Acura First to Get Honda Diesel

A vehicle from Honda Motor Co. Ltd.'s Acura brand will be the first recipient of the auto maker's long-awaited 4-cyl. turbodiesel engine next year, Honda CEO Takeo Fukui tells media at the Detroit auto show.

Fukui says there is no grand plan to make Acura a diesel brand, but the product cadence of the unnamed Acura model coincided with Honda's promised 2009 U.S. debut of its clean diesel.

The auto maker also has said diesels will proliferate in its Honda brand lineup in larger models.

Fukui is bullish on diesels, believing Honda will be able to exceed its European production levels of 100,000 units annually in the U.S.

Fukui expects Honda to make money on diesels.