Honda unveils new diesel for overseas Civic... will it come here?

Honda has indeed been promoting its new Earth Dreams family of fuel efficient engines, and with good reason. The next generation of the Japanese automaker's powerplants are said to deliver more power with less consumption. You can't go wrong there.

So it has greatly piqued our interest that Honda has taken the wraps off the first diesel member of the Earth Dreams family. This 1.6-liter i-DTEC inline-four will be launched in the European version of the Honda Civicstarting in the beginning of next year. The engine makes 118 horsepower and 221 pound-feet of torque. It is made up of aluminum block and cylinder heads, and according to Honda, is the lightest diesel engine in its class.

Part of this new engine design is a fourth-generation Garret turbocharger, which features a variable-nozzle design. The speed of the turbo is also electronically controlled to optimize fuel efficiency and minimize turbo lag. The engine is designed specifically with the European market in mind, and will be produced in Honda's Swindon, UK manufacturing facility. Honda is capable of making 500 of these new diesel engines per day, which equates to one new engine every 138 seconds. Not bad for productivity.

So will this diesel mill come to the US market? Right now, it seems unlikely, but with diesel variants of other vehicles popping up in North America (there's that new C-segment Cruze Diesel on its way), it's not unthinkable that Honda would bring this engine over. Until then, we'll just have to keep our fingers crossed. To pass the time, you can also check out the press release below and gallery above, featuring detailed engine photos.

Source: Autoblog Green