By Christie Schweinsberg WardsAuto.com, Oct 30, 2008 10:29 AMHonda Motor Co. Ltd.’s plan to bring a diesel-equipped Acura TSX to the U.S. next year is dead before arrival.
“The (diesel in the) Acura has been canceled,” a source familiar with the program tells Ward’s.
A report in the Japanese business daily Nikkei News today says Honda will delay launching a diesel engine in the U.S. until 2010 or later.
A rumor, published this week on the “Temple of VTEC,” a Honda enthusiasts’ website, claims the engine did not meet U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s emissions standards when tested with an automatic transmission.
The diesel-powered TSX equipped with a manual gearbox reportedly passed muster, but Honda rejected the business case to make the vehicle available in the U.S. without an automatic.
American Honda Motor Co. Inc. declines comment.
Honda first announced plans to bring a diesel engine to the U.S. in May 2006. It later was revealed the engine would be the i-DTEC 4-cyl. turbodiesel, already available in the European Honda Accord that is sold in the U.S. as the Acura TSX.
While Fukui declined to reveal which model would receive the diesel, sources say it was intended to power the TSX midsize sedan.
Fukui was bullish on his company’s diesel plans, which were to include the Honda brand at the time, saying the business case suggested “an appropriate profit level,” despite the price premium applied to diesel fuel. He also forecast eventual annual U.S. sales of 150,000 units.
Allen Schaeffer, executive director of the non-profit diesel-advocacy group, Diesel Technology Forum, expresses surprise at the notion Honda did not foresee testing problems.
In terms of performance and emissions achievements, we’ve seen data presented at technical conferences that (Honda) could make this system work,” Schaeffer says. “People don’t make those kinds of announcements without expecting to meet emissions standards.”
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