Aimed at N. America
Comparing this to European diesels and small French runabouts is beside the point. This car is clearly aimed at gasoline drivers in N. America, where those cars A) aren't available and B) diesel is still $1 more per gallon, C) if you can even find a station that has it. The MPG compares favorably with any other small sedan 'round these parts. If ToMoCo can sell 180k Priuseses to the granola and latte set, then Honda should expect to do well when they undercut the price by $3k.