Where is my diesel?

[Damn True]

Ok let's be honest. The only real viable alternative to gasoline given current technologies is diesel. The big 3 have innumerable great diesel engines in use in cars in EU, SA and Asia. Why the heck are they not offering them in cars here?

Why do cars like the focus, Saturn Aura, etc which exist in europe with diesel engines not have a diesel option on the US version? The little 1.8 tdi's that are in the cars have more than enough power to operate at autobahn speeds, provide great mileage and run reasonably clean.

Why can you not get a 2l or 3l diesel in a compact truck like a Ford Ranger or in 1/2-ton trucks? They'd provide more than enough power for towing and get mileage that would far exceed that of the 5.0l or 6.0l v8s that are in many of the 1/2-tons.

A year or two ago the EPA changed the restricitions on diesel sulphur content to allow the big-3 to do just that. Yet nothing has happened. They backed it up by publishing an estimate that if only 20% of the US vehicle fleet were running diesel rather than gasoline we'd reduce our crude oil consumption by something like 500,000 barrels per day!

Is it simply a matter of marketing? Are people so stuck on the image of the smoke belching mid-70's Mercedes diesel that they won't accept a new-tech version?

So Tony, and any others that work for the big-3. What gives? Where's my diesel?