General Motors Gets It

But the UAW remains a problem

Europeans zip around in modern Diesels that last forever and don't run, sound, smoke, or smell like the one's we remember from Mercedes 20 or 30 years ago. Make no mistake, the older Diesels were legendary. For decades they were the only vehicles sold in the US that could be expected to hit or exceed 250,000 miles with any regularity.

Left:
2010 Opel Insignia wagon - we won't be seeing this wagon and I only posted the photo to annoy you.

With 0-60 times running under 8 seconds and top speeds well over 100 - all while producing in excess of 30 mpg, it's understandable why vehicles equipped with Diesels would sell well where fuel can cost over $12.00 US per-gallon and speed limits either don't exist, or are both ignored and unenforced.
(Which should make you wonder where our liberty went.)

This Opel will see our shores next year as the
American built 2011 Buick Regal.
Right down to the brass tacks it'll be the same car,
save for the Buick badge.

Here's the good news.
This re-badged Opel won't be your grandfather's Buick; it's quick, enjoys a firmer ride than some previous versions and has received accolades throughout the automotive press for it's tight handling characteristics, fuel economy, superb ergonomics and innovative safety enhancements.

So far so good.
Here's what we won't see in the United States - none of the Diesels despite GM's U.S. surplus engine plant capacity, in fact of the nine power-plants available throughout Europe and much of the rest of the world, we'll get exactly Two.

(Click photo for larger version)

But why no wagon and no Diesels for Americans?

The United Auto Workers won't allow it. (??)
Somehow they're quite convinced that allowing Americans to buy and drive fuel efficient vehicles is not in their best interest. This simply defies all logic as either way the vehicles would be built here and by UAW workers.

In Europe, there are 113 vehicles for sale that get a combined 40 mpg while as of last year we had 2.

Adding insult to injury is the fact that nearly two-thirds of the 113 highly fuel-efficient models that are unavailable to American consumers are either made by U.S.-based automobile manufacturers or by foreign manufacturers with substantial U.S. sales operations, such as Nissan and Toyota.

“These cars sold in Europe meet or exceed U.S. safety standards, so there is no reason why they shouldn’t be made available to U.S. consumers,” said CSI (Civil Society Institute) President Pam Solo.

Update in response to our Fredericksburg, Virginia visitor (comment #1):
Even the DNC's own cable network, MS/NBC has reported on this over 2 years ago:
U.S. ‘stuck in reverse’ on fuel economy

As if we needed more evidence that the Democratic Party and their allies hate America.