German Car Zone

My AutoWeek (now known as AW) has an interesting column by Dutch Mandel (2/23/09 edition).
The sidebar subhead reads:
If the U.S. diesel-car fleet grew to just 30 percent... we would eliminate our need for that foreign oil.
BTW: In Europe the diesel fleet is at 53 percent. U.S is now at just 5 percent.

He goes on to say that this should become our "National Energy Policy" that Mr. Obama will soon be working on. By adjusting the federal diesel fuel taxes to get the price more in line with gasoline, diesel would become more attractive to consumers. A diesel car will go 30 percent farther on a tank of fuel -- and performance is 'nearly' identical.

I posted this on a non-car forum, and a lot of people got upset, and said he's full of crap. Is diesel that unpopular in the U.S.?

It's a short read...

Yes diesel is unpopular in the US that is why it is only 5%.
GM produced some diesel powered cars around the early 80s. These were based on gas engines. So basically these engines were not strong enough to handle the higher pressures and would fail after a short crappy life. These engines were under powered and produced a lot of smoke.
Add to that trucks and buses where the owners do not provide the correct maintaince on them so they produce much more smoke then they should.
It will be hard to convince people the new diesels are nothing like the old ones. You would have to force many into a diesel car for them to finally see the light.

Diesel-like hybrids, but environmentally friendly.