Friday, Dec. 2, 2005
DAILY NEWSLETTER

From the newsroom of Automotive News:

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EDWARD LAPHAM DAILY ONLINE COMMENTARY

The GM-Fiat union was a no-go, but their diesel engine runs strong
General Motors has taken a lot of flak for the ill-fated partnership with Italian automaker Fiat that wound up costing GM about $4 billion to dissolve.
An important part of the relationship with Fiat was a joint venture to produce small diesel engines for Fiat and Opel vehicles.
The powertrain joint venture was dissolved, but GM and Fiat co-own the rights to the 1.3-liter diesel. The engine is still produced in Poland in a plant that Automotive News Europe, a sister publication of Automotive News, reports is expanding to boost capacity to 800,000 engines a year. That's because Ford Motor Co. and Suzuki Motor Corp. also buy the engines to use in their small cars.

 

At least they didnt get herpes from Fiat.

 

Wonder how many engines they need to sell to get that $4B back

Something tells me I don't want to know the answer to that!

 

...or did they?
So 4 billion for an engine that wont see the US...fantastic.
Where is that thread that talked about what 4 billion could have done for GM??

 

$4B is probably close to what it would cost GM to get our RWD coupe and sedan to market. Consider than in the late 70s, GM spent $3B to launch the X Bodies.

The mind wonders where the HELL the $$ went on that project

 

It'd be nice to see some small diesels in GM small-mid Trucks and SUV's, even though diesel is begining to compete with gasoline in price.
Huge torque, variable turbo for tuning, decent fuel milage...hmmm....

Ford's supposed to be buying some V6 Diesels from my company too...not sure just when or how many. Right now we sell them practically all the Powerstrokes we can make.

 

Correct me if I am wrong but didn't GM get some factories out of this also?

 

They got half of the Poland plant, along with some ownership rights to the engine's design.

Still, they didn't get anywhere close to $4 billion worth.

 

around my parts diesel is way more expensive than gasoline

 

The cost of diesel versus gas around the Oklahoma/Texas area is typically 20-40 cents more for diesel. Factoring into the equation the added benefit of the diesels mileage and the “net” cost of using diesel is still typically better than the gas equivalent. Somewhere around a buck a gallon difference between diesel and gas is where the “net” costs start to equalize.