Reply #21: That is true, but

[bfarq]

It was also true in Europe, yet they have gotten way past that point. The attitudes would change very quickly. These things work GREAT. The problem is that the US car companies became so comfortable operating a certain way, they turned off their brains -- and it killed them. And when you have GM, Ford, and Chrysler all three brain dead on this issue, then Toyota doesn't see a reason to blaze that trail. besides Toyota already had their hands full promoting (very successfully) the reason why a person should pay $3K or $4K more for a hybrid, so I don't blame them for not taking this on.

Only Volkswagon has taken this on, and they aren't big enough to overcome the inertia by themselves.
Here's a Popular mechanics article of a couple of years ago.
http://www.popularmechanics.com/automotive/new_cars/4237945.html

Here's an article about the TDI technology.
http://tdi.vw.com/tdi-academy-clean-diesel-vs-gasoline/

What drives me nuts is that the proponents always position this as either/or versus hybrid. That is because they invested in diesel INSTEAD of developing hybrid drives. But in fact the best combination would be a diesel-powered hybrid. But Toyota has the great hybrid system and no diesel while VW has the great diesel with no hybrid system. You would think their ought to be a way to collaborate, but I guess not.