I was in a town hall at a Major OEM - someone asked  if we could meet the meet the proposed new CAFE numbers - the rep said nope, it was not possible. I already had the Mic to ask my question - when will they sell the wonderful cars they make for the rest of the world that get well north of 60 mpg here ? (diesel compacts) - He said "What ? Diesel?  No, Americans don't want these cars." There is the preception near the glass ceiling that we are all happy to drive our 15 mpg SUV's    They only way this will change is buyer feed back with pocket book and letters.

David Arbogast

That may be the CEO perception but there are concrete reasons why
that is not happening here. It has to do with the cost of reducing NOX.

There is a NOX limit in this country. According to Bruce Briggs in his book "The
War Against the Automobile" the NOX limit was entirely unnecessary as it takes both
HC and NOX to form smog. Kill one or the other and you kill smog. NOX
by it self is not noxious.

Our Congress, in their infinite wisdom and lack of engineering understanding,
killed both and in the process effectively killed the diesel and lean
burn engines. You, my friends, have been paying for this since about
1975 or 1980. You cannot trust lawyers to do the right thing. Vote carefully.
Vote for engineers :)

Also, I might add, the particulate filters required to trap the black
smoke from a diesel apply back pressure to the engine reducing
the efficiency. At Le Mans, where particulate filters are required,
that did not matter as the rules were adjusted to favor the diesel
regardless of the fuel burn.