Asking the Horse

retmil46 · **Posted:** Thu Feb 23, 2006 1:08 am

At work, on the different computer stations throughout the plant, you can access the DC and Freightliner company websites. The Freightliner CEO has his own blog page, and a page where you can submit e-mail questions to him, called "Ask The President". Below is, as best I can remember the wording, the question I e-mailed him.

Question : What are DaimlerChrysler's plans on offering a diesel engine option in Chrysler/Dodge/Jeep model POV's?

Comments : Those of us lucky enough to obtain one of the Jeep Liberty CRD diesels think DC hit a home run with this option, and would love to see a diesel engine offered in other Chrysler/Dodge/Jeep vehicles, in particular the Dakota pickup. There have been rumors to both extremes, from DC offering a diesel in every model by '09, to canceling them altogether due to emissions controls. Can you give us any word on this?

Now to wait and see if I get a reply. And see if that reply is from the horse's mouth, or the opposite end.

oldnavy · **Posted:** Thu Feb 23, 2006 8:39 am

Mitch you should have waited till you got the word from the "boss" before posting because we will all be sitting around drooling, trying not to bug you asking " Have you got an answer yet".

So let me be the first.

Have you gotten an answer yet? :wink:

dog_party · **Posted:** Thu Feb 23, 2006 10:53 am

Thanks for sending that letter off! Hopefully it'll come out of the mouth and not the other end.

Here anything yet? :wink:

retmil46 · **Posted:** Thu Feb 23, 2006 1:56 pm

Don't make me turn this Jeep around and take you back home! :lol:

Had to use e-mail address at work, so can't check until I get into work. If it's a positive reply, you might not have to wait for me to post about it, but see it in the paper, the headline saying "Man at Freightliner Plant hauled off to local mental hospital, went completely insane, jumping for joy and kissing coworkers". :shock:

dog_party · **Posted:** Thu Feb 23, 2006 3:06 pm

My diesel wish list: (sorry, just gotta dream while we're waiting for a reply)

Jeep Gladiator
Dodge Magnum
Dodge Dakota 4-door 4X4
Jeep Wrangler
Dodge Viper (hee hee)
-and I know about thirty million people who would buy...
Dodge Caravan

One last thing...are we there yet?

oldnavy · **Posted:** Thu Feb 23, 2006 3:14 pm

This diesel would be on my wish list. Audi

oldnavy · **Posted:** Thu Feb 23, 2006 3:19 pm

dog_party wrote:

My diesel wish list: (sorry, just gotta dream while we're waiting for a reply)

Jeep Gladiator
Dodge Magnum
Dodge Dakota 4-door 4X4
Jeep Wrangler
Dodge Viper (hee hee)
-and I know about thirty million people who would buy...
Dodge Caravan

One last thing...are we there yet?

Dog I think I would take the AWD Magnum CDI over a Gladiator CRD, but I would have to have a test drive to be sure.

dog_party · **Posted:** Thu Feb 23, 2006 3:44 pm

Audi R10'll be good for those last minute beer runs...you know...right before the store closes. Did you hear about the D1 Lola B2K? They're running bio at LeMans in a modified version of the VW V10!

Magnum R/T AWD CDI (drool drool drool). Yep, I'd be hard-pressed to not put that in my driveway too. What a car! Talk about traffic light launches!!! WOOOOOHOOOOOOO!!!

I am still a sucker for trucks though...

"Initial dyno testing shows that the Banks race diesel will make about 900 lb-ft of torque from 2,500 rpm, and, with a very flat torque curve, maxing out at around 1,000 lb-ft of torque. The race engine produces 700 hp at its Banks-imposed redline of 5,000 rpm. A street version of the road-race truck is being developed simultaneously that will produce 900 hp at an even higher redline. The street version should produce over 1,000 lb-ft of torque, so you diesel lovers, get ready for the time of your lives, as good things are about to happen."

I'm sorry...did he say "STREET" version???

:twisted:

Mwwahh aahh haa haa :twisted:

retmil46 · **Posted:** Fri Feb 24, 2006 1:17 am

No answer yet. It could be upwards of a couple weeks before this guy gets around to answering employee e-mail. Could be doing the yearly grand tour of all the plants, might take him that long just to get back to Portland.

jinstall · **Posted:** Fri Feb 24, 2006 11:48 am

oldnavy wrote:

Mitch you should have waited till you got the word from the "boss" before posting because we will all be sitting around drooling, trying not to bug you asking " Have you got an answer yet".

So let me be the first.

Have you gotten an answer yet? :wink:

Come to Germany and drive a A8 4.2TDi Quattro not the the old 4.0L the 4.2L and see what happens.

retmil46 · **Posted:** Fri Mar 03, 2006 1:20 pm

Well, still no word back. Sorta what I expected to be honest. If it doesn't deal directly with Freightliner or something they consider "important", message probably just gets deleted. I'll give it another week, and if still no answer, just chalk it up to the fact that he didn't want to be bothered with it.

dog_party · **Posted:** Fri Mar 03, 2006 3:05 pm

Bummer. Did you tell him there are a bunch of us in the back seat crying?! :lol:

tired_old_dave · **Joined:** Wed Feb 22, 2006 3:45 pm **Posts:** 79

Sometimes when you don't have a horse to ask you find a knight answers your call for help for the new guys.

retmil46 · **Posted:** Wed Mar 22, 2006 1:24 am

Believe it or not, when I went into work today, I'd finally gotten a reply from the CEO to my e-mail! :shock:

Although no specifics, his reply basically was -

WE'RE GONNA GET MORE DIESELS!!!!!

Below is basically the e-mail I got back from Chris Patterson, CEO of Freightliner.

"Dear Mitchell,
Thank you for your e-mail. I'd say 32 mpg is incredible, especially given that the gas model of the Liberty gets 22 going downhill in a tailwind. I'm glad to hear that you're enjoying your Liberty, and I think you'll be pleasantly surprised as more and more diesel models are added to the DaimlerChrysler lineup of cars/trucks in the near future. Stay tuned!

Thanks, Chris"

Sounds like he's actually driven one of the V6's for a while. :wink:

grywlfbg · **Posted:** Wed Mar 22, 2006 11:35 am

Hey, that's great news! And cool that the division head would take the time to answer your e-mail. Nice job!

dog_party · **Posted:** Thu Mar 23, 2006 10:32 am

Holy cow! They answered!!! Come on Gladiator!!

JamesB · **Joined:** Tue Apr 04, 2006 10:28 am **Posts:** 1

retmil46,

Since the automakers frequently use the toxic emissions as an excuse not to offer more diesel vehicles in the US, is there any chance you can forward these articles on to your CEO about a technology, which can reduce toxic emissions by over 80%?

Your CEO just needs to give the command and the engineers will evaluate applying this technology in future engines.

http://www.washingtonfreepress.org/73/g ... Diesel.htm

http://www.gizmag.com/go/4695/

Asking the Horse

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