U.S. Auto Makers Are Putting Small Engines Into Big Trucks So They Guzzle Less Gas
June 17 2018 - 8:29AM
Dow Jones News
By Mike Colias and Chester Dawson
Big U.S. auto makers are building more fuel-efficient engines
for pickup trucks, even as the Trump administration -- spurred by
the industry's complaints -- moves to relax gas-mileage standards
intended to fight emissions.
General Motors Co., Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV and Ford Motor
Co. are betting people want both better gas mileage and raw
horsepower from their trucks, the most lucrative category in the
auto industry. That is prompting them to innovate.
GM this fall will introduce a revamped Chevy Silverado full-size
pickup with an engine smaller than what's under the hood of some
Toyota Camry midsize sedans. Fiat-Chrysler is equipping its new Ram
1500 pickup truck with a hybrid engine. And Ford, which four years
ago pioneered the use of aluminum body panels in pickup trucks to
save weight and fuel, plans its own hybrid truck.
Although auto makers have long argued that existing Obama-era
standards are too stringent and lobbied for them to be relaxed,
they are taking a longer-term and more global view when developing
new engine technologies. Industry officials says they are unlikely
to abandon them, even if the White House formally eases
fuel-economy standards, as expected.
Auto makers have several incentives for embracing fuel
efficiency. Next-generation truck engines won't hit showrooms for
several years, by which time regulations may change again. The
engines and new technologies likely also may be used in other types
of vehicles, some destined for markets with tougher regulations
than the Trump administration is eyeing.
At GM, engineers are following the company's stated long-term
goal of reducing tail-pipe emissions to zero, said Mark Reuss, GM's
head of product development. "Our people understand that is the end
game, even if they're working on a pickup truck instead of an
electric vehicle," he said.
The threat of higher gas prices, which caused demand for pickups
to crater in 2007, has also led auto makers to pivot from their
longstanding use of big, gas-guzzling engines for big vehicles.
Their challenge is to do so without sacrificing the capability of
larger vehicles to haul equipment, tow campers and navigate
difficult terrain, especially because trucks and sport-utility
vehicles have become the industry's best sellers and biggest money
makers.
And then there's California, auto makers' largest domestic
market. The state intends to adhere to the Obama-era standards
irrespective of any move by the Trump administration -- a stance
that would effectively force auto makers to adopt the tougher
standard to avoid being shut out. Big foreign markets such as China
also are moving ahead with tighter regulations on emissions and
fuel economy, which will push auto makers to wring more efficiency
from existing vehicles and expand electric-vehicle offerings.
"The auto makers know they need to future-proof these trucks
from a fuel-economy standpoint for whatever political or regulatory
environment might come next," said Dave Sullivan, an analyst at
research firm AutoPacific Inc.
A decade ago, high gas prices and regulation prodded vehicle
makers to boost fuel efficiency. The average combined fuel economy
rating of pickups in 2017 was 18.9 miles per gallon, behind the 30
miles per gallon for sedans but an improvement over the 16.1 miles
per gallon 10 years ago, according to Environmental Protection
Agency data. The Obama-era standards were designed to push the
industry to sell light vehicles averaging more than 50 miles per
gallon by 2025.
Full-size pickups, big SUVs and crossovers have benefited from
innovations that eke out more miles per gallon from
gasoline-powered engines. They include greater use of turbochargers
that recycle exhaust energy and lightweight materials, said Sujit
Jain, who heads the North American engine and passenger car
business at German parts supplier Robert Bosch GmbH. "You can get
everything you want from a traditional engine -- high power, high
torque and greater fuel efficiency."
The revamped Silverado will have an optional 2.7-liter,
four-cylinder turbocharged engine, which will likely deliver
several more miles per gallon than its 6.2-liter, eight-cylinder
counterpart. The downsized engine was made possible by GM's use of
lighter materials such as aluminum and carbon fiber, which helped
reduce the truck's weight by as much as 450 pounds.
Ford began selling a diesel F-150 pickup truck this spring that
achieves what some industry experts call the Holy Grail of fuel
economy for trucks -- an estimated 30 miles per gallon in highway
driving. That's better than the 27 mpg rating on the 2018 Ford
Taurus family sedan, even though the truck outweighs the car by
about 1,000 pounds.
Ford has touted the F-150's "best in class" fuel economy among
full-size pickups and says it is the most efficient engine for
owners who frequently haul heavy loads. Ford product chief Hau
Thai-Tang said even a few years ago, customers wouldn't have
imagined a full-size pickup could get 30 miles per gallon in
highway driving.
Mike Manley, head of Fiat Chrysler's Ram truck brand, said at
the debut of the new Ram pickup in January that he expects "at
least 10% improvement" in fuel-economy ratings compared with the
old model.
GM and Fiat Chrysler also have equipped their latest trucks with
systems that automatically shut off the engine when the vehicle
comes to a stop and restarts it when the driver's foot lifts off
the brake. Every new Ram 1500 with a V6 engine will come standard
with a so-called "mild hybrid" 48-volt battery for those re-starts
and also provide a power boost to the engine when needed.
Another trick GM used in its new Silverado relies on fine-tuning
engine software. The truck uses an algorithm co-developed by Tula
Technology Inc., a San Jose, Calif., startup, to improve efficiency
by deactivating some cylinders when cruising or coasting.
Write to Mike Colias at Mike.Colias@wsj.com and Chester Dawson
at chester.dawson@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
June 17, 2018 08:14 ET (12:14 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2018 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Stellantis NV (BIT:STLA)
Historical Stock Chart
From Mar 2024 to Apr 2024
Stellantis NV (BIT:STLA)
Historical Stock Chart
From Apr 2023 to Apr 2024