Our CEO showed up at the Cleveland NC plant yesterday for a town hall meeting. Part of the talk he gave was on the new '07 emissions requirements and the engines they're developing to meet them.

Rest easy guys, diesels ain't going away anytime soon.

He said that the engine manufacturers let the '02 requirements catch them flat footed. He didn't elaborate on that. My guess is that with a new business-friendly administration in Washington, they were expecting the EPA requirements to go away. He said they did very little testing on the '02 engines before introduction, and had quite a few operation and reliability problems. Perhaps we weren't the only ones swapping out EGR valves?

But for '07, the engine manufacturers had their ducks in a row, and with what they learned from the '02 experience were actually finding it easier to meet the '07 requirements than anticipated. He mentioned that some of the '07 engines were doing well enough in testing that they probably wouldn't take a hit on fuel economy even with the new standards. One new engine by MB, designed to replace the MBE 4000 and Detroit Series 60, was expected to get BETTER fuel economy with the '07 regs than the previous models did under '02.

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Mitchell Oates
'87 MB 300D Diamond Blue Metallic
'87 MB 300D - R.I.P. 12/08
'05 Sport CRD Stone White
Provent CCV Filter/AT2525 Muffler
Stanadyne 30 u/Cat 2 u Fuel Filters
Fumoto Drain/Fleetguard LF3487 Oil filter
V6 Airbox/Amsoil EAA Air Filter
Suncoast TC/Shift Kit/Aux Cooler
Kennedy Lift Pump/Return Fuel Cooler

Mitchell Oates
I want to thank you for my aero-turbine. I thanked you at edmunds hoping that you may have been watching.

That's good info retmil46. Thanks for sharing that. I assumed it was an "Ohh, they'll change those EPS regs" ball-drop in 02, but I had never heard anyone say as much.

I'm glad to hear that the ducks are lined up for 07. I can't wait to see what is offered and what numbers are posted!!

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_______________________DogDomain_______________________

You ought to publish this over in the VW TDI forum, they might find it as good news to hear.

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91 MB 300D 2.5L Turbo. Her's

05 MB E320 CDI. Mine