Click the photo for a high res gallery of the Smart ForTwo diesel

Bosch is one of the world's biggest automotive suppliers and one of their product lines is fuel and engine management systems particularly for diesel engines. As such they have a vested interest in promoting the sales of vehicles using their diesel hardware like fuel injectors and exhaust after-treatment hardware. As part of their efforts to build a market for diesels in the US, they have compiled a press fleet comprised of European vehicles with diesel that they are letting Americans drive to demonstrate how powerful and refined modern diesels have become.

Many if not most Americans still have an image of diesels as noisy, smelly, soot belching and slow. I got to spend a couple of days with a pair of modern diesel-powered cars that pretty much dispel that image. The 2007 Chrysler 300 CRD and 2006 Smart ForTwo CDi are about as different in size and personality as two cars can be. Most Americans are familiar with the brash distinctly American styling of the 300, but have never experienced the European incarnation propelled by a 3.0L turbo-diesel V-6 sourced from the Mercedes product line. The Smart ForTwo is a tiny machine that Canadians have known for a couple of years and most Americans are seeing for the first time this year as SmartUSA does a summer road show before beginning sales early in 2008.

Read our initial impressions of the Chrysler 300 and Smart ForTwo diesels after the break.

Now that Chrysler has begun their diesel offensive with the introduction of the Jeep Grand Cherokee CRD they are evaluating where to go next. The company has been selling the 300 in Europe with the same Mercedes 3.0L V-6 since it's introduction there and now they are evaluating it in the US market.

Warren Brown of the Washington Post had a chance to drive the 300 CRD that Chrysler is testing and managed 41 mpg in highway driving. That's certainly not something you can achieve with a 300 SRT-8. If they offer the Bluetec version of the engine they could have a 50-state legal full-size sedan that meets the proposed new fuel economy standards.

[Source: Detroit News]

On this side of the pond, buyers of the Chrysler 300 and it's relatives the Charger and Magnum only get a choice of gas engines to choose from. But over in Europe they can opt for a 3.0L turbo-diesel V-6, straight out the Mercedes-Benz lineup. This is the version without BlueTec. British mag AutoExpress has a write-up of the 300 CRD and likes it, because most British drivers can't afford to gas up a Hemi at $6 a gallon. Even with the diesel, the 300 gets a respectable 7.6 second 0-62mph time and achieves over 28 mpg compared to the 15 mpg achieved by the Hemi. The diesel is also cheaper than the gas V-6 version and almost $14,000 less than the Hemi.

[Source: AutoExpress]