why no diesel?

[mike and susan]

why is the smart car not available in diesel

[Carnut]

Why, because the factory decided not to offer it. Because, who really knows? Could be smog issue.

[Twojjs]

The cdi engine, which was the slowest in North America, will still be available in Canadian with a common rail direct injection diesel and will have an additional 5 horse power.

The Canadian 2008 model will make available a new one-liter gasoline engine that cranks out 71 horsepower and the new five-speed transmission replacing the old and rather jumpy sequential six-speed.

Canadian dealers have been taking orders on the new cars for a few months now. For some reason prices have been announced yet and no word if the new cars will qualify for the $2,000 ecoAUTO rebate for fuel-efficient vehicles from Transport Canada.

After three short years Mercedes-Benz Canada announced they had sold their 10,000th Smart Car. They had initially anticipated sales of some 600 Smarts a year. This is one heck of a difference and a huge jump start for the sales in the U.S.

To get the attention of the public a cross-Canada traveling road show to launch the new Smart will begin in Montreal, Oct. 6, and finish in Victoria, Nov. 5.

[Lewis]

I personally would LOVE a diesel for Smart fortwo (I've owned 2 diesel cars in my days) BUT-

If you are the Smart company- Why bother bringing the diesel to the USA when they have orders for 3 years worth of gasoline models? The diesel is much more popular in the European market where 1. there is a lot more competition in the micro car sector so it is needed to compete successfully and 2. diesel costs less than gasoline not 40 cents/gallon more like in the USA. I can't say I like the way Smart is running things for us in the US launch but on this one they are being rational business people IMO.

[Old smart]

Re-post:

The reason that the EU is getting a 451 diesel and we are not is the difference in required standards. Presently the EU requirement for NOx is =/< 2.6 grams per horsepower-hour. That reduces to =/< 1.2g/hp-hr for them by 2009. The 2007 US standard is =/< 1.2g/hp-hr, and reducing to =/< 0.2g/hp-hr by 2010. That is a significant difference between us. The additional standards for particulates between the EU and US are a lot closer, but the U.S. is still stricter.

As was alluded to elsewhere in this group, liquid urea injection is very effective in reducing NOx to our standard, but is only appropriate for larger vehicles. And the fact that the ratio of liquid urea (an expensive, HAZMAT item) to diesel fuel is 1:18 (cutting well into your miles per dollar). Service stations would have to install tanks, pumps, and nozzles, or sell cansiters to re-fill onboard urea tanks - not likely to be well met in the U.S. with so little interest in passenger diesels. There are emerging dry technologies, but they may also be too much bulk for a smart to carry.

Add: The new Canadian diesel standards will be very close to the U.S.'s.

[SmartCard]

Originally Posted by Twojjs

The cdi engine, which was the slowest in North America, will still be available in Canadian with a common rail direct injection diesel and will have an additional 5 horse power.

The Canadian 2008 model will make available a new one-liter gasoline engine that cranks out 71 horsepower and the new five-speed transmission replacing the old and rather jumpy sequential six-speed.

Last I heard, the Canadians were NOT getting the diesel as well, just the same one choice in powertrain as the US

Back to the original question....certianly part of the problem is that its a new model. Its been hard enough to get safety and EPA testing done, let alone worry about emissions testing. I think an additional reason is market...typically diesels are not a big seller in the US. Of course none of these would apply to the Canadian market, so why its not being offered up there is anyones guess....maybe for production reasons?