Diesel for Acura in 2009

Honda's premium Acura brand will be the first to get the new 4 cylinder i-DTEC engine in 2009. Models fueled by V6 diesel engines will follow after 2010. Honda's CEO, Takeo Fukui, said Honda's clean diesel cars will not require a urea tank as most European systems do. Honda's new diesel drive train generates and stores ammonia within a two-layer catalytic converter to turn nitrogen oxide into harmless nitrogen.

The use of aluminum in the cylinder block instead of steel would also allow it to manufacture the engines using its existing gasoline engine facilities, keeping initial investments down. Mr. Fukui expects Honda's sale of four-cylinder diesel cars to reach about 150,000 vehicles globally by around 2010 with the planned roll-out in the United States and Japan.


i-DTEC: A combination of optimized combustion chamber design and reduced injection time results in a clean, quiet engine that delivers excellent performance for an enjoyable driving experience. In addition, the i-DTEC engine meets the ultra-stringent U.S. EPA Tier II Bin 5 emission standards without the on-board storage of urea.

[Sources] Reuters.com & Honda Press Release