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Diesel fuel prices are simply more stable than gasoline in the US due to the heavy, consistent dependance of commercial haulers and lack of a driving season. One thing about diesels is that they are incredibly efficient, versatile engines which can burn a wide variety of fuel types. This will become even more important in the future as petrol based fuels continue to rise in price and the availability of cleaner, more enviro friendly alternative fuels like biodiesel come on line.

“Chevy had a 1500 with a diesel available in the 90’s, and for a really light truck, the Luv was available with a diesel in the 80’s.” Yes, and those GM diesel engines were complete POSs that wrecked and biased the American market against diesel technology for years

I know what youre talking about on the diesel prices and it’s astonishing b/c diesel fuel is significantly less expensive to produce than gasoline. However, I see this as a supply/demand issue rather than a sign of where things are with the cost of diesel. Additionally, some of the Diesel could have been cracked further to produce gasoline and therefore depleted some of the diesel caches.

To your point, diesel is at about a 10% premium over regular unleaded in the many states that I travel to (ask my wife, I travel to too many of them during the wk).

At the end of the day, the diesel is a more fuel efficient vehicle that also allows for greater hauling attributes (see the F-150) and also longer lasting engines (which is why I think the big three have shunned them in NA for so long — longer living cars takes buyers out of the cycle for longer periods of time).

When an E320 CDI gets 45 MPG, I’d gladly pay a 10% premium for the gas versus a 25 MPG gasoline powered version. The real question will be the premium that one would have to pay at the time of purchase for the vehicle and how long it would take to pay off. The numbers DO NOT add up for hybrid premiums, but I feel they are pretty darn close in the diesel purchase price premium.

The article says that the diesel diesel-equipped F-150 might be the “first light-duty pickup” so equipped in North America. This is not a statement of historical fact, but one of marketing-speak. Its truth depends on your definition of “light-duty pickup.”

@davidg1977,

The pump price of diesel fuel is not a reason to buy a diesel-equipped truck in many US locations. Years ago, it was universally less expensive than gasoline. Today, this is not the case. It is common to see diesel selling for a little less than $3.00 at the same stations which offers gasoline for just over $2.00.

Not. Chevy had a 1500 with a diesel available in the 90’s, and for a really light truck, the Luv was available with a diesel in the 80’s.

The Europeans have been dealing with high gas prices for a long time and have come up with great “cheap horsepower” alternatives that the US consumer could greatly benefit from.