Oh ya epa influence at its finest. Honestly though GM is probably looking to decrease raw material costs over the next 10 years.
Likely heavily influenced by EPA and CAFE standards
Looking at it, the motor is making 300HP and 350 ft/lbs. Not bad and should motor the thing along quite nicely
And the more I look at the boat load of garbage you need to purchase with the diesel engine, and the complexity, and the loss of reliability all these green systems cause, a gasser is looking more apropo. So you get a diesel engine, then you get to purchase an EGR system. Ever look at that component? Looks really expensive. You purchase a Catalytic converter with the palladium which I'm sure is nearly free, right? Then there's the DEF system. That has to cost a pretty penny as well. Then you have to consider that all that green stuff is costing you 15%-20% or more in fuel economy.
So I'll guess that nearly half the uptick in the cost of a modern diesel is the cost of all the tree hugger crap. The good thing, of course is that the whole world does the same thing and no modern engines in Mexico, China, vietnam, or the caucuses causes any more pollution than we Americans do, right?