What's Driving the Automotive Rumor Mill?

While electric and hybrid cars are rightfully drawing a lot of attention in the auto world, there's another technology investors are probably overlooking: clean diesel. With the sulfur content now reduced by 97%, today's diesel offers near-zero emissions and is about 30% more fuel-efficient than gasoline.

The big three of Ford (NYSE: F  ) , General Motors (NYSE: GM  ) , and Chrysler are dominating the light truck and auto diesel market in the U.S., with sales growing nearly twice as fast as the general market. What's more, Chevrolet and Volkswagen's (NASDAQOTH: VLKAY  ) Audi division are offering up some groundbreaking new autos this year.

Fool analyst Rex Moore spoke with Allen Schaeffer of the Diesel Technology Forum at this year's Washington Auto Show. In this installment of the multi-part interview, Schaeffer talks about what may be coming next -- smaller diesel engines in pickups.

Ford has been performing incredibly well as a company over the past few years -- it's making good vehicles, is consistently profitable, recently reinstated its dividend, and has done a remarkable job paying down its debt. The stock has recently taken off, and it appears investors have started to notice what Ford is doing right. Does this create an incredible buying opportunity, or are there hidden risks with the stock that investors need to know about? To answer that, one of our top equity analysts has compiled a premium research report with in-depth analysis on whether Ford is a buy right now, and why. Simply click here to get instant access to this premium report.