With all the talk about the new HyBrid cars why doesn't Volvo just bring the diesel engine over here? Thay have several different engines that are options in all the cars sold in Europe. The people at customer service say there is no demand for diesels in the US. I think it is because we have only 2 choices, Mercedes or VW. If we had them avaible here thay would sell. I don't like buying new cars but if I could get a Volvo Diesel I would.
I thought about importing a used one, but I hear that is a very tough thing to do.
Let's all "Ask Volvo To Bring Us Diesels".

Howard Berman
1995 850GLT Wagon 145000K
1994 850Turbo 128000K
1994 850GLT 140000K
1999 SAAB 9-3 Convert 105000K
1968 Volvo 1800S 79000K
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Howard Berman

diesel fuel in EU is cleaner, therefore less cost on the car emmission control system; for NA, different emmission systems would have to be used, more stringent, costly; so far only VW & MB went for it.....

sidenote
;-)
I drove vw golf diesel for 9 years; very good car; I was working in USA (from Canada)
circa 1996, Cleveland OH. I pulled up to a BP station for a fillup. Put the nozzle into the tank, but no juice.....pump locked.....no sign that one have to pay up front (this is USA).....so I see a guy/cashier looking at me through the window, so I waved to him to open the pump, no luck. Stubborn.....ok lets go inside and pay up first; inside, I am asking guy if he wants cash up front, and if he be so king to release the pump........but the fellow explains to me that I am at the wrong pump ! that pump is with diesel for trucks, not cars so small as mine; well I try to explain that my car runs on diesel, and its ok to open the pump for me......fellow again, trats me like I landed from Mars, no,no,no - only big trucks fill @ that pump......finally he released the nozzle, with a warning.....its my car, if I want to damage the engine, that's fine with him......

I agree! Someone in Europe correct me but Euro 4 & 5 are stringent and just like here in the US, the specs are hard to accomodate to. The levels of NOx need to be 3.5 g/kWh and particulate matter down to .02 g/kWh. A combined drop of over 50% in emissions! EPA 2007 specs here in the US require .01 g/bhp-hr for particulate matter and someone's going to have to help me out w/ NOx emissions but they're tough to get to. Mostly done with adsobers and particulate filters. The big change is the sulfur level of diesel in the US. It will be reduced from 500 ppm to 15 ppm! Eurpean diesel has been way ahead in terms of sulfur content now we're finally catching up.

To all the engineers out there: please set me straight if I'm wrong. Anyway, if you get time check this out http://www.epa.gov/otaq/regs/hd2007/frm/ria-iii.pdf
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'98 XC '95 855 GLT '83 245 DL (245 for sale! e-mail me if your looking to buy); The Purple Neon has been sold (sniff) All over 120k

The last time Volvo sold a diesel in the US (pre '85), a Audi/VW diesel at that it was a slow smokey POS and few people bought or liked them.

Diesels were gaining popularity for a while in the late 70s UNTIL GM decided to create their nightmare version of a gas-diesel V8 that simply didn't last.

Many also remember cold weather starting issues way back then.

I'm pretty sure that if the Europeans were paying $2.50/gallon they would prefer to buy gasoline cars.

Even the Honda Accord Hybrid isn't selling well in the US. (True, the Prius is, but it's uniquely styled, which is very important for the kind of person who would buy a Prius.)

If Ford and GM are poorly managed or badly managed is a matter of debate, but Honda, Toyota and BMW sell a lot of diesels elsewhere and they don't miss much of anything.

And they sell no diesels in the USA.

BMW even BUILDS X5 diesels in the USA but it doesn't think it's worth the trouble to try to sell 'em here.

So long as gasoline is cheaper than fizzy French water I doubt you'll see much demand. At $7/gallon, I'd guess diesel demand would skyrocket. (Of course, $7 would probably mean an economic depression and World War IV.)

-BTC

The car manufacturers are a bunch of sheep. The trend will start sometime and they will all jump on board. The two diesels that you mention, MB and VW, are both rather troubled these days, which doesn't help. And MBs are automatic only, including the Jeep Liberty, which is not actually very fuel efficient and not selling very well. Importing a used one is next to impossible - certainly not economically viable.