From Corporate Blogging to Diesel Engines

Corporations are letting their executives blog, most prominently (in my experience) GM.

I own a Saab, and Jay Spenchian, head of Saab USA, posted the “State of Saab” at GM’s FastLane Blog.

What’s so great about blogging & the internet is that the Trollhattan Blog has already posted a response to Spenchian’s post. And I agree with most everything contained therein.

It’s quite interesting to see an executive post about his brand in this way. Obviously, it’s not going to be much more than a glorified press release, but to see GM’s direction and ideas regarding how Saab slots in with the rest of GM’s plans & portfolios is eye-opening.

But GM is missing a couple of big boats. They just yesterday signed a deal with D-C and BMW to develop hybrid technology. What took you so long, guys? In January in Detroit, GM showed off the Opel Astra diesel-electric hybrid to much hope and much acclaim. We all know that hybrids can bump up a car’s fuel efficiency very effectively – but when you mate that technology to an already miserly diesel engine, you’re talking 60-80 MPG instead of 40-50.

So, wouldn’t it match Saab’s reputation for quirkiness to join the small club of automakers that offer diesel passenger cars in the US? VW sells more than anyone with its TDI models, and Mercedes has some CDI engines out there. The Jeep Liberty also comes available with a diesel engine.

But we in New York can’t buy diesels right now because American diesel fuel has too much sulfur in the mix to enable the cleaner-burning engines from Europe to come our way, and that kills diesels for the five states that follow California’s CARB air-quality standards.

But low-sulfur diesel fuel is supposed to be introduced in 2006, and that might change things. But not in the CARB states until manufacturers figure out a way – through particulate traps or urea injection or some other method – to reduce NOx levels to something akin to that of regular gas-burners.

Right now, TDI Volkswagens command a hefty premium because they get mileage in the 40s and 50s without sacrificing performance or looks. Saab could make quite a splash with TiD engines in the States. Let’s hope that $3.00+ gas prices convince them.