Hi everyone. We recently attended the 2014 Association of Diesel Specialists convention in Las Vegas, and I wanted to share with you a few anecdotes that may have an impact on our group and our hobby.
A large amount of content was focused on "Clean Diesel" and the lastest EPA emissions requirements, as well as a focus on the new automotive diesel models that are coming out. One of the presentations was by a representative of the Diesel Technology Forum, which is an advocate group for the manufacturers, and a proponent of clean diesel. The DTF is actively concerned with eliminating the negativity that surrounds older diesel vehicles and their smokey history. A large amount of the presentation was devoted to trying to combat the image of diesels as presented by "the coal rolling crowd". They included a segment of the Colbert Report and played it for all to see. I could not find the full version that we were shown, but the segment is included in this weekly wrap up (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6oTvU2Tx80) and a lot of the content duplicated at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nxgz6rOI_c . The DTF is increasing the awareness of the negativity surrounding this kind of activity, and you can bet that efforts will be forthcoming to penalize anyone who represents a threat to the image of clean diesel. What this means is, that the noose is going to be tightening further, and now you can see the politics behind it. We were quick to point out to various manufactures that a lack of support for older models exacerbates the problem, and we also talked about how the "coal rolling crowd" is a very small percentage of diesel pickup owners. Unfortunately, social media has allowed this small voice a very loud volume which is now being heard and seen as a threat. As the old saying goes, "it only takes a few bad apples to spoil the while bunch." The new Chevy Cruize, while technologically superior, has not reached the sales goals GM had hoped for, and negativity surrounding diesel is one of the reasons why they feel this may be the case. Of course the large elephant in the room, which no one brought up, was cost and sustainability. I talked with several attendees, guest speakers and manufacturer representatives about the out of control costs of new trucks, the excessive labor needed to service them, and the cost of parts (as an example, if your SCR system fails, it's going to cost you $3000 to replace that one SKU. No one seemed to have an answer, and I got the feeling that different parts of the country have different feelings about this. In my conservative county, no one is in a hurry to run out and spend $60K on a new truck that will be worth $9K in 10 years.
In the good news department, we spoke with Stanadyne, and there is no loss of support now, or in the planned future for DB2 parts. The government still has a lot of these units in service, and their military contracts will require them to keep making parts for the foreseeable future. However, they are no longer manufacturing injectors for the 6.9/7.3. Fortunately there are 2 other manufactures still able to supply them.
A large amount of content was focused on "Clean Diesel" and the lastest EPA emissions requirements, as well as a focus on the new automotive diesel models that are coming out. One of the presentations was by a representative of the Diesel Technology Forum, which is an advocate group for the manufacturers, and a proponent of clean diesel. The DTF is actively concerned with eliminating the negativity that surrounds older diesel vehicles and their smokey history. A large amount of the presentation was devoted to trying to combat the image of diesels as presented by "the coal rolling crowd". They included a segment of the Colbert Report and played it for all to see. I could not find the full version that we were shown, but the segment is included in this weekly wrap up (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6oTvU2Tx80) and a lot of the content duplicated at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nxgz6rOI_c . The DTF is increasing the awareness of the negativity surrounding this kind of activity, and you can bet that efforts will be forthcoming to penalize anyone who represents a threat to the image of clean diesel. What this means is, that the noose is going to be tightening further, and now you can see the politics behind it. We were quick to point out to various manufactures that a lack of support for older models exacerbates the problem, and we also talked about how the "coal rolling crowd" is a very small percentage of diesel pickup owners. Unfortunately, social media has allowed this small voice a very loud volume which is now being heard and seen as a threat. As the old saying goes, "it only takes a few bad apples to spoil the while bunch." The new Chevy Cruize, while technologically superior, has not reached the sales goals GM had hoped for, and negativity surrounding diesel is one of the reasons why they feel this may be the case. Of course the large elephant in the room, which no one brought up, was cost and sustainability. I talked with several attendees, guest speakers and manufacturer representatives about the out of control costs of new trucks, the excessive labor needed to service them, and the cost of parts (as an example, if your SCR system fails, it's going to cost you $3000 to replace that one SKU. No one seemed to have an answer, and I got the feeling that different parts of the country have different feelings about this. In my conservative county, no one is in a hurry to run out and spend $60K on a new truck that will be worth $9K in 10 years.
In the good news department, we spoke with Stanadyne, and there is no loss of support now, or in the planned future for DB2 parts. The government still has a lot of these units in service, and their military contracts will require them to keep making parts for the foreseeable future. However, they are no longer manufacturing injectors for the 6.9/7.3. Fortunately there are 2 other manufactures still able to supply them.
