Volkswagen says US pickup is back on the table

[ranger1]

Ford and GM are looking at the Ram Diesel very closely to see how it sells, thus far it looks like a winner.
(GM owns the other half of VM Motori who builds the 3.0L v6 Diesel for Jeep and the Ram.)
so where is the GM/Chevy V6 diesel?

VW 2.5L, all the power of a 4 cylinder, with all the fuel economy of a 6!

GM sold their half of VM and Fiat now owns all of VM Motori. No VM V6 diesel for GM, unfortunately. I've not been able to find any reference of GM having a diesel engine partner with a V6 diesel.

It makes me wonder if this isn't a replay of the 1980's - just enough diesel vehicles to meet corporate average CAFE FE standards - if the FE standards go away, so do the diesels.

I hope not.

 

[woofie2]

GM sold their half of VM and Fiat now owns all of VM Motori. No VM V6 diesel for GM, unfortunately. I've not been able to find any reference of GM having a diesel engine partner with a V6 diesel.

It makes me wonder if this isn't a replay of the 1980's - just enough diesel vehicles to meet corporate average CAFE FE standards - if the FE standards go away, so do the diesels.

I hope not.

Fiat announced they were purchasing the rest of VM Motori in September 2013, when my post was posted (April 20l3)GM owned 50% of VM Motori.
VM Motori did build the Chevy Cruze diesel motor, but GM made their own .

now that GM is bringing back the Canyon/Colorado, maybe the same 2.0L Diesel power plant will make it into a light truck....

 

[German_1er_diesel]

VM Motori did build the Chevy Cruze diesel motor, but GM made their own .

The engine in the North American Cruze is a Fiat-developed 2.0L diesel that is used in many GM products since the Fiat-GM partnership of a few years ago. It's not a GM developed engine, it's a FPT (Fiat Powertrain) design.

 

[donDavide]

In order for congress to repeal the chicken tax, they have to come together to actually make a decision.

And the party that passed it is currently in control so that won't happen. Just build them here. Maybe do the same as they did with Caravan and rebadge the midsize Ram pickup.

 

[kjclow]

Fiat announced they were purchasing the rest of VM Motori in September 2013, when my post was posted (April 20l3)GM owned 50% of VM Motori.
VM Motori did build the Chevy Cruze diesel motor, but GM made their own .

now that GM is bringing back the Canyon/Colorado, maybe the same 2.0L Diesel power plant will make it into a light truck....

Here's what GM is saying about the Colorado engine:
"The biggest powertrain news is that this new midsize will be the first of its class to get a turbo-diesel option: a U.S.-tuned 2.8-liter inline-four-cylinder Duramax GM has been using overseas. The engine was a joint design between GM and VM Motori several years ago but is now completely owned and used by GM in several global platforms"

from: http://news.pickuptrucks.com/2013/11/2015-chevrolet-colorado-first-look.html and already discussed here: http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=400794

 

[donDavide]

Wasn't the Jeep Liberty a 2.8liter 4 cylinder?

 

[rme]

I think it was....but isn't the diesel GM products built in Thailand...hence why wouldn't it be a GM developed engine produced in Thailand? I dunno just asking....

 

[Kubla84]

not much chance of that happening these days

 

[woofie2]

The engine in the North American Cruze is a Fiat-developed 2.0L diesel that is used in many GM products since the Fiat-GM partnership of a few years ago. It's not a GM developed engine, it's a FPT (Fiat Powertrain) design.

yes, VM Motori designed and built the origional, GM got the IP to build it themselves in the Fiat Buyout of VM Motori

Here's what GM is saying about the Colorado engine:
"The biggest powertrain news is that this new midsize will be the first of its class to get a turbo-diesel option: a U.S.-tuned 2.8-liter inline-four-cylinder Duramax GM has been using overseas. The engine was a joint design between GM and VM Motori several years ago but is now completely owned and used by GM in several global platforms"

from: http://news.pickuptrucks.com/2013/11/2015-chevrolet-colorado-first-look.html and already discussed here: http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=400794

interesting, I am sure they are watching the RAM 1500 to see what level they should release.
google snooping produces a 2.5L and 2.8L used by GM from VM Motori
The 2.0L VM Motori (cruze) is the RA 420 SOHC producing 150 HP, now built by GM daewoo...

 

[TDI2000Zim]

GM sold their half of VM and Fiat now owns all of VM Motori. No VM V6 diesel for GM, unfortunately. I've not been able to find any reference of GM having a diesel engine partner with a V6 diesel.

It makes me wonder if this isn't a replay of the 1980's - just enough diesel vehicles to meet corporate average CAFE FE standards - if the FE standards go away, so do the diesels.

I hope not.

Even if it is merely to meet CAFE standards, the issue is that VW TDi's are getting competition again, which hasn't existed for more than 20 years.

If anything, COMPETITION IS A FUNDAMENTAL AMERICAN VALUE

.

It provides us more options when buying diesel cars (I dream of the day of an Impala TDi), and it will inspire VW to IMPROVE their TDi's (like, build a truly reliable engine that runs well with the US diesel supply...).

 

[rotarykid]

Rocking the amarok: Ph blog

I thought I would post this to make you guys cry....Piston Heads

The Germans do an American style pick-up truck, Paul's not shut up about it since driving it


Pick-up trucks are cool, at least to those of us old enough to remember a pre-Mitsubishi L200 age where such things were either Tamiya-esque Hiluxes, car-derived commercials or, best of all, flare-sided, V8 powered GMCs (remember the Fall Guy?) or suchlike spotted at local custom car shows or maybe on Chelsea Bridge of a Saturday night. Actually, scrap that, the coolest pick-up is the El Camino ... or maybe the F150 ... what about Bigfoot? Anyway, you get the idea. Trucks are cool.

I was pondering this very thing on Twitter recently and praised the VW Amarok for being one of the smartest trucks on the UK market, a bit of class amongst the usual Japanese offerings that looked big on UK roads without being brash.
What surprised me is how many people agreed. And Volkswagen UK's awareness of this Twitter love led to them offering me one to try. I wasn't about to say no. This was my chance to live the dream so I signed up immediately.

It was no V8 bruiser, it had no chrome, no flares, no spotlights on the roof bar and (sadly) no confederate flag to be seen anywhere. But even with an auto 'box, 180hp diesel and 18-inch wheels swallowed up by huge arches it still managed to look (and feel) great. I wanted to park in the trade bay at B&Q, I wanted to head to the beach. I wanted to off-road. Damn it, I wanted to be 'lifestyle'. I wanted to live that dream.

The reality was lots of commuting (at about 28mpg) in a truck with a higher bonnet line than a new Range Rover and the width of a van, but I enjoyed every mile and even took it to a swanky black tie do at The Grosvenor and queued in a line of fancy metal for valet parking at the main entrance. The chap did his best to smile as he took the keys but clearly hated me as he'd missed out on driving the Maserati behind.


While he wasn't a fan, a Metropolitan Police officer was as he came to talk to me about the car as I waited to pick my girlfriend up from another fancy do in town. He wanted to replace his Defender with one, I showed him around it and he seemed impressed. Aforementioned girlfriend enjoyed our time with it too and we took it everywhere we went, most of the time I was a passenger as she wanted to drive it at every opportunity. She called it 'My Beast'. [Stop s******ing at the back - Ed.]
So while I was no Lee Majors, never did make it the beach or put anything in the back of it I still smiled every time I used it. In fact I smiled more than in any sports car I've driven of late. I want one, badly. With a body lift and big spotlights. Let's off road.

Paul

 

[CopaMundial]

Not sure if you're being serious or sarcastic when you say

If anything, COMPETITION IS A FUNDAMENTAL AMERICAN VALUE

.

in a thread about the impact of a 50-year-old tariff that did little but protect US automakers from competition in the light truck market (and keep generations of politicians and lobbyists gainfully employed).

 

[SuperAdellic]

He's not wrong with what he wrote. Competition is something America values. His point is the chicken tax is a protectionist measure that goes against the idea of a free market. No more chicken tax means fairer and broader competition base, ending with better products for all to choose from.

 

[kjclow]

And probably some real trash will show up for awhile, like yugo.

 

[CopaMundial]

And probably some real trash will show up for awhile, like yugo.

We already have the Yugo... only now it's called the Fiat 500.
But that's beside the point because the Chicken Tax never applied to compact cars, or 'passenger cars' at all... just light trucks and commercial vans.

 

[kjclow]

I'm just saying that in addition to the higher quality trucks that we want, there will also be some garbage that creeps in. The Fiat is leaps and bounds above the Yugo. As far as I know, the Fiat doesn't have cardboard door panels and the factory wasn't a converted sewing machine factory. Fiat has been producing cars for a long time so although I don't want one, I think they are probably still decent cars.

 

[rotarykid]

I'm just saying that in addition to the higher quality trucks that we want, there will also be some garbage that creeps in. The Fiat is leaps and bounds above the Yugo. As far as I know, the Fiat doesn't have cardboard door panels and the factory wasn't a converted sewing machine factory. Fiat has been producing cars for a long time so although I don't want one, I think they are probably still decent cars.

What was being said was that the Yugo was the russian built Fiat "licensed" copy of the Fiat 500. I know a dealer that a couple of years ago had six of these sitting behind the dealer in the back lot area rusting away. They were brand new cars but their ownership was in dispute, something about the paperwork being fouled up after the distributor went bankrupt.......

A friends ex-wife had a 500 in the early 80s when they met. One morning when she went out to go to work it threw a rod out the side of that little bitty engine. She comes back in the apartment saying her car won't start so I go out to take a look. Under the car was a puddle of oil with a hole you could stick your hand in on the side of the block......

And side by side by side the old one sold here and the current 500 and the 80s Yugo the similarities are easy to see...

The only cardboard car from the current era I can think of was the 2stroke powered East German Trabant & Wartburg. I saw one of those about 20 years ago....

How about the Lada that was sold in Canada, that was just about the same as the Yugo when it came to build and quality....I saw a few of those is the early 80s running around Canada....It was never sold here in the states....

 

[kjclow]

Ok, we're on the same page now.

 

[CopaMundial]

I'm just saying that in addition to the higher quality trucks that we want, there will also be some garbage that creeps in.

I agree that removing the chicken tax and allowing more trucks to compete would allow some lower quality offerings from overseas makers.
But I would counter that point by saying 50 years of protection has allowed lower quality offerings from US makers to survive.
So the comparison is option (a) gives you more trucks and vans to choose from, some of them will be lousy... and option (b) gives you fewer choices, some of them still lousy and others artificially expensive.

Just to tie up the Yugo / Fiat 500 discussion... what I was mentioning there (in the link I posted) was that the factory that used to make the Yugo now makes the Fiat 500L.
And I agree, the Fiat 500 is leaps and bounds above the quality level of the Yugo of the 80's.

 

[DPM]

bear in mind that at the time, neither Lada nor Yugo were terribly far adrift of the opposition; they were clones of Fiats, reworked in certain areas, and I'd contend they were no worse that those Fiats.

(I drove a Yugo when at school and a friend had a Fiat 128, the underpinnings and many of the interior parts were identical, and my father drove Ladas for fifteen years or so; none of the three caused him any hassles.)

 

[frugality]

I'm just saying that in addition to the higher quality trucks that we want, there will also be some garbage that creeps in.

Reminds me that a few folks on this forum were chompin' at the bit to get a Mahindra diesel pickup a few years ago. But that plan/rumor never materialized.

http://wardsauto.com/news-amp-analysis/mahindra-pickups-hit-us-dealers-december

No thanks. Even the U.S. truck makers can't seem to make pickups that won't get rusted out fenders, rockers, and cab corners. I'm sure a Mahindra would be a rust-bucket in 5 years here in the Midwest.

 

[DickSilver]

The Germans appear to do the best at rust-resistance now. Amarok would be really nice here, but its quality would make it more expensive than run-of-the-mill pickups now sold here.

 

[LRTDI]

The Amarok/Ridgeline/Colorado type PU will grow in market size as Manufacturers seek to raise Corporate MPG numbers and the baby boom come out of their SUV needs into something simpler but practical.

 

[German_1er_diesel]

The Amarok/Ridgeline/Colorado type PU will grow in market size as Manufacturers seek to raise Corporate MPG numbers and the baby boom come out of their SUV needs into something simpler but practical.

The Colorado's bed is significantly narrower than the Amarok's - not sure I'd group it into the same class. Like the new global Ranger, the new Colorado is designed for Asian markets first, which means it is narrow. Amarok is primarily designed for South American markets - so it can fit a 4' sheet of plywood between the wheel arches, which the Colorado can't. (About 4" missing)

Amarok has up to 9ft of bed length available in the single cab (and 7ft in the Double Cab) - Colorado only comes in 5/6ft.

 

[BARIIINGS]

Diesel Amarok - Official Vehicle of the Sochi Olympics

This would be one hell of a truck!

http://www.autoblog.com/2014/02/04/...ter-olympics-comes/?ncid=txtlnkusaolp00000588

 

[TurboABA]

Sochi Winter Olympics reveals world's coolest VW Monster Truck

Look at our TDI engine go! Excuse me while I go cleanup all this drool off myself!

http://ca.autoblog.com/2014/02/04/sochi-winter-olympics-volkswagen-vw-amarok/

 

[TDIMeister]

http://www.autonet.ca/en/2014/02/05/vws-olympic-truck-sets-guinness-record-in-russia

 

[candela]

damn that thing is beautiful.... reminds me of the arctic hilux trucks

 

[Mike_04GolfTDI]

It seems to be called the "Amarok Polar Expedition."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMqkp-081kY

Edit... Maybe not... It's the expedition they were used on that was called that... The truck is just an Amarok, I guess.

 

[Geordi]

The arctic edition is nice... I just want the stock edition here in the USA, with the TDI. Is that so much to ask?