Toyota Motor Corp. has developed a basic technology for a new diesel engine purification system that can drastically reduce harmful emissions from diesel vehicles, Toyota President Fujio Cho said Tuesday.
Cho told a press conference that Japan's largest automaker will introduce vehicles equipped with the new system in 2003.
According to Toyota, the new Diesel Particulate-NOx Reduction System, or DPNR, can reduce the amount of both particulate matter and nitrogen oxides emitted by diesel trucks with a capacity of 2 tons by 80 percent from the level legally permitted under a 1998 Japanese regulation.
The new system combines an electronically controlled fuel-injection technology with a simple catalytic converter system to allow continuous reduction of particles and nitrogen oxides, the firm said.
However, one caveat of the DPNR system is that it requires fuel with low sulfur content to maintain its high conversion efficiency, and cars equipped with the new technology will be more expensive than current diesel-powered cars, said Shinichi Kato, an executive vice president at Toyota.
The carmaker plans to further develop the DPNR system with truck maker Hino Motors Ltd. to make the technology available for larger trucks, Kato said. Toyota has a 33.8 percent stake in Hino Motors.
The new system cannot be applied to existing diesel-powered vehicles because it uses a new fuel-injection process, he said.