Walking the halls and looking around during the recent SEMA Show, it is very obvious that there is something going on in the diesel industry. The trend over the past four to five years has shown a steady growth of diesel, but this year, the amount of diesel trucks inside of the show dropped off a bit. There were a lot of 1/2-ton and quite a few 3/4-ton gas trucks but when it comes to diesel-powered vehicles, the numbers were noticeably down from previous years.
There are many reasons for this. GM is getting ready to release a new truck, Ram and Ford’s current diesel offerings are both a bit “tricky” to work with. Usually with these types of challenges, we would be seeing a ton of companies investing heavily into these platforms to develop products, but we aren’t currently seeing a lot of that – just yet. As a whole, the diesel performance industry is primed to become a phoenix, rising from the ashes.
There are definately some companies standing strong. BD Diesel Performance, who recently jumped head first into racing and sled pulling markets, introduced a list of new products. Brian Roth, CEO of BD Diesel Performance has a great and very optimistic perspective on the market and we look forward to more great things coming from them in the near future. Banks Power also introduced quite a few new products including a complete line of turnkey diesel powertrains. These are full stand-alone engine and transmission systems with optional transfer case. In addition, they have quite a few racing and towing products. Banks Power also gave us a sneak peak at some new stuff that will be coming out first quarter that we’re very excited to review, so stay tuned!
Companies that are in the truck market (not strictly diesel) are doing great. American Force, Weld Racing and Wheel Pros all introduced a lot of new wheels this year; Aeromotive and Fuelab each introduced new lift pumps; aFe introduced a new torque converter; and there were quite a few companies offering new lift kits, bumpers and accessories. So, it isn’t all “doom and gloom”, but we are certainly in a lull with companies having to make the decision on how to proceed and what market(s) they want to go after.
An overall vibe at the show was diversity and refinement. We saw quite a few companies offering new and improved products and some companies like Line-X are expanding their product lines by offering complimentary products that they had not offered before. In Line-X’s case, they launched a whole new brand, but many companies like aFe are branching off into headers, exhaust manifolds, differential covers, and intake manifolds, just to name a few.
From what we can tell, you the consumer are still willing to buy the “go fast parts”, but there just aren’t that many to choose from. But as a whole we are certainly at a point where companies are going to have to learn how to work within the limits set forth by the government and develop “responsible” power adders that stay within the emissions limits. A great example of this would be Banks Power’s new water methanol system. It will help reduce emissions; lower EGT’s and yield more horsepower and torque. We believe there will be a whole new wave of these types of products entering the marketplace.
Quite a few of the tuning and exhaust companies we talked to mentioned they are working on making CARB certified systems. For us at Diesel Army, this is a sign that the market will come back, and come back in new and innovative ways. No longer will the mentality be pull it off and run it like we used to; it will be how do we improve what is already there. If you keep up on the OE side of things, there are quite a few companies working to come up with a combustion process or system to step away from DEF (Diesel Exhaust Fluid), DPF (Diesel Particulate Filter) and the other emission related equipment that has been added in recent years.
While it took the gasoline market almost two decades after the heavy emissions equipment was put on, before it started getting removed, we at Diesel Army are hopeful that this will happen much quicker in the diesel industry. It seems like technology is advancing more rapidly than ever before and innovations are constantly being announced. We just hope that the trend continues and that these trucks will be freed of their emission accessories.
The industry knows what the emission tolerances are and there is a lot of money being spent developing new combustion processes, new heat recovery techniques and a whole host of other emissions related components to meet these tolerances without the MPG sucking emissions related devices that are currently on the vehicles. We are sure that the diesel market is going to recovery quickly thanks to the innovative spirit of today’s businesses as well as the speed at which new technology is being developed. Stay tuned as we will continue to cover emission advances as they are announced. Click here to read about some of the latest stuff being proposed and developed.
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