07 November 2002: Americans will be buying more than 2 million diesel-powered SUVs by 2010, along with up to 400,000 oil-burning cars.

This will be a big change for American drivers, where a cheap fuel policy has allowed them use petrol in a prodigious and wasteful fashion.

But a series of price increases and the prospect of an end to chaeap oil is now forcing manufacturers there to look at the vastly-improved diesel technology we’ve become used to in Europe.

The forecasts for 2010 are contained a report published by Automotive Industry Data (AID) - Schmidt’s Diesel Car Prospects.