SinterCast responds to 'dieselgate' issues

Swedish foundry process control specialist SinterCast is one of the first leading automotive-related companies to respond to possible issues surrounding the impact of 'dieselgate' on its business.

Ford fits 3-litre diesel to F-150 pick-up truck

Ford, the US’s leading truck leader, now offers an all-new 3-litre Power Stroke V6 turbo diesel and the “next generation” 2.7-litre EcoBoost engine in  the new 2018 Ford F-150. Ford now has a truck to more than match the Fiat Chrysler Automotive Ram 1500 with its VM Motori V6 turbo diesel and which, like the 'new' 3-litre V6 from Ford has a CGI vee cylinder block. Ford's move raises one simple question: How will GM, the sleeping giant, respond? Will the 'new' 4.5-litre Duramax appear sooner rather than later? Another vee CGI diesel? The US rumour mill says the CGI Duramax will bow in summer 2018.

Jeep Wrangler set for diesel and hybrid

The US automotive press is awash with speculation that Fiat Chrysler Automotive (FCA) is planning to reconfigure its Toledo, Ohio, assembly complex next year to build next-generation Jeep Wranglers.

Boost for Dagenham-made CGI engines

Output of 3-litre V6 diesel engines at Ford’s Dagenham Engine Plant, UK topped 100,000 in 2015

Cummins diesel prospect creates a buzz in Texas

There's a bit of a buzz in the air in San Antonio, Texas. For there, Toyota Motor Manufacturing Texas (TMMT) has a strategy to ramp up pick-up truck production.

Demand for Ram diesel is “overwhelming” - FCA

Demand for the EcoDiesel version of the Ram 1500 pick-up truck has been described as “overwhelming”, according to Fiat Chrysler Automotive (FCA).

Tear-downs: paving the way for CGI growth

How will OEMs respond to Ford’s 2015 F-150 pick-up truck with its intensive use of aluminium and a gasoline engine with a CGI block?

Ram 1500 and F-150 battle over fuel economy

In the US, fastlanetruck.com (flt.com) has carried out road tests on the Dodge Ram 1500 versus the Ford F-Series F-150pick up truck to assess the fuel economy of vehicles.

Near 40% boost for CGI engines at NAIAS

18 different vehicles powered by engines with compacted graphite iron (CGI) engines, up from 13 last year, featured at the North American International Auto Show (NAIAS). That is a near 40 per rise. More CGI engines are forecast.

Chrysler uses benchmarking to lift truck output

Chrysler’s Warren Truck Assembly Plant has used benchmarking to boost throughput of  pick- up vehicles at the plant.

With sales of the Ram 1500 on a 52-month sales streak, Chrysler Group’s Warren Truck Assembly Plant, has used benchmarking and other techniques to increase production.

More Euro-style vans for the US

Fiat Chrysler has unveiled its Ram ProMaster City – the Ram Truck brand's entry in the expanding field of Euro-style compact commercial vans aimed at small businesses and urban markets.

The leading rival is the Transit Connect from Ford and made in Turkey.  It is reckoned Ford pioneered the compact cargo van segment in 2009 with its European import and has just rolled out a redesigned second generation.

Also competing in this sector is Nissan’s NV200 small van, the base vehicle for New York City's new taxicabs.

And General Motors (GM), through its Chevrolet arm, has negotiated with Nissan to begin this year selling a version of the NV200 as the Chevrolet City Express. In Europe, Nissan teamed up with Renault. The French company did have a partnership with GM for their Vivaro/Trafic offerings – competitors to the Ford Transit.

What the North American small cvs all share is a smaller footprint and smaller engine than traditional panel vans, so offering lower purchase and operating costs. Also common are city-capable designs with large bumper systems all around and more car-like safety and convenience features.

The Ram ProMaster City is based on the Fiat Doblo from Europe and is powered by Chrysler's 2.4-litre Tigershark four-cylinder gasoline engine. It is front-drive and will use the company's new, fuel-efficient nine-speed automatic. The engine and transmission also are used in the new Chrysler 200 sedan and the Jeep Cherokee.

Built in Turkey, the City will be sold in two-seat cargo and five-seat passenger versions and be able to carry 1,883 pounds in its 131.7 cubic feet of space. The cargo area measures 60.4in by 87.2in and has a building panel-friendly 48in between the wheel wells. City goes on sale in early 2015.

The new vehicle joins the Ram van line-up that includes the larger Ram ProMaster Euro van and the Ram C/V, a commercial version of the Chrysler minivan.

According to Ram Truck, total Class 1-4 commercial van market is expected to be about 400,000 a year over the next five years, with the new compact vans taking about 25 per cent of the market.

      

                                           More engines, please

Meanwhile, someone, somewhere in one part of the Fiat Chrysler must be twisting hard the arm of someone, somewhere in another part of the same group.

For Chrysler Group LLC sales chief Reid Bigland recently let slip he is short of engines from VM Motori, the Cento, Italy-based company wholly owned by Fiat after it bought out GM’s 50 per cent share.

Bigland told reporters Chrysler is “working hard” to increase production in Europe of the VM Motori 3-litre V6 diesel engine that powers the 2014 Ram EcoDiesel pickup.

According to Bigland, demand for the diesel model, which is noteworthy for its compacted graphite iron (CGI) cylinder block and which many customers claim can exceed the 28 mile/gal fuel economy label, has exceeded expectations.

“Frankly, demand for diesel has really surprised us,” he said.

The diesel version of the Ram 1500 pick-up truck is on dealer forecourts for only 13 days. Demand for diesel versions accounts for 20 per cent of sales.

“We’re going to be able to meet that demand, it’s just going to take us a few months,” Bigland said.

Maybe Fiat will have to commit some expenditure to expand engine manufcature at Cento - or consider manufacture outside Europe.

Bigland added that he expects Chrysler to hit 51 consecutive months of sales gains in June. he sees no underlying issues with the year’s sales pace as pent-up demand, an improving economy and credit availability continue for consumers.

US auto sales so far this year are up about 5 per cent and Bigland expects overall industry sales to rise between 2 per cent and 6 per cent in 2014. He does not expect US sales to hit 17 million this year, but that sales will continue “on a slow trajectory upwards.”

“Eventually in the next two to three years, I think we will get back to a 17 million annual sales mark and then stabilize from there,” he said.

However, it only needs a serious uprising in the Middle East to throw a spanner in the works and make oil prices rocket, thus denting world economies and the best laid plans of even the slickest automaker.

Ram 1500 gives The General a headache

General Motors’ product planners may be scratching their heads at the way the US market has moved in the direction of the Ram 1500 pick-up truck.

According to the latest US figures for March 2014, sales of the Ram 1500 tipped 42,532 units – a rise of 25.7 per cent over March 2013 – just beating sales of the Chevrolet Silverado at 42,247 units, a rise of only 6.8 per cent over March 2013.

GM to revive 4.5-litre CGI diesel?

General Motors could be about to revive its shuttered 4.5-litre V8 diesel engine according to US sources.

Prompted by the upcoming launch of the latest Ram 1500 with a VM Motori 3-litre diesel and the Nissan Titan powered a brand new Cummins 5-litre ISX5 diesel engine, both with compacted graphite iron (CGI) vee cylinder blocks, and the latest Ford 2015 F-150 pick-up truck with a new 2.7-litre EcoBoost gasoline engine (also with a CGI vee block), GM is considering adding a small-displacement diesel engine to its Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra 1500 pick-ups to boost fuel economy.

The Lion roars again

Blog readers with a good memory will recall the arrival of the Lion diesel engine from Ford’s Dagenham Engine Plant – the first Ford production engine to use compacted graphite iron (CGI) for the cylinder block material.

Now Ford has repeated history with the arrival of the first gasoline engine with a CGI block. Ford, ever resourceful and expansive in its choice of words, uses the word first liberally. The new 2.7-litre gasoline engine is not the first gasoline engine with a CGI block, but it might just be the first ‘production’ gasoline engine with CGI.

Will Ford respond before Ram wins 3 times?

How will Ford Motor Company respond to the mounting accolades being heaped upon Chrysler’s Ram 1500 pick-up truck in the US?

One has to think the Dearborn, Michigan based automaker will not take too long before it making an important announcement. Most likely this will come in 2014.

Ford has made plain in the past that it will vigorously defend its position as Number One pick-up truck builder in North America – a position it has held for 37 straight years.

Wider market seen for Cummins V8 CGI diesel

Cummins Inc. is developing a version of the V8 Turbo Diesel for commercial vehicle customers and this could widen the application of the new diesel beyond the first application which is Nissan’s next-generation Titan pick-up truck.

To accommodate this, Cummins has said that its ‘historic’ Columbus Engine Plant (CEP) is being readied to build the new Cummins 5-litre V8 Turbo Diesel for Nissan's next-generation Titan, and will require additional personnel to fulfil the programme, though at this stage Cummins HR department is not revealing numbers.

"This is an exciting announcement for our Cummins team," said Tom Linebarger, chairman and chief executive officer of Cummins Inc. "We are bringing our innovation and latest technology in engines and after-treatment products to a new segment of customers. Importantly, this will help us grow our own business as well as allow us to help an important new partner, Nissan, succeed in the market."

Cummins breaks cover with CGI V8 diesel

It has now been confirmed the new Cummins 5-litre V8 diesel engine set to power the next generation Nissan Titan truck will carry a compacted graphite iron (CGI) cylinder block.

The news finally opens wide the door, letting in light to an otherwise darkened room. For up to now, Cummins has held tightly secret any information that it has been developing, alongside Nissan, the latest technology in diesel engine cylinder block design and manufacture. This news comes despite the engine company also working alongside the US Department of Energy on next generation diesels under a Federal-funded R&D programme.

For years, Cummins engineers have attended conference after conference, listening intently to lectures on advanced diesel engine technology. They have listened but yielded nothing by way of exchange. Now, however, at last, the world knows that the rumours, widely whispered in bar room chat, are true - see Green light for Cummins CGI diesel? of 21 August 2013.

Green light for Cummins CGI diesel?

Nissan has announced it will offer a newly-developed Cummins V8 turbo diesel in its next generation full-size Titan pickup.

Now in the latter stages of development and testing, the available Cummins 5-litre V8 Turbo Diesel engine has been “optimized for the next generation Titan” as a result of the partnership between Cummins and Nissan. Cummins also is developing a version of the engine for its commercial vehicle customers.

The big question everyone is asking is: “Will the new V8 diesel carry the latest in cylinder block technology, namely a vee block cast in compacted graphite iron (CGI)?

CGI gasoline engine on schedule

Production will begin in the second half of this year of the world’s first production gasoline engine with a compacted graphite iron (CGI) cylinder block.

This has been confirmed by Sintercast in its latest statement which notes that with increasing contributions from all automotive engine sectors, it has posted record annualised series production of 1.65 million engine equivalents in the second quarter of 2013.  

The production surpasses the previous record of 1.6 million engine equivalents set in the first quarter of 2012 and represents an increase of more than 35% since the end of 2012.  

Ford aware of pending US diesel introductions

Terry Aldea, global executive, casting and forging operations, Ford Motor Company, speaking today at the annual general meeting of SinterCast, held in Stockholm, Sweden, said Ford was “well aware” of what is happening in the US diesel pick-up market.

Aldea, who provided the meeting with an overview of Ford’s international operations, highlighted Ford's success as the global leader for the application of Compacted Graphite Iron (CGI). He noted that Ford's CGI leadership began with the introduction of the first-ever high-volume CGI engine in 2003 and continues today with an industry leading seven CGI engines, with displacements ranging from 2.7 to 9.0 litres, used in Ford and partner vehicles sold in Europe, Australia and the Americas. 

Aldea stated that the engine design community within Ford has embraced CGI as an element of Ford's engine strategy.