23 July 2001: Volvo will have its own common-rail diesel engines in its large cars from September, closing a gap since the end of last year when the company stopped using VW diesels because they didn't meet Euro 3 emission standards.

The new D5 engine is the first car diesel engine to be designed and built by Volvo itself . The 1.8- and 2-litre diesels used in is smaller 40 series cars are bought from Renault.

The new engine is five-cylinder and has an aluminium block, and will be available first in the S60 and S80 and later in the V70 wagon. It will have power outputs of 130bhp and 163bhp, with the more powerful engine being introduced first. The engine will use Bosch's second-generation common-rail injector system.

Volvo spent E235.8 million developing the new unit and upgrading its Skövde, Sweden, engine plant to make it. Skövde can build about 100,000 diesels a year.

Diesels have accounted for about 20 percent of Volvo's large-car sales in Europe but the company expects this to rise to 30 percent. For the moment the all D5s will be produced for the European market. The company doesn't plan to sell the engine to fellow Ford Premier Automotive Group brands such as Jaguar, Land Rover, Aston Martin and Lincoln.

Diesels now account for 44 percent of sales in the premium car segment, and much higher in some countries - 87 percent in Belgium, 82 percent in France, 77 percent in Austria and 70 percent in Italy. TW