This is a strange one. I saw this tonight on Southfield Road. It's a Peugeot* 607 diesel with Michigan manufacturer plates, and it is a very French-looking machine. Seeing one in Detroit means that Peugeot is either considering bringing the marque back to the US (pretty unlikely) or a US manufacturer is testing the competition (much more probable).
How do I know it was a diesel? There was no badging, but the big plume of black smoke that puffed out when he passed me is a pretty good tip-off.
What can we infer from this spotting? How about this: US automakers, sensing that not only might $3 gas might be around for a while, but is probably a precursor to $4 gas, are looking to diesel to boost mileage. Alternatives theories welcomed. I do know that if this thing ran on grease like my buddy Dan's awesome S-Class, not only would it not smoke so much, but its tailpipe emissions would smell like french fries and the test-drivers would get free Thai food for picking up the waste oil (ask Dan). It would still be weird-looking though.
Dan D's biodiesel vintage S-Class. If you floor it all the time, it's sort of like driving a normal car. He really does get free Thai food.
*You know, after you learn how to spell bourgeois, Peugeot's not so bad.
5 comments:
I've heard about running a car on grease. Scott's dad has actually looked into it. He's really into diesel, and grease is even better. LOL
As for bourgeois...I still have to cheat and look it up.
p.s. guess where we went this week? Toledo! It was fun...we even went to Tony Packo's. :)
Next on Scott's list is going back for a MudHen's game.
What do you think? Good idea or bad?
Ahh, I feel like I'm in Spain again. I love all the cars there that we don't have. For instance, Peugeot, Citroen, Opal, all kinds of wierd Fords that you've never seen in the USA, and more. If you like I could do a little car hunting in Spain next week. I'll bring back some photos of the best looking european rides.
I wish I would have had my camera on me today, there was a Mercedes hydrogen-powered vehicle running around the back parking lot at work.
I wish there were more diesel vehicles in the U.S. but our stingy emissions laws are prohibiting it.
I was in Italy a couple months ago, and I don't think I saw too many vehicles that weren't diesel.
As for biofuel - it's really easy to convert your diesel engine to a bio-engine, lots of companies make conversion kits - just do a web search.
It's not just Detroit. A colleague of mine stopped by this morning to tell me he saw a Peugeot on King Street in Port Chester, NY yesterday.
I asked him about the car. He said it was a coupe with a great front end. He was 100% positive that it was not a hatchback. I pulled up the Peugeot site and showed him the 407 Coupe.
He is positive that's the car he saw. I wonder what the deal is.
I'll keep an eye out for it.
Peugeot still maintains an office in Southfield, Michigan.
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