Honda Cancels Acura Diesel
Christie Schweinsberg Ward's AutoWorld, Dec 1, 2008 12:00 PM

Honda Motor Co. Ltd.'s Plan to Bring a diesel-equipped Acura TSX to the U.S. next year is dead before arrival.

“The (diesel in the) Acura has been canceled,” a source familiar with the program tells Ward's. A report in the Japanese business daily Nikkei News says Honda will delay launching a diesel engine in the U.S. until 2010 or later.

A rumor, published recently on the “Temple of VTEC,” a Honda enthusiasts' website, claims the engine did not meet U.S. Environmental Protection Agency emissions standards when tested with an automatic transmission.

The diesel-powered TSX equipped with a manual gearbox reportedly passed muster, but Honda rejected the business case to make the vehicle available in the U.S. without an automatic.

Honda first announced plans to bring a diesel engine to the U.S. in May 2006. It later was revealed the engine would be the i-DTEC 4-cyl. turbodiesel, already available in the European Honda Accord that is sold in the U.S. as the Acura TSX.

CEO Takeo Fukui, speaking at the 2008 North American International Auto Show in Detroit, said Honda's first vehicle to feature a diesel engine in the U.S. would be an Acura model. At the show, the auto maker displayed an i-DTEC mill in a glass case at the Acura stand.

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