I like to see it too, but think its is unlikely unless and until CARB (California Air Regulatory Boneheads) legalize new sales of diesels in smaller vehicles. Now they're only legal in CA for 3/4 (?) ton or larger trucks. So you can commute in a monster Dodge with huge Cummins diesel but not a 45 mpg VW TDI. (You can bring in a used diesel car with over 7500 miles on it from out of state.) Its a very dumb regulation.
GM is not known for flexibility. I doubt GM would bother as long a diesels are banned in CA since we make up such a large chunk of their potential sales.
Other issues:
Since the H3 is supposed to be a low volume vehicle, we'll probably only see a diesel H3 if GM goes diesel across their entire small truck line.
I don't know if GM has access to any diesels appropriate to the H3; I think their Euro diesels (e.g., Opel) would be too small and their truck diesels are too heavy.
Lots of people still remember the lousy self-destructing GM diesels in Olds and Cadillacs in the 70s.
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'06 H3 Adventure (9/2005-1/2013)
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