Fuel in general is far more expensive in Europe. On that basis I can see at least more justification on that basis in using alternative fuels. To me the downside is that there are just so many possibilities when you have trouble as a direct result of using it.

I suspect the largest issue when it was the craze in north America. People that were using it in far too many cases. Just did not have the mechanical skill level to deal with even the common issues of a diesel engine. Compounding that with issues from alternative fuels just became a little too much for many of them. Certainly there would have been very few garages that would have wanted to deal with the problems.

So this left them between a rock and a hard place. Really thinning the population of these cars on the road down.