Looking at the NYT review of new cars it is striking that there seem to be no diesel sedans.

In Europe diesel cars represent 49% of new car sales. In France two out of three new cars sold have diesel engines. Even luxury and top end car makers make diesel versions: you can get a diesel Jaguar and there have been diesel Mercedes for many years.

One advantage is mileage per gallon. When the motoring writer Jeremy Clarkson tested the hybrid Toyota Prius he reported that it returned only 40 mpg [UK gallons] driven "normally" and not as though by "a little old lady". It does, after all, have a petrol engine as well as the electric motor. . In contrast his diesel Volkswagen returned 70 mpg driven normally. The mpg of a diesel is 30% to 50% better than for a similar petrol/gas car.

So what's the problem? The emissions of a modern diesel engine comply with modern standards, though we'd be forgiven for thinking that that is not really a key consideration with normal drivers (including American ones). The performance is indistinguishable. The car makes no more noise than a petrol version.

The diesel fuel in France is slightly cheaper and in Britain slightly dearer but that is more than offset by the added economy.

Americans drive a surprising (to us) number of 'off-roaders', '4 by 4s' (SUVs). Are any of these diesel in the USA ? If not, why not?

Incidentally,it is not immediately obvious why anyone needs, or thinks they need, 4 wheel drive unless they live on a farm or halfway up a mountain If it's height above the roadway that you want then an ordinary 'people carrier', a vehicle that sits higher than a normal sedan/ saloon would do.You can get a bevy of children etc into one of those,too ( Mr Clarkson noted, on a visit to Morthern Norway,a place where they do have snow (and a few hills ) that, in three weeks, he did not see a single off-roader/SUV .Norway is a high income country, too, so we might expect that it's not a question of simple cost.

So what's the reasoning ?

On the SUV question...it can't be safety concerns.

Petrol - gas - is cheap enough in North America for people not to worry too much, yet, about switching to diesel. The first step, before diesel became popular, would be a change to smaller cars with smaller engines.

At one time, not in to the too distant past, diesel was cheaper here and started to be very popular, but now diesel is more expensive and people are not so pleased with it.

As for the SUV popularity, mostly because bigger is better and All Americans like large. Thus we build huge two story 5 bedroom houses for families that will have an average of 1.9 children, we drive huge 7-8 passenger mini-bus SUVs, have 50+ inch plasma Screen TVs and strive to make all of our cities Mega Cities that sprawl as far as the eye can see. That is the American Way - and that is why we Super Size our Fast food too.

Now I do own a jacked up 4 wheel drive 1977 GMC Suburban, however to be fair on the matter I also carry all of my tools in it and I haul sheets of dry wall, sheets of ply wood, lumber, etc.....