Nissan Motor Co became the first Japanese automaker to launch a diesel car in Japan. This puts rivals in a race to revive the fuel efficient engine to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
The first vehicle launched is the X-Trail 20GT SUV, powered by a M9R engine co-developed by Renault. It is also the world’s first “clean” diesel car to meet Japan’s new emissions standards that kicks in from October 2009. The 2.0-liter X-Trail 20GT gets 30% more mileage than a comparable 2.5-liter petrol engine version with the same power output. Besides fuel economy, diesel is also cheaper in Japan than gasoline.
Finding diesel cars in Japan is as easy as looking for a needle in a haystack due to smear campaign in the late 90′s by Tokyo’s popular governor. The campaign pictured diesels as polluting, smelly, noisy and generally un cool erased them from Japanese roads. Getting back on this track won’t be easy as Toyota seems to be absent from the party, preferring to continue promoting its gas hybrid cars.
The 2.0-liter M9R engine maximum power of 127kW at 3,750 rpm and maximum torque of 360N/m at 2,000 rpm. Tricks that make the engine pass emission requirements include common rail system, EGR cooler, Diesel particulate filter (DPF), Lean NOx Trap catalysts (LNT), double swirl port. To get rid of noise and vibration associated with higher compression ratio, the MR9 engine uses Piezo injectors, balancer shaft, a highly rigid engine mount brackets as well as sound insulation glass. By the way, it also employs a water-cooled variable-nozzle turbocharger.
You can see a video on the engine in action below.
The diesel X-Trail costs just under 3 million yen carrying a price premium of about 400,000 yen over a comparable gasoline version. You can recoup the extra cost in 3 years if you drive just 10,000 km a year. Nissan says it hopes to sell about 100 units a month.
Related Articles:
- CNG B Class Mercedes
- Diesel vs Petrol
- Nissan Green Badge
- Nissan X-Trail 2.0
- Most Fuel Efficient Cars