Does Volvo sell a Diesel Car in North America?

Nope, no diesel at this time, but the XV70 is a AWD wagon.

Joe ha scritto:

No, wait a moment. The new XC70 is sold in Europe since end of July even though its official presentation will be in September. Anyway all Volvo websites in Europe had been showing the new model since May. The US Volvo website is only showing the old beast, no sign of the new one. Probably they have a huge old stock to sell before MY08 comes in?

Too bad there no diesel Volvos.

A diesel XC70 would get great mileage and would totally make sense in NA.

What would be a drawback to having a diesel Volvo?

Thanks!

Tmuld

Tmuldoon schrieb:

I drive one over here in Europe. These Diesel-Volvos would make perfect sense in an US-environment. On a US-highway at 60mph I would easily get

45 miles/US-gallon on my V70 D5. The other positive side ist the enormous torque of the Diesel-engine: 400 NM is better than the best V8 would deliver.

Your welcome!

Joerg

People in the US don't buy them. Volvo makes diesels and sells them all over the world. When they tried to sell them in the US, sales were very sluggish, just like a diesel Volvo.

Volvo Canada said there are numerous challenges in meeting environmental standards of North America.

They said Canadian and American standards (California) are difficult for diesel engines to meet. I am guess they would have to re design their engine - which probably is not cost effective.

I thought Europeans standards were better than NA.

In NA - we do have Mercedes and Volkswagen diesels - they must meet the emission standards.

Quoting Volvo: "Future minimum emissions standards will make it progressively more difficult for diesel-powered vehicles to be certified for sale in this country. Companies like Volvo need to plan for the long term."

The diesel version says 33 600 pound on the UK site - that is about $70 000 USD. A small fortune.

Importing one from Europe would probably not meet standards of NA and rejected.

I would think with the rise in gas prices here - diesels would sell better. Plus their new D5 engine provides more power.

Too bad...would be real nice.

Thanks for all the input!

Tmuld

Drawbacks for any diesel car in USA:

1. Depending on your location there may be only a few stations that sell diesel fuel.
2. Diesel sells for approximately the same as premium gasoline and sometimes more. More than anything else this reduces the financial benefits of a diesel motor. Biodiesel could be a cheaper alternative although there are some conversion costs.
3. A comparably equipped car with a gas motor will probably cost less than one with a diesel motor.
4. Contrary to popular myth the non-fuel cost of operating a diesel over the long haul is about the same as a gasoline equipped engine. They do require maintenance and when something breaks it is usually expensive.
5. Be sure to drive any diesel powered vehicle before buying. Large torque numbers at low rpm's notwithstanding they tend to feel sluggish.

The current problem is a matter of emissions regulations, particularly NOX and particulates. There are a new generation of clean diesels on the way which clear these hurdles, but the reason there are almost no diesel cars on the US market right now is regulatory, not customer preference.

Honda says they will be bringing diesel to the US, probably around 2010.

Many people think that the Europeans are "more green" regulation wise than the US, but it isn't true. Auto emissions standards were in place in the US long before in Europe. Lead was removed from automotive fuels in the US more than a decade ahead of Europe. Current European emissions standards are in fact easier to meet than current California standards.

The are not available in California nor in the other states which follow California emissions requirements.

I didn't know that, that's too bad really, my friend has a Golf turbodiesel and it gets great mileage and has decent performance as well. It's an entirely different beast than the diesel cars of the 1970s that gave them all such a bad rap around here.

Diesels do emit more particulate, but given they burn so much less fuel per mile traveled in general I would think this would even out.

In fact Mercedes is making a diesel engines for light aircraft for the US market.

You have absolutely no clue, desr. The modern Volvo-Diesels have a much better driveability than the gasoline-engines.

Sluggish? That shows you never drove one of the direct injection turbo-diesels.

Joerg

I assume he's talking about the 240 and 760 Diesels we got back in the 80s,

88hp in a 3200LB car, they were slow as molasses, smokey, and very hard to find anyone willing to work on them. We never got any of the modern diesels over here.

My D5 has a 185 hp / 400 NM engine with a modern 6-gear-automatic attached to it. Top speed 225 km/h (140 mph) and an acceleration to 60 mph in under 9s. This cannot called be sluggish. Before, I had the same V70 as a T5 with 250 hp but "only" 340 NM torque. The diesel is much more driveable in everyday conditions and the T5 was only quicker at very high speeds above 120 mph and with high revs. With the diesel I hardly ever use more than 3500 RPMs. In the 6th gear that is equivalent to 122 mph.

What the environmental aspect is conecerned, the 185 hp version is equipped with a particles filter and a catalytic converter and therefore meets the highest international standards.

Joerg

Anyone catch the American Le Mans series road race at Road America last weekend? Them Audi diesels are no slugs...

Neither are other European makes. The market share is going up quickly because of the better economics and also the superior characteristics. Even in countries where Diesel is not subsidised by lower taxes like here in Switzerland.

And this year the Diesel-Audis won the 24h-Le-Mans-Race for the second time in a row.

Roadie schrieb:

Right you are for older models. Diesels in general have a steeper torque curve than gasoline engines. These days the manufacturers compensate for this with very short 1st gears and more gears in total. In the case of my D5 there are 6 gears and the spread between 1st and 6th is roughly 6 to 1 which is very high compared to older transmissions with usually 4 gears and spreads of 4:1 or even less.

Joerg

I only see Volvo Diesels when I pass them in Europe with my gas powered Volvos which I buy over there. Volvo diesels will go fast, but they don't have the quickest acceleration. There aren't any new Volvo diesels in the USA.

For a real comparison:

2007 Volvo C70 SE Lux D5 (2.4 litre turbo) Geartronic takes 9.5 seconds to reach 60 mph (38.7 mpg) 2007 Volvo C70 SE Lux T5 (2.5 litre turbo) Geartronic takes 7.6 seconds to reach 60 mph (31.0 mpg) 2007 Volvo C70 SE Lux 2.4 (2.4 litre turbo) Geartronic takes 9.1 seconds to reach 60 mph (31.4 mpg)

The make the statement: "At £29,420 for the cheapest 'port' version, the D5 is £3,195 pricier than the 2.4-litre petrol. So petrol choosers effectively get more than 21,000 miles of free motoring, while from the D5 has to notch 64,000 miles before that premium begins to return a benefit."

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My work truck has a 6.0L Cummins TDi and has great power on the open road, but calling it sluggish at low speeds is being way too kind. Sluggish cars leave it behind - I've actually had people honk at me when I was accelerating full throttle and gradually building enough speed for the boost to kick in.

The truly awful diesel engines that appeared here in the 1970s have very effectively given diesels in passenger cars a bad name. The relatively primitive diesel engines used in light trucks here only reinforce the image of them being noisy, smelly, hard starting and sluggish. I understand the modulated injection common rail engines overcome many of those defects but the first of those to appear here will have to overcome the image problem that already exists.

Hybrids are gaining ground rapidly and may starve out the market for diesel passenger cars in NA. Even the relatively weakly hybridized cars available today offer better fuel economy around town than comparable diesels (I get upper 40s MPG in town average, 55 or more in good weather) and are infinitely quieter and more responsive at low speeds.

Mike