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It'll be a long, long while (if ever) before the diesel market in the U.S. is anywhere near as big as it is in Europe, but if the European automakers have their way, we'll all be at least test driving oil burners sooner rather than later. As the Audi Mileage Marathon shows, diesel vehicles are a solid way to travel and the diesel push continues with the Mercedes-Benz BlueTEC diesels that are arriving at dealers nationwide this week.

Introduced in New York earlier this year, the three SUVs - the ML320, GL320 and R320 - feature MB's 50-state BlueTEC clean-diesel technology. While these vehicles are not cheap, the IRS saw fit to grant them tax credits of up to $1,800 for having "Advanced Lean Burn Technology." Mercedes announced that 750 BlueTEC vehicles are now in dealer hands. If you're interested in taking a test drive in one of these, there's good reason to: Mercedes-Benz USA will give $100 to The Nature Conservancy's Adopt an Acre program in each tester's name.

[Source: Mercedes-Benz USA]

Changes are afoot at Tesla Motors as the reality of running a carmaker takes hold in San Carlos. When we got wind of a story on Valleywag this morning about layoffs and executive changes at Tesla, our first call was to SVP Marketing Darryl Siry. Not surprisingly Siry told us that Valleywag was less than totally accurate. There are are indeed some lay-offs happening at Tesla as well as changes among the executive staff. Chairman and chief architect Elon Musk will be taking a more hands on role as he takes over the position of CEO from Ze'ev Drori. That makes Musk the fourth CEO of Tesla in one year. Drori will get the title of Vice Chairman. As for the layoffs, there are some although we are still awaiting details. Siry has promised an update this morning and as soon as it's ready we'll let you know.

Update 3:30PM EST: Tesla has yet to release details of the changes and hasn't commented yet on our latest question. Tesla had been planning either an IPO or debt issue by early 2009 to raise funds that would be used to pay for the development of the Model S sedan and the factory to build it. Given the recent upheavals (or should that be downheavals?) in the capital markets, the chances of Tesla raising any more cash right now seem slim to none. In light of that, layoffs among the staff and delays to the program seem inevitable.

Update 4pm: Tesla has just published a blog post outlining what is going on and as suspected it is partially due to the financial market issues that have been going on. Musk is stepping in to take over day to day control of the company from Drori. In addition, for the near term, Tesla is going to focus on Roadster production and powertrain sales in order to generate some revenue and try to get cash flow positive in the next 6-9 months. That means that development work on the Model S is being scaled back for now and the Auburn Hills MI engineering office will be shut down. An indeterminate number of lay offs will also occur. Model S work will be consolidated in California and ramp back up again after the company gets approval for a low cost DOE loan. That will only happen after they get environmental approval for the new San Jose headquarters site, expected in Q2 2009. Model S production has now been pushed back to at least mid 2011.

[Source: Tesla Motors]

Just over a year after debuting in concept form at the 2007 Frankfurt Motor Show, the Toyota iQ will be going on sale in Japan. Japanese drivers will be able to pick up Toyota's answer to the Smart ForTwo starting November 20. Toyota has managed to squeeze four seats into a package barely a foot longer than the Smart, although realistically, this will be a two seater for most users. The 1.0L engine drives the front wheels through a CVT giving a rating of 54.1 mpg (U.S.) on the Japanese urban cycle. In Japan, the iQ will priced starting at ¥1.4 million (about $13,600 at current exchange rates). We still don't know if the iQ is coming to the U.S., although recent rumors have indicated that it could appear in Scion dealerships.

[Source: Toyota]

Ever since General Motors announced a new 2.9L turbodiesel V6 for the European-spec Cadillac CTS there has been speculation about whether it would ever be introduced in the U.S. market. Last December, Cadillac General Manager told ABG that the company was evaluating the new engine for U.S. market. That may or may not still be a possibility although GM definitely seems to be cool on diesel in the U.S. these days. Vice Chairman Bob Lutz has always been quick to throw cold water on the idea because of cost. The media however, hates to let go of a story. The latest twist from Motor Trend revives the idea of a diesel CTS, which would seem a natural against the upcoming BMW 335d and 2010 Mercedes E-Class. Instead of the European V6 however, MT points at the 4.5L Duramax V8. We've speculated here about GM installing this engine in some of the larger cars like the Pontiac G8. The V8 was specifically designed to fit in the same packaging envelope as the traditional small block V8 so it could fit in the CTS. Since the new Ultra V8 program was killed early this year, the V8 diesel could be slotted in as a premium option between the V6 and the uber-performance CTS-V. Whether the mid-size luxury performance segment would go for the V8 is an open question. The V6 would seem a more likely choice, but the V8 is already being developed for the U.S. market. We'll just have to wait and see.

[Source: Motor Trend]

Just months after debuting its new second generation Pilot SUV, Honda is cutting production in line with shifting market demand. Honda is fortunate to have a very flexible manufacturing system along with a wide array of vehicles that use a very similar architecture. With that in mind, Honda is able to shift most production of V6 powered Accords from Marysville OH to Lincoln AL alongside the Odyssey and Pilot. The Alabama plant includes an engine plant that produces V6 engines. With the shifts, the Lincoln engine plant will also produce the V6s for the Accords built there. Next spring the Ridgeline pickup will also go to Lincoln.

While V6 Accord production goes south, the Ohio factory will increase production of four cylinder Accords and imports of those versions from Japan will be reduced accordingly. The nearby Anna OH, engine plant will shift its build mix from away from V6 to more four cylinder production. Overall production volumes at the North American plants will remain stable with new product mix thanks to those reduced imports.

[Source: Honda]

Former Veep Al Gore is in the Netherlands this week to give his Inconvenient Truth presentation a couple of times. While he's in the low-lands he is apparently being shuttled around in the latest example of fuel efficient executive transport from the folks at Audi. Mr. Gore gets to ride in the back seat of a new Audi A6 TDIe. This particular A6 variant gets propulsion from the same 2.0L diesel four cylinder used in the new VW Jetta TDI. In the A6 TDIe it's rated at 136 hp and achieves 44.38 mpg (US) on the EU test cycle. For this particular event the A6 was also being fueled with GTL from Shell. GTL is produced from natural gas and helps reduce both soot and NOx emissions although it more expensive than regular diesel fuel. Thanks to Sander for the tip!

[Source: AudiBlog.nl]

Denise McCluggage has been writing about the auto industry for a long time. She's known most of the people in the business over the last several decades and she has earned a lot of respect for her opinions. In her latest column in AutoWeek, McCluggage lays into Ford's president of the Americas Mark Fields on the subject of diesels. While the big three German automakers are diving headlong into clean diesel technology for the US market and even Honda is bringing its first diesels here in 2009, Ford is sitting back and waiting. Actually the Dearborn brand is actively shying away from diesel. McCluggage opens her article by calling Fields a "wuss" for relying solely on what customer surveys say about diesel.

The problem is focus groups are notoriously unreliable when people are asked about things they know nothing about, especially when it comes to cars and design. Americans that have an opinion on diesel typically have a bad one because of their exposure to noisy, smoky trucks. In my own experience whenever people are exposed to modern diesels they are shocked at how quiet, clean and powerful they are. McCluggage calls on Ford to show some cajones and bring diesel cars like the Fiesta to the US market. I concur and say the same to GM and Chrysler. Oh the hat that she was wearing at the start of the Audi Mileage Marathon? It says "Torque and Range" referring to diesel engines.

[Source: AutoWeek]

Representatives from the U.S. Department of Energy and the USDA were present at the Platts Cellulosic Ethanol conference in Chicago last week and put the national government's biofuel efforts into perspective. Valri Lightner, of the Biomass Program at the DOE, and William Hagy III, deputy administrator of business programs USDA Rural Development, each spoke for about 20 minutes and

Lightner said the DOE's Biomass Program mission statement is to find ways to use biomass to produce fuel, products and power. The short term goal is to have cost-competitive cellulosic ethanol (i.e., a cost of $1.33 to make a gallon by 2012), while the mid-term goal is to have sustainable biofuel production by 2017. There are a lot of bioenergy crop trials going on right now – switchgrass, sorghum, and more – as you can see in the map above and in this map. The DOE plans to help push down the cost of feedstock logistics from $60/dry ton to $46/dry ton by 2012. Meanwhile, the DOE also wants to lower the cost of biochemical conversion from $1.60 a gallon in FY 2007 to $0.82 in 2012. The department also announced last week that it will soon focus on pyrolysis.

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Not long ago we spoke about Chinese manufacturer BYD putting hybrid and electric cars on sale. The chosen model was the F6 but things have changed. According to China Car Times, the new chosen model is the smaller F3 - and it will go on sale earlier than expected. Therefore, the F3DM (Dual Mode) plug-in hybrid is expected to be on sale before the end of this year. The F3DM uses proprietary batteries which use lithium-ion iron phosphate iron instead than lithium. According to the manufacturer, these batteries offer a lifespan of 10 years or 600,000 km. BYD is also claiming the F3DM can run up to 100 km (62 miles) on batteries alone. BYD also announced a very interesting feature: the F3DM's batteries can be recharged up to 50 percent in 10 minutes with a special charger. You can get a full charge at home in 7 hours.

[Source: China Car Times]

Regardless of your opinions of the styling of the Honda Ridgeline (it's not exactly pretty), the automaker doesn't think that's the problem with the vehicle. Apparently, its sales are down over 17-percent -- not up to Honda's lofty expectations. The pickup was slightly restyled for the 2009 model year, but the changes are pretty small and were made primarily to the front and rear of the truck. That probably won't help a great deal. The real problem, according to Executive Vice President Koichi Kondo, is that it's not fuel efficient enough. When the Ridgeline was first introduced, gas was still pretty cheap and the Honda's V6 engine got better efficiency numbers than its competition, standing at 15 miles per gallon in the city and 20 on the highway. Better than its rivals isn't quite good enough. So, when the Ridgeline gets its first major makeover, expect Honda to keep it about the same size and unibody construction but reduce its fuel consumption somewhat. Oh, and maybe get a prettier face. If it's successful, the automaker could offer more truck models carrying the Ridgeline badge.

[Source: Automotive News - sub. req'd]