Would Americans Buy a Diesel Yaris? Would it Sell Well in North America?

[BMGYaris]

Of course there is a market, its anybody who knows anything about new diesel engines:)
my roomate told me that they are very inefficient and produce huge billowing black clouds all the time while yo uare driving......and then that guy just said they had less power on this very thread....but if you know what your talking about at all, you would def. be interested:) I know just a little bit though, but i would want one.

[paultyler_82]

Well, BMG... it's because of diesel's history here in the States that so many US consumers are misinformed. Until recently, US Diesel was limited to 500ppm sulphur content, old diesel cars in the states tended to smell horrible, and were somewhat loud, they also had problems later in life due to sulphur buildup, and larger high torque engines, such as those in semis and large trucks do tend to have a sort of black, thick exhaust smoke. New emissions enforcements are being put in place on Diesels however, and new standards in the US call for less than 20ppm sulphur content, much closer to the worldwide standard, and a lot cleaner... probably even moreso than gasoline. The new low content standard for US Diesel will probably clear up most of the problems diesels of yesteryear had

[why?]

It really depends on the price. With the new emissions regulations coming in I can't see a diesel engine being inexpensive, combine that with the higher priced diesel, and the gas mileage would have to be a huge improvement for the thing to sell. Of course, with the extra tourque it could still sell, but we will have to see what the new emissions regulations do to the price of diesel cars in the USA.

At the moment only Honda and GM claim they can create a diesel engine that can meet the new emissions regulations.

[Reddington]

The new emissions on diesel formulation has already been put into effect. Its not a difficult thing to build an engine that burns cleaner diesel..except maybe in California. Obviously the current diesels on the road right now are running just fine on this new formulation. And typically a diesel gets 20-30% more mpg, so unless diesel is more than 20-30% more than regular 87, then I'd say don't get one.

[Pars]

The gas engine might not have as much pulling power as the diesel, but it will get up to speeds faster then an equivalent diesel engine. The Yaris 1.5L gas engine can reach 60mph about a 1 second faster then the 1.4L diesel.

On the road I'm always running into a VW 1.9T diesel that tries to keep up, but it only takes one gear worth of rpm to blow around them.

http://uk.cars.yahoo.com/car-reviews...e-1003286.html

[nsmitchell]

How about what Banks is doing for the big American turbo-diesels! Incredible jumps in Horsepower and Torque! I think the door would be open to a lot more HP/torque mods.