Honda Unveils ‘Super-Clean’ Diesel Engine

TOCHIGI, Japan — Honda Motor Co. says it has developed the first diesel passenger car engine capable of meeting California's tough 2009 air-quality standards, one that produces almost none of the emissions that have sullied the fuel's image.

The "super-clean" diesel's emissions will be no greater than those of a gasoline engine, Honda said.

The automaker unveiled a four-cylinder engine capable of propelling an Accord sedan to speeds well in excess of 120 mph during a weekend technology demonstration at its research center in this rural town about 100 miles north of Tokyo.

Honda, the world's largest engine maker and second behind Toyota Motor Corp. in production of gasoline-electric hybrid power systems, intends to add four- and six-cylinder diesel engines to its arsenal to help set it apart from rivals.

"This is just what you'd expect from Honda," said Ron Cogan, the San Luis Obispo-based publisher of Green Car Journal.

"They were the first to meet the 1970 federal gas engine emissions without a catalyst, they had a near-zero-emissions gas engine for the Accord in the early 1990s and now they're doing it with diesels." More at LA Times