Great Article, however, it was written on October 16 2006 when Diesel prices were in the $2.50 range. Diesel prices in my area are now OVER $4.50 today. Experts are now saying the gas prices of $4.50 could be seen in a month or two...Heck i was at the Texas gulf coast this weekend and it was over $3.80 already, but still plenty of wranglers everywhere . Anyway..with gas heading into the 4's this might leave diesel into the 5/gallon range...at that price if i was looking at a diesel vehicle i would want 40+ MPG...not low 20's that a jeep would offer...seems like Jeep could come up with something for the US market in a diesel like the Compass or Patriot that both have diesels in EU. I would rather have a wrangler/liberty but would very much consider a compass/patriot diesel if offered for the fuel economy.

I wouldn't worry about Diesel engine availibility for Jeep, The Cummins deal is still a go, and they were sourced to replace the Mercedes Diesel engines anyway, besides, they are better engines.

I like the Idea of 'McDiesel', but it seems one chain cannot generate enough veggie oil to make it a business...

For example, our town, a suburb bordering Chicago, has 3 McDonalds locations---I am going to guess that they consume 20 gallons of veg oil a day (that guess may be optimistic, but for the sake of arggument) X 3 locations a day=60 gallons of vegetable oil, which when converted to Biodiesel, produces 45-55 gallons of B100 (after removal of water, waste contaminants, and glycerine).

While that's okay, in reality, 55 gallons will only fill up (or top off) 3-4 cars or 2-3 pickup trucks per day.

NOW, if somebody like Waste Management got into the act, they would pickup 40-60 gallons of veg oil per day from each resturaunt chain, as well as the independent resturaunts. We have about 7 chains in our town, and that would make about 500 gallons of veg oil, and about 450 gallons of B100, and fill about 12-15 cars and trucks up per day.

A little more realistic for one town, but I agree, it's better than digesting the oil with bacteria, which is pretty much what they do now..

With the separation of Daimler from Chrysler, I wonder how in jeopardy the diesel roadmap for Jeep is. The '09 Grand Cherokee is slated to have the 50 state legal Bluetec diesel from Mercedes next year but it sounds as though that may be delayed. There are some new smaller Cummins diesels in the pipeline however. Again though those I have only heard of as being tapped by GM for their SUVs so things seem hazy for Jeeps with diesel. There is the CRD in the European JK but if I recall that's the same Italian sourced oil burner that was in the Liberty and got embarrassingly poor MPG. Nor was it 50 state compliant.

Here's hoping Cerberus isn't neglecting diesel in the re-org.

Speaking of biodiesel, I always wondered why fast food chains like McDonalds dont make there own diesel with the restaraunt oil... McDiesel pumps in the parking lot. Maybe use it to fuel up there delivery trucks.... Seems like a no brainer.

Or towns themselves should mandate that all restaraunts in towns oil get picked up by town truck. THen the town can turn it into fuel for snow plows or what not....

There is too much waste out there. THat proves that the price is not TOO high in my opiniion.

I love my 07 JKL Rubi, it almost a year old now...awww idinit cute?
Poof! I'd sell it like that if I could get a diesel with 28-30mpg.
I've even stopped buying upgrades for the 3.8L V6.
Can you smell that . . .
....... . . ................ . . .. ..it's. . .. . .. Biodiesel!

Oct 16 2006 was when this article was written.
The reason they don't mention diesel prices because they weren't rising like they are now 1 1/2 years ago.