Jeep looking to improve fuel economy, may bring diesels to North America (U.S)

2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee headlamp

As Jeep is looking for a way to improve the brand's overall fuel economy, the firm may utilise diesel engines in its off-road vehicles to obey forthcoming fuel economy ratings. Currently, all Jeep models in the U.S and Canada are sold with petrol engines.

Jeep's CEO Michael Manley has said the company is strongly looking into diesel variants of the Grand Cherokee and Wrangler. The first diesel-powered models may arrive in early 2013.

“Diesel in some of our models makes absolute sense,” Manley said. “When you look at the U.S market, diesel applications in the larger vehicles probably make more sense than they do in the smaller ones, purely because of the cost of the powertrains and the treatments that are required,” to meet emission standards, Manley added.

Around 80% of all Jeep models sold in Europe are diesel-powered.