Are diesel engines coming back to consumer cars?
Diesel engines have excellent combustion efficiency and offer a good way to reduce CO2 emissions. This is an essential element in our overall approach to cutting greenhouse gases. For now, we don’t have plans to put diesels into the Camry or other family sedans. But it’s interesting to note that in Europe, in the Camry’s midsize class, about two-thirds of all sedans have diesel engines. This is because diesel fuel is significantly cheaper than gas in Europe. We realized some years ago that we needed to develop a clean and efficient diesel engine. So we began to investigate ways to improve the combustion efficiency of diesels. Toyota recently announced a new emissions-purification system that will help us achieve cleaner fuel burn. And it is likely that small, high-efficiency diesel engines will power hybrid-electric cars in the future. Q: Toyota was the first auto maker to market a hybrid gas-electric car, the Prius. How did you win the race? A: We have a basic notion that unless we fi
