Hmmm, good question, or to rephrase it, as TreeHugger did, “Do High Diesel Prices, Or Consumer “Hostilities,” Keep 65 Mile-Per-Gallon Sedans Off The US Market?”
Why not indeed? That’s one of the things I noticed on my recent trip to France, is that there are more, and cooler diesels available in Europe than you see here.
Every car company (except for Ferrari and Porsche and those kinds of companies) have some sort of diesel variant in the range, and not just the cheapies at the bottom of the market. I saw what I thought was an Audi A8 diesel.
Why is that? I think it it due to a number of factors.
First, I think that a lot has to do with there being a larger install base of diesel cars in Europe. Diesels have been another automotive choice since Herr Diesel’s engines started getting used in horseless carriages.
Second, I think a lot of the reluctance of Americans to buy diesel cars is the cost of diesel fuel. It used to be that it was the cheapest “gas” at the station, but now it’s the highest.
Lastly, I always took it to be a basic American reticence against all things diesel. Diesel is what goes in delivery trucks, and it doesn’t smell good. It’s a messier proposition if you are a typical ham-fisted American driver to fill your tank with diesel fuel than it is with gas - I also think that if full service was a cheaper option, the number of Americans that pumped their own gas would drop by 83%
I’ve owned a couple of diesel cars. They worked great, just like “normal” cars, only I had to fill them less often. If a car manufacturer, say Subaru with the new diesels they’ll be bringing to America were to make a performance variant, or at least one that was more fun to drive, I’d consider it.
And I bet more Americans would consider it too if gas prices continue to rise.
Source: TreeHugger.
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