bag of smashed a--holes! So what if it's a one ton, the beds too small to carry S--t and I'd be scared to tow anything heavy behind that little truck, I doubt there's enough weight on them tires to get good traction. Diesel or not, they can keep their POS truck.

[09RAM4WD]

that things horrible looking.....hah

i say bring the cummins diesel to the ram 1500...

[highrevr/tflea]

I cant see any american produced diesel to put in a foreign companies truck unless they are under the same brand nameplate. GM,CHrysler, Ford etc. My cousin is an engineer for cummins I'll ask him if he knws what the deal with the 1500s are.

[KenZ]

Here's my 2 cents worth. Where I work we manufacture the charge air tubes for the diesel trucks both GM and FORD. We have done prototypes for all three brands 1/2 ton diesel trucks. All three were done and ready to go just waiting on a production launch date. Production dates were continuously moved back due to engineering changes, etc. What killed these programs was the economy. When the big three started bleeding money, pretty much all R&D and vehicle launches were scrapped. Chrysler informed us that they were cancelling the program along with a journey program we were working on basically due to lack of cash. The cancellation of the cummins contract was a matter of the bankruptcy. Last we heard that option is still there for Chrysler. Ford kept pushing back they're launch due to design problems with the small engine. Don't know if they got it worked out yet, but they shelved the program for now because of cost. GM's 1/2 ton diesel is ready to rock. The engine test good, they built prototypes and tested them. But the program is on hold due to lack of cash for a launch. I due agree that whoever brings one to market first will sell a ton of them. Unfortunately when/if they due come to market I believe it will be the same mark up as the bigger diesel or close to it. The government is gonna kill the diesel just like they killed the musclecar in the early '70's. The new 2011 emissions requirements as due all emissions add most of the cost to these motors. US emissions are the most stringent in the world that's why alot of foreign diesels are not sold here, and the cost of making them compliant is not worth the effort. Search for new diesel emissions requirements for California on heavy truck and you will see what is coming down the road. Not only due the new rigs have to meet new regs, but if you want to keep the old rig you have only a set amount of time to make it compliant. It even mentions motor replacement for compliance!
Sorry for the novel, couldn't help myself.

[highrevr/tflea]

Interesting... Pehaps they should have seen that coming since the late push of going green.