GM divestment from South Africa might sound like an excuse for Diesel repowerings

GM phasing out its Chevrolet range in South Africa and regional export markets like Namibia sounds as the perfect excuse to fit some random Diesel engines into some cars such as a Cruze. For some model-years a 2.0L turbodiesel was available, but the last ones did not have such option and had to rely either on a port-injection 1.6L petrol engine or a 1.4L turbocharged with direct injection also petrol-powered. It was kinda surprising to say the least, when a guy inquired me about the possibility of adapting a Hatz 2M41 engine to a Cruze hatchback. That would probably not be my first choice, but that engine could at least in theory work. I'd feel so much more comfortable doing an Isuzu 4FC1 engine swap for example.

Stationary engines of ancient design may not be the most suitable for automotive application, but they should not be singled out

Been recently in Uruguay, seen an old Volkswagen Brasilia repowered with a Hatz Diesel inline-twin. Maybe not the best one but at least it retained the air cooling instead of adding the complexity of a radiator, water pump, thermostat valve and all those hoses. Right now in Argentina, soon to go to Namibia. Argentina used to be more receptive toward light-duty Diesel engines, but now it's all about CNG while we only see something Diesel once in a while and mostly a Peugeot or a Renault. Those who would rather want some other light-duty ride with a Diesel, such as a Chevrolet Cruze or a Ford Focus, are left pretty much without any option. It might seem tempting to just slap some stationary engine to a newer car, much like it used to be kinda popular with Perkins engines in other times, but now with all those emission regulations and the widespread of electronic stability controls it becomes roughly impossible to integrate them  to work with a mechanically-governed engine.

Scrapping older cars based only on their age would be totally pointless

Once in a while I see claims that getting rid of older vehicles, with a more stringent focus on Diesel-powered ones, would be somewhat of a solution to the pollution issue. That's totally pointless. Lack of electronic controls make it easy to avoid some maintenance hassles associated to the common-rail engines, most noticeably in harsher environmental conditions or when replacement parts cost would hit the owner harder, and sometimes the lack of a turbocharger may not be something to bother at all due to the diminished risk of an engine runaway caused by oil blow-by through the compressor housing.

The best option to overcome the emissions issue would be prioritizing biofuels, such as biodiesel and maybe even pure vegetable oils according to the technological stage of each engine. And since fish is a popular source of protein not just in the Philippines but also in a lot of other Asian countries, why not resorting to fish liver oils as a feedstock for biodiesel? The alcohol required to brew biodiesel can be sourced from palm as it's usual in Thailand, or coconut as it's also common in Indonesia. Well, coconut may seem a perfect feedstock for biodiesel too, as it may provide not just the fatty acids but some sugar that can be turned into either ethanol or methanol.

Water injection, which blended with some alcohol (usually methanol) to prevent freezing is still quite usual in high-performance applications and have been frequently used in WWII-era fighter aircraft with piston engines, could eventually resort to the water recovered from the aircon system as a supplement to the distilled water + methanol blend more frequently used in specialty applications. At least on open roads with fewer traffic density the fuel-efficiency increase is already noticeable when there is some higher amount of moisture in the air.

How likely would be an old rear-engined Volkswagen to be better than a modern CUV?

The present-day crossover utility vehicle, or CUV for short, may be appealing to urban customers willing to show off and pretend they live an adventurous lifestyle on the weekends, but to which point are them really better than an old-school Volkswagen when it comes to actual off-roading?

Volkswagen may not be so expressive as a high-volume manufacturer to the point of challenging the Japanese automakers in much of Asia anymore, at least not outside of China, but its old products had their days of glory when air cooling was the standard of this brand. There were times when the Brazilian branch of Volkswagen provided all sort of CKD kits not only for the Philippine distributor but also for Indonesia, with the Brazilian Transporter/Kombi being considerably cheaper than the German counterpart despite being a bit outdated. Boot access was not so great due to the intrusion of the engine compartment, plus the narrow rear hatch, but its non-sliding curbside rear doors were less maintenance-intensive on rough terrain than the first generations of Japanese vans with sliding doors. Even though the rear engine took too much space from the loading bay compared to the Japanese vans with their engine right below the front seats, it improved traction in rough terrain regardless of load condition. There was a water-cooled Diesel version in Brazil too, but most of the remaining ones are double-cab pick-up. Could've it been a good contender for the earlier Hilux back in the day?

Another former hit in the Philippines was the Brasília, a bantam shaped like a Golf would have been if it had the same Beetle driveline. Once in a while I still see one in Makati, but not sure how many remain operating throughout the country.

What would I do if I could get my hands on some Beetle or even a Brasília? Swap some horizontal single-cylinder Diesel on it and make it a cross-country vehicle which would outperform any modern mall-rated CUV on real off-roading.

Diesel engines are not so easy to find for light-duty vehicles in Oman

As a former British protectorate, finding some old Lister stationary engine once in a while is no surprise at all. Some fishing boats also rely on Diesel, but it's not so easy to see Diesel-engined light vehicles as it is for petrol-engined ones. It is quite surprising to find out Toyota is using its most modern Diesel engines for the HiLux instead of the old-school 5L-E nearly everywhere by now. As a general rule, most Middle East countries used to not enforce emission standards so strictly.

Ancient hot-bulb engines simply refuse to die

It's not impossible to find 100-years old hot-bulb "semi Diesel" engines still in perfect operating conditions fitted to fishing boats. Even though the widespread availability of horizontal-single true Diesel engines from Japan and those copies made in China could sound promising for a phaseout of the "semi Diesel" with its need for some external source of heat for start (usually a kerosene-burning lamp, but sometimes just a few pieces of red hot charcoal can also do the trick), it's not really uncommon to find older British hot-bulb engines not only pumping water in the rice fields but also powering small fishing boats in Pakistan. Maybe that's still the clearest part of the British colonial heritage, along the RHD rule.

Should the Europeans take a look at motorcycles and sidecars as an alternative to the diminishing offer of small economy cars with Diesel engines?

Now that some automakers in Europe are eliminating their Diesel offers in some entry-level segments due to the cost and what is claimed to be an "environmental" concern, and the resale value of an older one goes down due to the increasingly tight traffic restrictions being enforced by local councils from cities such as Madrid, Paris, London and more recently a Federal approval for their enforcement in Stuttgart and Dusseldorf, there are fewer options remaining for those who seek a new car option that would retain some ease of maintenance combined to low fuel consumption. Maybe looking bach at the past, before the introduction of the Volkswagen Beetle and Citroen 2CV, could give Europeans an insight of an easy way to overcome this situation in case they start taking a more serious approach toward sidecars once again. It may not be the most comfortable approach in regard to the inclement weather in the winter, and would mean getting rid of the Diesel engine just like if they just got a regular petrol-powered supermini or a hybrid, but it might be somewhat of a demonstration of resistence toward the dictatorial approach of the European Union and the UN which have a clearly anti-Diesel bias in their environmental regulations. Well, much like the days of the Third Reich when German people couldn't afford to own cars due to their complexity and the simpler air cooling of a motorcycle engine compared to the water cooling which was already prevalent in the car industry and could become troublesome in the winter due to the absence of a modern cooling fluid that could prevent freezing, the average European is once again subject to a bunch of tyrants trying to control every aspect of their lives in the name of a fake "greater good".