Back in January BMW made the big announcement that it would finally introduce modern clean diesel engines to the U.S. market. At the time the Bavarian manufacturer told us that the new 335d and X5 xDrive35d would be launched by later in 2008 without getting any more specific than that. A blog specializing in news about the blue and white propeller brand is reporting that the new models will debut in mid-October. We decided to give BMW a call this afternoon and talked to spokesperson Charlene King. She reiterated the company has not made any new announcements about availability and re-confirmed that the diesels would debut this fall.

Having said that, last month Mercedes emphasized that they would be the first to offer Tier 2 Bin5 compliant diesels in the U.S. market when they launch BlueTec SUVs this fall. Neither company has actually provided an on-sale date, but there is no doubt that BMW will be racing to beat their arch-rivals to the showroom. Regardless of which company actually gets there first, both are likely to lose out to Volkswagen which has said they will begin selling the new Jetta TDI in September.

[Source: BMW, BMWBlog.com]

Back in March, the EPA announced a grant of $5 million for midwest clean diesel projects. One of you called that a "token effort." Fair enough. What do you say to almost $50 million?

That's the amount that the EPA announced it will spend on clean diesel research, especially on "school or transit buses, medium and heavy-duty trucks, marine engines, locomotives and nonroad engines." The EPA suggests that groups wanting a chunk of the $50m could apply for EPA-verified retrofit or idle-reduction technologies or cleaner fuel projects. The EPA doesn't specify that the $5m midwest clean diesel announcement is part of the $50m, but reading the text makes that seem likely. Still, a tenfold increase is a tenfold increase.

[Source: EPA]

Mitsubishi has updated their business plan for the next few years and greener cars are a big part of the where the company wants to go. One important element is the desire to release the iMiEV electric car into the marketplace ahead of competitors. The company's forthcoming product plan also includes emphasis on developing clean diesels and dual clutch transmissions. They also want to adapt their mini-cars to oversea's use and export them globally. Earlier this year, Mitsubishi debuted their Concept-RA in Detroit which was powered by a new 2.2L four cylinder diesel. Given Mitsubishi's struggles in recent years, it will be interesting to see if this specific emphasis on cleaner, more efficient vehicles makes a difference.

[Source: Mitsubishi]