Automakers Estimate Diesel Sales Will Grow

Europeans prize diesel engines for their fuel efficiency and power, but U.S. buyers have been slow to embrace them because of environmental concerns and bad memories of the belching diesels of the 1980s. Only about 3 percent of the vehicles sold in the United States last year had diesel engines, compared to half the vehicles in Europe.

But automakers are betting that will change now that diesel is getting cleaner, gas prices are rising and consumers are paying more attention to fuel economy. Diesels are 30 percent more efficient than gas engines, and unlike gas-electric hybrids, which get better fuel economy in city driving, diesels are equally efficient on the highway.

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