GM has big production plans for new diesel

DETROIT — General Motors plans high-volume production for the new 4.5-liter diesel engine that will be used in light-duty trucks.

When production cranks up in summer 2009, GM plans to build 400 of the innovative, high-tech engines a day, according to a plant source who has been briefed on production volumes. The engine will be built in GM’s Tonawanda, N.Y., plant.

According to the Harbour Report, the average GM plant operates 235 days a year. That translates to about 94,000 units a year for GM’s new diesel.

GM plans to debut the diesel in the Hummer H2 SUV, and then put it in light-duty versions of the Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra pickups. It could also be used in GM’s full-sized SUVs, such as the Chevrolet Tahoe and GMC Yukon. The diesel fits in the same space as GM’s small-block gasoline engines.

Unlike virtually all other V-type engines, GM’s new diesel does away with heavy cast-iron exhaust manifolds, the intake manifold and roughly two dozen other parts, giving GM savings estimated to be between $350 and $600 per engine.

The 4.5-liter will be GM’s first North American diesel that uses piezo-electric fuel injectors, direct injection and urea injection to control emissions as well as a new type of cylinder head that reverses the intake and exhaust flow.