Diesel models of vehicles really started taking off during the oil crises of the 70's, peaking with 119 different diesel vehicle models in 1984. There were two basic reasons for this: diesel was cheaper than gasoline, and diesel vehicles get better miles-per-gallon than their gasoline counterparts.
Since 1984, there has been a steady decline in the number of diesel passenger vehicles (ie not trucks) available in the United States and Canada (see graph above). Today, only three manufacturers (VW, Mercedes, BMW) are allowed to sell non-truck diesel cars in the U.S. In contrast, nearly every car manufacturer (including the American ones) sells multiple diesel passenger models in Europe and Asia. Why? One reason is the US EPA. The EPA has tightened restrictions on diesel emissions so much that the process for getting a passenger-car diesel engine to the EPA's standard has become so costly that it is not worth most manufacturers' money or time to adapt their adequate-for-Europe (which by many counts is MUCH more "environmentally conscious" than the US) diesel engines to the American market. Interestingly, the EPA provides an exception to their strict diesel emissions standards for trucks (ie, the bigger, less-fuel-efficient engines).
The EPA: where "Environmental" is code for "oil industry."
2 comments:
My guess is that diesels suffer from a bad reputation, a perception that they are noisy, clunkety clunck rattle rattle engines that spew black smoke and have no "get up and go." That's the diesel I remember.
That image is GM's fault. Their 5.7L diesel engine was so bad that it turned the people who were exposed to them against diesel engines for exactly the reasons you described.
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