The very simple reasons why gas engines outsell diesels in small vehicles has a lot to do with the fact that fuel is cheap enough here that most buyers would rather have more performance than fuel economy as long as the fuel costs are within their comfort zone of what they are willing to pay. Most of these small diesels are built for fuel economy and not performance which is just a small piece of the market.
The gas version of my car, the 328i with its 240 hp, would blow the doors off of my 180 hp 328d even though they both have the same 2.0L of displacement. Most BMW owners opt for the 328i for that reason alone. Same goes for these small diesels in the midsize and 1500 trucks. The small diesels in the trucks are just outperformed by their gasoline counterparts. The HD trucks are a little different because their big displacement diesels outperform their gasoline counterparts which is why most HD trucks are sold with diesels over gas.
When it comes to engine,s Americans lover their performance and are willing to sacrifice some fuel economy for that performance as long as the fuel costs remain low. The reason why small diesel cars are more common elsewhere is mainly due to much higher fuel prices and the fact that diesel fuel costs much less in most places.
