Remember the 4.5L Â Duramax? If you’re a GM truck enthusiast, chances are you do, and chances are you have strong feelings about its early demise while still in development. This was mostly due to the fact that the engine was becoming an expensive proposition, and still wasn’t meeting emissions requirements. Another may have been due to the fact that General Motors was developing another diesel engine that could have been used in its trucks and SUV models; a 3.0L V6.
But not just any 3.0L diesel V6. It’s the very 3.0L V6 Chrysler-Fiat is utilizing in vehicles like the Jeep Grand Cherokee and Ram 1500 pickup truck.
It started back when General Motors purchased 50 percent of Italian engine maker VM Motori in July 2007. Not long after came the announcement that GM and VM Motori were collaborating on a 2.9-liter turbodiesel V6 engine for the European version of the Cadillac CTS, which was to be launched in 2009. As many will not soon forget, GM declared bankruptcy that summer, derailing the plans for a diesel CTS in Europe, among other things. Meanwhile, VM continued developing the engine, but it was never used in a GM vehicle. Sadly.
Fast forward to February 2011, where Fiat bought 50 percent of VM Motori. Lo and behold, there was a certain new V6 diesel engine ready for applications. According to Automotive News, there were some design changes from the original, but Chysler-Fiat will have the chance to use GM’s own hardware against them, labeled as the EcoDiesel V6.
While GM has not announced plans for a diesel for its light-duty trucks or SUVs, VM Motori is free to sell it to other customers, and the company may put the appealing engine to use. And the 2014 Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra have a peculiar sticker under their hoods hinting that there’s a diesel engine in the cards down the road.
Comments
I thought the Cruz eco diesel is not from the vm motori?
The Cruz for the Euro market does use a VM Motori engine , but the US market uses a GM/FIAT engine
NO FREAKING WAY!!!!!!! Of course they (Chrysler) are going to stay as quiet about this as they can and take credit for this engine’s torque and efficiency. I really hope that some big journal or news outlet blows the lid wide open on this so that every time a potential dodge/jeep buyer going to look at the diesel asks this question first: “is it true that GM developed this engine with VM Motori?”
I also hope that gm has something else in the works, maybe even the 4.5 duramax, that puts it way ahead of other brands using half-decade-old engines that they didn’t even develop themselves.
If any of the idiot bean counters that had been mis-managing GM for decades could’ve scraped together enough brains to hold onto Detroit-Diesel GM could build their own diesels. Sometime your stupidity catches up with you
Back in 1988 diesels were a non player in this country except for Heavy Duty trucks. Detroit Diesel only made HD powertrains. And in the 80’s GM did not build enough HD diesel trucks to make money on the powertrain themselves.
Spinning off the division allowed Detroit Diesel to sell to other companies and make some money.
Not buyin’ it. Detroit Deisel powered anything and everything not just GM”s stuff. This is yet another example of GM’s why bother attitude. Volvo has been quite successful with the heavy truck business GM gave them in ’88. And Volvo can somehow figure out how to build cars too. And construction equiptment and busses ect. All the stuff that’s now beyond GM’s abilities
I still own an 85c20 with an original 6.2 L non turbo motor that was labeled junk by many. But with 400k miles on it befor it stopped counting , the motor still runs great! everything else rusted off or doesn’t work. But I turn my key on count to 30 cus the dash lights don’t work for the glow plugs. But it starts right up ! Idles a Lil high for another 2 mins and then it kicks down to a purrrrr. Best truck I have ever owned ! My 08 durmax has had glow plugs , turbo , 2 water pumps and sensors I stopped counting with 159k on it.
With the amount of major engine failures that the GM designed ecodiesel is having ,I doubt GM would want it known they had anything to do with it .
With the Panda, 500, 500L, Punto, Bravo, Qubo & Doblo in Fiat’s range I shouldn’t think they’d be much demand for a 3.0 Diesel (the biggest engine now is only a 1.6) with this in mind, along with limited sales it would bring in a Chrysler product/s to make it worthwhile cost & production wise maybe it would be a good idea for VM & Fiat to licence it’s use to GM if GM & Fiat wanted to & could agree so.
What peculiar sticker would that be? I thought this new 3.0 was made by the same company that made the 3.0 diesel that was in the 2007-2008 Grand Cherokees, but looked it up and those were actually made by Mercedes-Benz.
GM owns half of VM Motori and Fiat Group owns the other half, autonews is wrong. You can see this at the VM Motori corporate website: http://www.vmmotori.it/en/00/01/11/index.jsp
…just go to the 2011 tab.
GM no longer owns any interest in VM , that is now wholly own by Fiat. That is why GM is nolonger going to have the small diesel they promised everyone several years ago.
October 28, 2013 (yes, almost 5 years ago)
Fiat buys remainder of diesel maker VM Motori from GM
http://www.autonews.com/article/20131028/OEM10/131029887/fiat-buys-remainder-of-diesel-maker-vm-motori-from-gm
July 16, 2013 (14 weeks prior)
Joe G.’s comment! check your dates Ramsbey, ; ) I came close once, ONCE!!!
This is a VM Motori engine, neither a GM engine nor a FIAT-Chrysler engine.
GM and FIAT just happen to own half of the company.
If it weren’t for Fiat Technology, there would be no clean burn Diesel engines from any manufacturer. As for Diesels , Chrysler has been using Cumming for many years & has had great success with them in the Dodge & Ram pick-ups. If GM wasn’t soo slow they wouldn’t have agreed to purchase Fiat, then ‘Shelved’ the entire purchase & Company, they could have used Fiat to greatly help out GM & could have avoided the mess they got into in 2009. They had to pay Fiat 2 billion to not buy the company. Now Chrysler is the backbone of Fiat. Karma always comes back around.
Isn’t GM back in bed with Isuzu? There should or better be something in the works, I was thinking the 4.5L diesel would be great for the new Colorado!
In South Africa and in some other markets, GM does work together with Isuzu. The Port Elisabeth plant on the Indian Ocean coast of Eastern Cape in South Africa assembles not only the Chevrolet Spark, but also some Isuzu vehicles. GM South Africa lists Isuzu as one of their three brands, side to side with Chevrolet and Opel.
Opel and Vauxhall used a Isuzu V6 Diesel for a few years not so long ago , and a Holden V6 3.2 petrol now
GM seems to have lost its leadership in trucks. While Ford was always the number one nameplate, Chev and GMC used to outsell Ford. Now, other than a few months, that isn’t true.
And now, the Dodge Ram is Consumer Reports pic. That publication carries a lot of weight. GM had CR Recommended as one of its objectives at one point…..what happened to that?
What happened is that GM currently offers an old old truck. Something called bankruptcy made it stay around longer than they wanted.
Early reports say the new new GM truck will do very well.
“The new Ram’s 78 points puts it just behind CR’s longtime favorite, the Chevy Avalanche, which earned 80 points but will no longer be produced after this model year.”
“Other pickups CR tested are the 2013 Chevy Silverado 1500/GMC Sierra 1500 (70 points), Toyota Tundra (69 points), the Ford F-150 (68 points), with the Nissan Titan as the only truck in the full-size category that has not achieved recommended status. CR NOTES IT HASN’T FULLY TESTED THE ALL-NEW 2014 Chevy Silverado 1500/GMC Sierra 1500 pickups YET.”
PickupTrucks.com
“Actually A GM Engine”? It doesn’t seems to me. The “630” has never been GM’s hardware.
The VM “630” 3.0L V6 Diesel was presented at the Bologna Motorshow in 2004 (at that time the firm was owned by Penske corp., that acquired it from Daimler-Chrysler in 2003) but, given the traditional links between VM and FIAT, it was expected the unit to be acquired by FIAT to equip, first of all, a version of the Alfa Romeo 159.
But Fiat was in financial crisis, and couldn’t afford the exepence.
When GM (that, after her divorce from FIAT had no longer access to the technology of the FIAT-GM engine development center in Turin) aquired 50% of VM in 2007, the 630 was the most well-known of their projects, and it and it seemed that GM should make good use of it.
But then was the time for GM to go into a crisis, and so nothing has done with the new unit for 4 years.
In 2011 Fiat acquired VM, the engine, added the last piece (it’s proprietary Multijet tecnology) to make it Euro-5 compliant, and the unit was ready for the market.
Chrysler-Fiat had “the chance to use GM’s own hardware against them”? It’s more that they waited by the river long enough to see GM body float by.
Here’s what the English language Wikipedia article on VM Motori has to say about the company’s history:
####### QUOTE ##########
VM Motori was founded by two entrepreneurs, Claudio Vancini and Ugo Martelli (hence the “VM”) in 1947.
VM merged with Stabilimenti Meccanici Triestini in Trieste in 1971, then Finmeccanica took a majority stake in the combined company.
In 1989, Finmeccanica restructured, selling its stake in VM Motori to company managers and Midland Montague in a leveraged buyout, leaving the company with its single Cento plant.
Detroit Diesel Corporation (DDC) bought VM Motori in 1995.
In 2000 the DDC was purchased by DaimlerChrysler AG.
In 2003, Penske Corporation purchased a 51% stake in VM Motori; in 2007, Penske bought the remaining 49% from DaimlerChrysler and subsequently sold 50% of it to General Motors. As of 2007, both deals were awaiting European regulatory approval and the value of the deal was not known.
In September 2008, GAZ Group announced plans to purchase a 50% stake from Penske Corp, but ultimately cancelled them in February 2009. On January 11, 2011 Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera published news that Fiat S.p.A. is about to purchase 50% stake from Penske. In February 11 Fiat Powertrain Technologies confirmed it has bought the 50 percent stake.
############ END QUOTE #########
(find references for the above in the Wikipedia article itself).
VW corporation, BMW and Mercedes have developed excellent Diesel engines for all their passenger car ranges, and have a long standing experience with such engines. GM has always neglected the Diesel engines, and is paying for that neglect.
Doesn’t matter no one will give GM credit even if it is true! They will bash GM anyway they can!
GM gets credited for what GM deserves credit.
But not for the decades long work of VM Motori.
Perhaps it’s best described as a GM – Fiat – VM Diesel engine thus all three rightly get credit for it.
Why should the “investors” continuously relieving one another be credited for the work they did not partake in? It is the workers and engineers at VM Motori which are to be credited for the products they have created.
What about the money the investors may of contributed to make all the hard work & end product possible.
I bet if this engine turns out to be crap and GM’s name is on it people in the media will kill GM for it!
If you own it you are going to get blamed if something goes wrong which is why you should be getting credit for the engine if it’s a winner!
Can’t have it both ways
Tbh diesels don’t do it for me, however this one looks promising – a 3.0 V6 diesel. It has endless possibiltys of GM models it would suit Insignia, Omega, Malibu & even GM’s trucks to name a few. I’d be very surprised if it don’t make it’s way into a GM car, I bet it’s a very capable engine.
I’m in the market for a new diesel Pickup. I never much liked Dodge Trucks but I checked out their line. Beautiful interiors. Power and Cummings. After looking at a 2500 series longhorn I was spoiled. The top of the line Sierra was all plastic inside and just looked cheap by comparison.
Goverment Motors should get bashed…it cost every taxpayer to save the Union and incompetent management 10 BILLION dollars…Yes – I will bash them at every opportunity and NEVER buy one of their vehicles.
The latest development in the VM Motori saga is the acquisition of GM’s 50% share by Fiat, making Fiat-Chrysler the sole owner of VM Motori.
See Fiat SpA’s press release of 28 October 2013 Fiat Group completes acquisition of VM Motori
<QUOTE>
Following receipt of regulatory approvals, Fiat Group Automobiles’ acquisition of the 50% stake in VM Motori S.p.A. held by General Motors is now complete. The purchase consideration was €34.1 million. Fiat Group acquired an initial 50% stake in VM in 2010 and now has 100% control. The purchase has been implemented following the exercise of a put option by General Motors, after several years of fruitful cooperation.
Established in 1947, VM is specialized in the production of advanced diesel engines. Its plant located in Cento, in north-east Italy, covers an area of 85,000 square meters and employs approximately 1,150 people.
VM produces around 90,000 engines per year for customers such as Jeep, Chrysler, Lancia and LTI (London Taxi). A VM engine, the most powerful in its class, also powers the first ever diesel model just launched by Maserati.
VM also supplies engines to a number of large customers from other sectors – including industrial, agricultural and marine – based on the core technologies developed for the auto sector
</QUOTE>
Gm and ford are lost in the dust with the introduction of the 3 lit. Ram diesel. I pull a 25 foot travel trailer and can pass an empty Ford 1/2T up a hill !!! Worried about the motor– Maserati uses it in two sedans. Just like the Cummins engine Chrysler got it right the FIRST time.. How many diesel engines has ford tried ??? Remember GM and their first diesel truck ???? How soon we forget..
Sorry but Cmmins is Ford. Ever hear of Ford’s Cummins Engines? How about Ford designed diesel engines produced by International? How about Ford Agricultural Engines that Fiat uses? Ever hear of the HIGHLY Successful PowerStroke?
Plus the EcoDiesel is NOT rated to pull the loads the Half Ton Ram & Ford Gas Trucks in Pull.
Cummins is not Ford you doofuss!
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