Why won't Toyota make a hybrig with a plug?

That's probably true, but I think they also associate diesels with noisy, smelly and sluggish cars--very embarrassing for many people to drive. Which they all were in the 70s. I don't know much about later ones, though I remember in the early 80s, Mercedes claimed to increase horsepower some 45% without decreasing fuel economy by adding turbochargers to their diesels. If some company would come out with a sexy, sporty diesel that had some success in the marketplace, I think it would go a very long way towards changing American perception/acceptance of diesel cars.

I think a lot of things contribute to Americans' perception of diesels as noisy, smelly, and sluggish. Seeing a truck or bus with incorrect injector timing that is belching out clouds of smoke makes people think that all diesels run that way. If you look at the diesel pump at a gas station, the pump is usually stained brown.

I'm not a big VW fan because the service folks at the dealerships that sold VWs and Toyotas used to complain about how finicky they were, but VW does know how to make diesels, as evidenced by the TDI. I happened to be driving next to one today and could barely hear the engine, and it had no trouble keeping up with traffic.

Toyota sold a turbo diesel Camry and a diesel pickup in the U.S. for a while but they were not big sellers and to be honest, they had more than their fair share of problems, mostly with the glow plug circuits. IMO, part of the problem with getting them fixed was that Toyota techs in the U.S. usually did not have much diesel experience.

I know that Toyota sells diesels in other markets in the Land Cruiser, pickup trucks, medium duty trucks, buses, the Yaris, Corolla, IS, etc. and it's probably safe to assume that they are as reliable as gas engined models.