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Honda has a clone coming out too. What is sad is Ford and GM (Opel) have modern direct injection diesels in Europe that get better mileage than the current and new and improved Prius.

The Dems are blocking importation of them. These new diesels are cleaner, quieter and fast. BMW, Audi, Mercedes, Puegeot, Renault, Honda, Fiat also have euro diesels.

Ford has a diesel Focus that gets about 55 mpg. It was just named the Greenest Family Car in the UK.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/3202438/Ford-Focus-named-greenest-family-car.html

New Ford Fiesta gets 65 mpg
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/08_37/b4099060491065.htm?chan=autos_autos+—+lifestyle+subindex+page_top+stories

A diesel Fiesta probably could get 75 mpg.

Here's the problem with those European diesel cars: they don't meet our emission control standards. European diesel-powered cars spew out quite a bit more NOx pollutants than gasoline-powered cars, and most of them lack diesel articulate filters, which means a lot of unhealthy diesel soot in the air (as the Swiss have found out especially in winter in their high-altitude Alpine valleys).

We can make diesel engines meet American emission control standards, but the emission control systems are complex and very costly--so much so that you'll be better off with a Toyota Prius or Honda's new Insight family car due next spring.