Can anyone tell me, why can’t a Mini Cooper Diesel be made available here in the USA? For that matter, why can’t many of the other makes put a diesel car on the road here? In my opinion, this would be a great answer to the fuel situation, as diesel cars usually get better mileage than gas. I know that diesel is less expensive right now and should be less, but even at highter rates diesel makes sense.
Rumor has it that the new 2007 Mini2 will have a Diesel here in the states by sometime year end.
…Of course…that’s just the rumor…and my hope & dream too.
The number 1 reason the Mini D hasnt come to the USA is probably the same reason other diesel cars havent come the the US: California. If you cannot sell a car in California, its not worth it to market it in the US at all. The main restriction is particulate output, which can be reduced, but for the current systems to work, low sulfur diesel is needed. The US is fazing in low sulfur diesel this year, but it is still trash compared to EU standards.
My understanding is that the US phased in ULTRA-low-sulfur diesel about a year ago, beginning in Sept 2006. So we should be using the same fuel that Europe is using. The specific reason for this is that sulfur fouls catalytic converters. With the new ULSD, we can have catalytic converters, which reduce NOS (nitrous oxide) emissions, which are a chief cause of ground smog. So, according to the official line, there should be no reason we can’t have all the great European diesel options in the US now. Right?
Correct Ulysses, things have changed so that all diesel cars can now come to the US. See for example how BMW is now bringing diesels later this year (x5 and 3 series, others after that). So the only issue is economic, which isn’t a small issue. It costs lots of money to bring new models to the US, and there is work to ensure a 50 state configuration of the car. But I’d guess that with oil at $100/barrel now, we’ll see them in the next year or two.
Currently own a 2006 MINI Cooper S John Cooper Works. Great car, but I’m interested in the Cooper Diesel. Does anyone know how one would go about importing an pre-2007 used Cooper Diesel or a 2007 or newer Cooper Diesel? Used or new, but preferably the new version. The goal would be to work with EPA and CARB (California Air Resources Board) to secure an exemption certificate for the car and then apply a Cleaire “Longview” NOx catalyst/PM filter system to the car. (See the Cleaire website at http://www.Cleaire.com). We would then test the NOx/PM/HC/CO and CO2 emissions from the car and run mileage tests to calculate the fuel economy of the car. My company, Cleaire Advanced Emission Controls LLC, currently has CARB and EPA verification for the Longview System on Heavy duty diesel engines (Cummins/Cat/Detroit/MB/Volvo) with over 4,000 systems in service. We would either downsize a “Longview” or simply apply a standard system to the Cooper Diesel and run the tests at our emissions testing lab in Richmond, California. Purely an experiment, seems it would be very easily done. Again, the goal would be to demonstrate in real world conditions the high mileage fuel economy and very low emissions across on criteria pollutants (NOx, PM, HC, CO and CO2) Hopefully, we could knock the socks off any of the production hybrids in all categories….at least that would be the goal. We would most likely run all the tests with ULSDF and ULSDF B20 biodiesel.
Mercedes and BMW seem to have figured out how to build a diesel engine that will pass CAlifornia standards, and we should try to buy their products until US automakers get their heads out of Big Oil’s ass and start making diesel engines for all applications. Recently a European immigrant told me that in Spain and Portugal more than half the cars and small trucks have diesel engines.
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8 responses so far ↓
wesan // May 22, 2007 at 9:21 pm
Can anyone tell me, why can’t a Mini Cooper Diesel be made available here in the USA? For that matter, why can’t many of the other makes put a diesel car on the road here? In my opinion, this would be a great answer to the fuel situation, as diesel cars usually get better mileage than gas. I know that diesel is less expensive right now and should be less, but even at highter rates diesel makes sense.
DJDole // May 30, 2007 at 7:41 am
Rumor has it that the new 2007 Mini2 will have a Diesel here in the states by sometime year end.
…Of course…that’s just the rumor…and my hope & dream too.
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&ct=res&cd=9&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.motortrend.com%2Ffuture%2Fspied_vehicles%2F112_0601_2007_mini_cooper%2F&ei=1phdRpe8N6HOwQLH3vGaBQ&usg=AFrqEzfjDZlnO8DaeRGgC-Un-UaDLFknGw&sig2=SNzQ9hCGC6jyXdDZmiGZig
MS // July 24, 2007 at 11:13 am
You can sign up on a petition to bring the MINI diesel to the US here:
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/minid/signatures.html
Cameron // August 29, 2007 at 8:49 am
The number 1 reason the Mini D hasnt come to the USA is probably the same reason other diesel cars havent come the the US: California. If you cannot sell a car in California, its not worth it to market it in the US at all. The main restriction is particulate output, which can be reduced, but for the current systems to work, low sulfur diesel is needed. The US is fazing in low sulfur diesel this year, but it is still trash compared to EU standards.
ulysses // November 9, 2007 at 6:48 am
My understanding is that the US phased in ULTRA-low-sulfur diesel about a year ago, beginning in Sept 2006. So we should be using the same fuel that Europe is using. The specific reason for this is that sulfur fouls catalytic converters. With the new ULSD, we can have catalytic converters, which reduce NOS (nitrous oxide) emissions, which are a chief cause of ground smog. So, according to the official line, there should be no reason we can’t have all the great European diesel options in the US now. Right?
Bill // January 3, 2008 at 8:50 am
Correct Ulysses, things have changed so that all diesel cars can now come to the US. See for example how BMW is now bringing diesels later this year (x5 and 3 series, others after that). So the only issue is economic, which isn’t a small issue. It costs lots of money to bring new models to the US, and there is work to ensure a 50 state configuration of the car. But I’d guess that with oil at $100/barrel now, we’ll see them in the next year or two.
Kevin S // February 15, 2008 at 8:19 pm
Currently own a 2006 MINI Cooper S John Cooper Works. Great car, but I’m interested in the Cooper Diesel. Does anyone know how one would go about importing an pre-2007 used Cooper Diesel or a 2007 or newer Cooper Diesel? Used or new, but preferably the new version. The goal would be to work with EPA and CARB (California Air Resources Board) to secure an exemption certificate for the car and then apply a Cleaire “Longview” NOx catalyst/PM filter system to the car. (See the Cleaire website at http://www.Cleaire.com). We would then test the NOx/PM/HC/CO and CO2 emissions from the car and run mileage tests to calculate the fuel economy of the car. My company, Cleaire Advanced Emission Controls LLC, currently has CARB and EPA verification for the Longview System on Heavy duty diesel engines (Cummins/Cat/Detroit/MB/Volvo) with over 4,000 systems in service. We would either downsize a “Longview” or simply apply a standard system to the Cooper Diesel and run the tests at our emissions testing lab in Richmond, California. Purely an experiment, seems it would be very easily done. Again, the goal would be to demonstrate in real world conditions the high mileage fuel economy and very low emissions across on criteria pollutants (NOx, PM, HC, CO and CO2) Hopefully, we could knock the socks off any of the production hybrids in all categories….at least that would be the goal. We would most likely run all the tests with ULSDF and ULSDF B20 biodiesel.
John Hushagen // April 11, 2008 at 3:38 pm
Mercedes and BMW seem to have figured out how to build a diesel engine that will pass CAlifornia standards, and we should try to buy their products until US automakers get their heads out of Big Oil’s ass and start making diesel engines for all applications. Recently a European immigrant told me that in Spain and Portugal more than half the cars and small trucks have diesel engines.
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