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The engine plant is working at full capacity, but demand for large-capacity V6 diesels from Mercedes-Benz is off the scale

Mercedes-Benz can't build enough of its larger-displacement V6 diesels. The engine plant responsible is operating at 'ramming speed', but the orders keep coming -- and not just from the company's own car-building plants either.

An industry insider, speaking with the Carsales Network on condition of anonymity, explained that the company was flat-out building the engines for its own vehicles.

"They're absolutely at capacity," he said, before further explaining that the company's Vito and Sprinter commercials are also powered by engines built in the same factory. In addition, Benz is supplying a lower-output version of the engine for Chrysler, in an agreement that still has a couple of years left in it. Chrysler has to continue sourcing the engine from Benz, because new parent Fiat can't offer the American brand an engine to suit. Indeed, Fiat itself has reportedly been in discussions with Benz for the supply of a large-displacement turbodiesel V6.

"Fiat face the same problem, [because] they don't have a large V6 diesel," said our undercover informant.

Fiat could, in theory, source suitable powerplants from Italian engine manufacturer VM-Motori, but it's suggested the VM-Motori product is probably too dated to meet Fiat's current needs. VM-Motori is part-owned by General Motors. GM, in 2005, was forced to pay a penalty of US $2 billion to Fiat for reneging on a deal to buy the Italian company's automotive division. That penalty payment has kept Fiat afloat during the GFC and has boosted the capital for the purchase of Chrysler. So perhaps supplying a diesel V6 to Fiat is not high on the list of priorities at GM? Not when the company is still bouncing back from bankruptcy in the aftermath of the worst economic and financial crisis in 80 years.

Apparently Fiat has also approached Benz to source diesel V6s, but the German company has "rebuffed" the Italians. The only immediate way for the Benz factory to accommodate a supply contract for Fiat would be by cutting back production of engines for the German company's own cars. Taken as a whole, there's more profit in Benz selling a car, including the engine that powers it, than selling just the engine alone to a rival company -- at wholesale prices to boot.

"Any increase in that plant capacity," said our insider, "is going [to] the 'three-pointed star'."

And that spells trouble for Nissan and Renault as well. Last we heard, Nissan is hoping for Benz to pull the fat out of the fire, by supplying a suitable diesel to power the new P61G Patrol for the Australian market. Without such an engine, the Patrol will not be able to carry the fight up to Toyota's 200 Series LandCruiser in Australia.

"I can tell you that [Nissan] has tested the higher output diesels..." said the insider, "but the problem [remains] that the plant is operating at capacity."

As the Carsales Network understands it, the lack of a diesel for the new Patrol is a debacle with its roots founded in decisions made some years ago, when Renault first acquired Nissan. Nissan originally planned to have a new engine reach the market here before the introduction of the P61G Patrol. Intended to replace the current 3.0-litre turbodiesel four-cylinder in the GU Patrol, the new V6 would have been state-of-the-art and capable of meeting emissions standards for years into the future.

We're told that Renault was originally tasked with developing this engine, but the project fell victim to cost-cutting that failed to take into account future needs -- and specifically the needs of tiny little right-hand drive markets for large-scale offroaders, marketed by the junior partner in the alliance.

The French company dragged out the life cycles of existing vehicles and drivetrains, only to find that in due course, all the stuff left on the backburner was suddenly in need of replacement or updating at the same time -- and there just wasn't the engineering resource available to handle all the new projects at once. That was when Renault decided to set action priorities for each project, culminating in a much lower priority for the new V6 diesel. Renault only planned to use it in its commercial vehicles and a few slow-selling luxury cars, so it was a logical choice to be cut off at the knees.

Once that news broke, Nissan had no choice but to embark on a series of upgrades for the existing 3.0-litre engine in the Patrol. Those upgrades, principally aimed at keeping pace with changing emissions standards, were much more costly than developing a whole new engine would have been in the first instance.

As for the new 550Nm V6 introduced to the Navara and Pathfinder ranges in recent months, our source argues that its output would be inadequate for something as large and as heavy as the next Patrol.

"It's not enough," he said. "[Patrol is] going to need 650 to 700Nm."

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