No more Chevy Express 2.8L diesels.
 

It looks like the Chevy Express and GM Savana are no longer being offered with a diesel engine. In fact, in a few years GM wants to retire the Express and Savana gasoline vans and replace them with EV's (EV as in Electric Vans).

I always thought the little 2.8L 4 cylinder diesel engine was a neat idea in a one ton Van.

Getting quite difficult to pass emmissions of particulates in urban environments. Thought I saw a new federal one that reduced particle size to 1.5 which makes even my Golf a gross polluter.

Add $6 @gallon fuel and they aren't so cheap to run. Yes we hit 6.59 a gallon here in Reno. $4.89 yesterday for the F250 but it's been 6 months since I last filled that.

According to GM the diesel version was the one that was complained about the most. I'm not sure if those complaints were about power, cost or reliability. Nowadays if it doesn't hit 60mph in 3 seconds or less then people are going to complain.

Suspect it was reliability/performance complaints.

Ever drive a diesel VW pickup? Supposedly 75mpg but getting on the freeway in LA was an rear end accident waiting to happen.

A freeway in LA, you would only get ran over if it wasn't rush hour traffic.

AFAIK this engine was made mostly in Thailand, which is where it was sourced in US-spec trim for the Express, and it's still currently made in Brazil. Well, the GM factory in Thailand was sold to the Chinese Great Wall Motor Co., so I guess a supply issue might render the Duramax 2800 unlikely to retain a foothold in the USDM. On a sidenote, since the last year the S10 (a rebadged Colorado due to different meanings of the name in countries such as Brazil and Uruguay and how it could negatively impact the sales) is only fitted with this engine, and it's most likely easier to convince an American to take a Vortec V6 or V8 instead...

I had a non-turbo VW 1.6L diesel Golf. It was plenty fast. I could get to 60mph in a little over 6 minutes. I love that car. I should go get it as the current owner never changes the plates into his name. I did get pulled over for going too slow once and belching out big clouds of black smoke on a steep uphill climb. But that car just won't die. It's immortal.

An uncle of mine had a Suzuki Vitara with that very same VW engine, but Porto Alegre is not so much above mean sea level. At some hills near the coastline in Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina, it actually didn't struggle too much, even though its performance were as modest as of most trucks from the '80s to mid-'90s.

CARB has new emission regulation that drop allowed NOx 75% in 2024 and then 90% (from current) in 2027. Useful life was also increased which means the emission system has to last longer and there is also an increase in the mandatory warranty on emission systems. EPA just announced they are following along a few years later.

Diesel simply doesn't make sense anymore for vehicles that aren't doing a lot of long distance highway towing.

BTW - GM also dropped the 6.6L Duramax from the Express Cutaway and Chassis Cabs. Those are only sold with a 6.6L gasoline engine now.

This makes me think of active vs. passive particulate incineration.