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Diesels just keep motoring along – for now.
Saddled with generally more expensive fuel, costly equipment to scrub emissions, high regulatory hurdles and an outdated reputation for being smoky and loud, light-duty diesel engines in the U.S. market have been treated for decades like the red-headed stepchild of the powertrain family.
Volkswagen’s ploy to sidestep emissions regulations, uncovered in 2015, gave compression-ignition powerplants the kind of black eye that never quite heals. FCA, PSA, Renault, Nissan and Jaguar Land Rover diesel engines also are under scrutiny by authorities.
But don’t entirely count out diesels in the near term either, because automakers continue investing in their development.
