An interesting article from France’s International Herald Tribune:
With all the talk about gas prices going up for Labor Day and Hurricane Katrina, we often forget that our pals on the
other side of the pond are struggling with gas prices as well — so intensely that the price of gas has been become a
divisive election issue.
The fix that European manufacturers have relied upon is diesel-powered vehicles. For global companies such as BMW and
Volkswagen, however, the view that “diesel conquers all” is a Euro-centric one, putting European companies trying to
compete globally with hybrid-making Asian and American automakers behind the 8-ball. Diesels do poorly in China due to
poor fuel quality, as well as in the United States, where diesel suffers from a bad reputation. Tomorrow’s Frankfurt
Auto Show, chock-full of conventional diesel and gas-powered vehicles, may be a disappointment for Europeans and
Americans looking for alternatives.