The rising price of diesel in the U.S. looks set to derail the long-awaited onslaught by German manufacturers, hoping to sell fuel-efficient fuel-sippers to Americans desperate for economic vehicles, as long as they're not gutless, dangerous minicars.
Diesels in Europe have been spectacularly successful in recent years, to the point when about every other new car sold here is an oil-burner. Americans still probably associate diesels with the hopeless turkeys on sale during the 1970s oil crisis, which were unreliable, always bag-a-nails noisy, smelly, dirty, smoke emitting, and gutless.
Modern diesels couldn't be more different. They are so quiet, effortlessly smooth, and with torquey engines offering instant acceleration from low engine speeds, that they are the version of choice by German buyers of top-of-the-range S class Mercedes and BMW 7 Series. They are amazingly fuel-efficient, too. As Congress ratchets down rules insisting that vehicle fuel economy must improve 40 percent by 2020, diesel power offers this without forcing people to scale down to tiny cars which offer scant accident protection and snail-like performance.
The idea of diesels in America seemed like a marriage made in heaven, with the promise of a 30 percent fuel efficiency improvement with no performance penalty, and therefore liberating big SUVs and pickups from the threat of obsolescence.