Maxima Diesel Engine Introduced

No word yet on any US approvals, but it's nice to see a project moving forward. I put over 190,000 miles on a Gen IV Maxima gasser. I'd love to double that with an oil burner.

Nissan and Renault officially launch new diesel V6

Posted Jan 7th 2009 at 11:05AM by Sam Abuelsamid

Filed under: Diesel, Nissan, Renault

Click for a high res gallery of the new Nissan-Renault diesel

Ever since the April 2007 announcement by Nissan that it would install a new clean diesel V6 into the US market Maxima sedan in 2010, company officials have declined any further comment on the subject. Given recent announcements from Honda, Toyota, Ford and others about the cessation of US diesel engine plans, the silence is not good news to US diesel fans. Regardless of what ultimately happens here in the US, the aforementioned engine is now going into production - at least for the European market. Alliance partners Renault and Nissan each split the development costs of the engine equally, although Nissan plans to use about 75 percent of the production volume.

The 235 hp V6 will go into most of the Infiniti lineup in Europe including the FX and the G sedan and coupe. The Euro-spec Navara pickup and Pathfinder SUV will also get the engine. On the Renault side of the family, the Laguna mid-sized range and a new full-size replacement for the Vel Satis will get the diesel V6.

If the diesel does make into the US Maxima, it will probably get EPA numbers in the range of 25/35 mpg city/highway. There's a video tour of the engine after the jump.