MINI is still thinking if they want a Diesel in the US. According to an article on Autoblog, MINI is not sure if it would bring in new customers or just play to those that would have bought a MINI already.
I can see, from here in Yurp, that it is a tricky question for BMW - when do we start selling diesels in the US? Over here, used diesels (of any model) now sell for such a premium that it makes sense to buy a diesel just because it will depreciate less in dollar terms as well as percentage terms. Already we hear stories from gas Countryman Cooper S owners that dealers are not in a hurry to buy their cars from them - saving money on fuel may not matter much when you can afford a new car, but it becomes more important as the car gets older and cheaper, so 'high' consumption cars are less attractive. But until much of the public think like that, the diesel has questionable economics except for high mileage drivers. As an example, Britain was at least ten years behind the rest of Europe in starting to think like this, so I would guess there is no guarantee that attitude will change in the US in a hurry.
Well I have a diesel truck and love it but do not like the price of fuel and the fact that the EPA restricts so much as to cause problems with mileage on the trucks