THE RISE and fall of Dr Rudolf Diesel’s compression-ignition engine has been as intriguing as the man himself, who famously disappeared off the back of a cross-Channel ferry on the eve of WW2 in suspicious circumstances.
The technology became a mainstay in the industrial, marine and commercial vehicle worlds but was slow to be adopted in passenger cars. Once the drawbacks of refinement and power were addressed though, the rise of the diesel was swift: VW marketed a diesel Golf as early as 1976 which promised an astounding 50mpg, while the likes of Peugeot brought the diesel car into the mainstream during the early 1980s and even married the idea of sporty hatchback and diesel engine with its 205.
As the car industry entered the 1990s, the rise of diesel accelerated in a parallel with today’s rush to electrification. Every mainstream maker wanted a diesel in the range but some early efforts were distinctly clumsy: witness Rover’s SD1 and Range Rover which used a derivative of a marine engine suplied by VM Motori. Others however were much more promising, with BMW developing a gem in the shape of its M21 straightsix unit, later evolutions of which would ultimately be sold to third party makers including Land Rover and Vauxhall/Opel.
Naturally, Jaguar remained aloof from the idea of diesel power, which was hardly a surprise. After all, in the BL years the in-house diesel options would have been woeful in the extreme, while after privatisation the funds simply weren’t available. To put it in context, when the AJ6
