The diesel passenger car in the U.S. remains a rarity – less than 1% share of the light vehicle market.
On this day 81 years ago, C.L. Cummins left Indianapolis in Packard sedan with a diesel engine conversion. Three days later Cummins arrived in New York City in time for the auto show after traveling about 800 miles at a cost of $1.38.
Fuel prices have risen since then, now ranging between $3 to $4 a gallon. The company Clessie Lyle Cummins founded in 1919 – Cummins Engine Company – to build engines based on Rudolf Diesel’s compression engine (patented 20 years before) has grown to be a Fortune 500 company with more than $18 billion in annual sales.
However, the success has come from truck and marine engines as the diesel passenger car in the U.S. remains a rarity – less than 1% share of the light vehicle market – with virtually all of them from German manufacturers. One notable exception is the Dodge Ram pickup truck with its 6.7-liter, six-cylinder Cummins Turbo Diesel Cummins diesel engine rated at 800 foot pounds of torque. Robert Bosch is predicting that with rising fuel economy standards coupled with ongoing high fuel prices, diesel engines could reach 10% of the light vehicle market by 2015.
About Ken Zino
Ken Zino, editor and publisher of AutoInformed, is a versatile auto industry participant with global experience spanning decades in print and broadcast journalism, as well as social media. He has automobile testing, marketing, public relations and communications experience. He is past president of The International Motor Press Assn, the Detroit Press Club, founding member and first President of the Automotive Press Assn. He is a member of APA, IMPA and the Midwest Automotive Press Assn.
He also brings an historical perspective while citing their contemporary relevance of the work of legendary auto writers such as Ken Purdy, Jim Dunne or Jerry Flint, or writers such as Red Smith, Mark Twain, Thomas Jefferson – all to bring perspective to a chaotic automotive universe.
Above all, decades after he first drove a car, Zino still revels in the sound of the exhaust as the throttle is blipped during a downshift and the driver’s rush that occurs when the entry, apex and exit points of a turn are smoothly and swiftly crossed. It’s the beginning of a perfect lap.
AutoInformed has an editorial philosophy that loves transportation machines of all kinds while promoting critical thinking about the future use of cars and trucks.
Zino builds AutoInformed from his background in automotive journalism starting at Hearst Publishing in New York City on Motor and MotorTech Magazines and car testing where he reviewed hundreds of vehicles in his decade-long stint as the Detroit Bureau Chief of Road & Track magazine. Zino has also worked in Europe, and Asia – now the largest automotive market in the world with China at its center.
