SRT Boss Wants Performance Diesels

[AutoGuide.com]

Diesel is quickly becoming a new option for car makers looking to have powerful, yet fuel friendly engines. Mercedes and BMW’s AMG and M, in house tuning divisions have announced future diesel vehicles catered for performance driving, and it looks like the SRT brand will be offering its own in the future.

This comes from a tweet this morning from SRT CEO, Ralph Gilles, who responded to a fan’s inquiry of a possible SRT vehicle to compete against the performance oriented diesels offered in Europe.

Gilles responded by saying, “I am a fan, We would cut our teeth in Europe first” which likely means that a SRT diesel will first debut for the European market.

SRT offers performance tuned vehicles based on Chrysler, Jeep and Dodge products, so it’ll be interesting to see what vehicle they decide to outfit with a diesel engine. There is already a diesel Grand Cherokee available in international markets, so tuning it for more performance (like the gas powered Grand Cherokee SRT8 available here) is a likely possibility.

We’ve reached out to SRT to see if there are an official word on upcoming diesel SRT vehicles.

Read the full SRT Diesel story on AutoGuide.com

[Cuda340]

Check out Ralph Gilles' entire interview.

You Tube

You Tube

[charger670]

There's always been export diesels, Jeep Wranglers for example.

Someone in power has always been trying to keep diesel vehicles out of the U.S. Market (minus fullsize trucks with large diesel powerplants that could tow a train car). When Chrysler canned those dealerships and they switched over and were going to import Mahindra Trucks and SUV's with 4 cylinder turbo diesels....somebody stopped them from entering the US market.

I'd love to get a Toyota pickup with a turbo diesel, and enjoy a truck the rest of the world gets to enjoy.

A "Performance Diesel Car", the market has always wanted a 4 cylinder turbo diesel truck but they won't allow them to be imported.