FRANKFURT, Germany – Automakers seeking to go green are facing an array of choices and technology, from ion-lithium batteries coupled with diesel engines to hydrogen and natural gas; but what’s popular in one market is dismissed in another.
Manufacturers and analysts say the more choices there are to make cars less polluting the better, because ultimately it means consumers and the environment will benefit.
“You would think they would like a standardization of powertrain globally,” said Jack Nerad, executive market analyst for Kelley Blue Book in Irvine, Calif. But until they have that, “everybody’s looking for that competitive advantage and nobody wants to be on the wrong side of the green movement.”
Hybrids have taken the public’s fancy in the U.S., led in part by Toyota Motor Corp.’s Prius, which has become the poster car for cleaner emissions.
In Europe, though, hybrids have been slower to catch on in part because automakers have long embraced the use of diesel, which burns cleaner and emits fewer pollutants than unleaded gasoline.
It’s a split likely to continue given the research being done by Volkswagen AG and DaimlerChrysler AG, among others, into the use of diesel to make engines more efficient and reduce emissions.
Olivier Rabiller, vice president for customer management at Honeywell Turbo Technologies’ passenger vehicles unit, said his company has been working with Volkswagen to improve diesel engines and their performance.
Consumers in Europe have grown used to the fact that buying a diesel-powered car means lower emissions but also more torque and, thus, more power, especially when the engines are turbodiesels.
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