To secure its diesel future General Motors will purchase a 50% stake in Italy’s VM Motori diesel engine plant from current owner Penske Corp. in a new 50-50 joint venture. This is the same engine plant that GM co-developed its new 2.9L V6 turbodiesel, which will initially be sold in Europe’s 2009 Cadillac CTS sedan and will eventually end up in its US cars.

GM was wasn’t willing to give any numbers but its VP of global powertrain engineering Dan Hancock described the deal as “good value” to reporters from Automotive News. The immediate goal is to introduce new diesel powertrains in range of light-duty commercial vehicles that are to be sold in emerging markets such as China, Russia and India, where sales of such vehicles still account for 32% of the market.

In addition to the 2.9L V6, development is also underway on a new 4.5L V8 oil-burner that will eventually end up in the Hummer H2 and Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra pickups. Amazingly, the new V6 will develop 250hp (184kW) and a massive 550Nm from as low as 2,000rpm.

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