There was a time when diesel cars were all over the road. As gas prices went up and environmental groups started complaining, the good old diesel car started losing momentum. With the introduction of the 2014 Chevrolet Cruze Turbo Diesel, the American automaker hopes to bring diesel cars onto the roads all across the country.
It’s a hard fight. Despite the clean way that modern diesel engines offer low emissions, the perception is still strong that they are “dirty” and harmful for the environment. Gone are the putrid smells, the clouds of smoke from the exhaust, and the environment-killing byproducts that originally made diesels less appealing in the 70s and 80s. Like the Volkswagen Jetta, the Chevrolet Cruze is cleaner than most gas engines for the environment and gets excellent gas mileage.
That hasn’t translated for the US-automaker yet, at least from a sales perspective. The Jetta still outsells the Cruze almost 10:1. It may help if Chevrolet is able to get the word out better that this is a German-designed Opel engine, something that few would know based upon the marketing that has been done. Even looking at the car itself only hints at this once the hood is popped. The 2.0-liter engine gets 27 mpg in the city and a nice 46 mpg on the highway.
Most analysts predict that more diesels will be coming to America over the years. Chevrolet hopes the Cruze is going to lead the charge.
Here’s a video from HybridCars.com that gives us a closer look: