We -USA-will buy Diesels-no question about that.We bought them in 1979> and we will buy them again.You could get Diesel Corollas,small Toyota trucks,Nissan trucks,Chevettes,Caddys,Peugeots,a little VW pickup,the little Isuzu pickup.
All these vehicles sold just fine.The cra_ I have read about "our" rejection of them misses the point.We "rejected" them because there was no point in paying more for a slow, noisy,smelly diesel when oil was $8/barrel!! I don't remember what the Diesel Premium was back then, but it was probably something like $500 or so on a Chevette(8% of the $5000 cost).
With $3 gas we will lap these new diesels up. We put up with smelly,slow and noisy back in 1979, we will sure as heck do it for $3 and climbing gasoline(back then gas suddenly went up(3x), but we all expected it to eventually decrease in price-now,no one expects that )They should be cheaper than a Prius type hybrid-maybe a $1500 premium over the gasoline version. For an honest 30% increase in FE the $1500 premium will be well spent.Luck,Charlie
Clett-thanks for the site. The BMW is roughly Prius sized-bit heavier and wider, a lot faster(8sec 0-60 vs 10.6)- with considerably lower Euro mpg( 49 vs-65). Pretty nice car-expensive-$40,000.A much higher performance car-much more luxurious also I would guess.