“We were kind of left out in the cold because our petroleum market here was still producing very low-grade diesel fuel, tractor fuel if you will," Bell says. "And it wasn’t able to run in these computer-controlled, highly efficient, high-pressure diesel engines. Once we got the clean fuel here, we were able to bring over the best new motors.” 

GM would not commit to sales projections for the new diesel Cruze, but UAW local 1714 president David Green says production of the diesel model will be modest at first, about 60 cars per day. Green says, last year Lordstown produced nearly 270,000 gasoline versions of the Cruze.