Traditionally, Americans have born the burden of hating diesels. Or at least, that was the mistaken word on the street. In the past year, clean diesel sales have soared, buoyed by a new crop of Audis, Mercs, Chevies, Mazdas, Cadillacs, Jeeps and even Porsches — not to mention VW, which boasted selling over 100,000 TDIs last year.

The reason? As they said about the Iraq War, it’s the oil, stupid. Boasting a 20-40% boost in efficiency over petrol burning powerplants, diesels pay back their cost premium in 3-5 years (and much quicker in Europe, where gasoline is considerably more expensive).

So while heavy-duty trucks, SUVs, compact cars and other efficiency-oriented vehicles have proliferated with diesel powertrains, why has no one aimed that tech at the high performance sector?

Now they have. British boutique automaker Trident has just announced their Iceni Magna supercar — a fastback coupe speedster that will be powered by GM’s superb Duramax V8. That’s the same 6.6-liter lump that powers their high-selling Chevrolet Silverado 2500 pickup truck. However Trident is augmenting the V8 with their proprietary, patent-pending Torque Multiplying technology that claims to increase a vehicle’s efficiency and performance output by up to 20%.

The result? A 700 lb-ft of torque rubber igniter that boasts a 0-60 mph click of just 3.7 seconds, en route to a top speed of over 190 mph. But it doesn’t end there. Check the Performance Pack option and the base 395-horses are raised to 430, while torque is boosted to 950 lb-ft.

But again, that’s not the Iceni Magna’s threshold. Trident promises a Track Pack that will upgrade output to a hypercar-worthy 660 horsepower, and a truly mindboggling 1,050 lb-ft of torque. Of course, that’ll cost you about $50,000 (£30,875) over the base price of about $160K (£96,000).

At that pricepoint buyers don’t just want performance, they want luxury touches. So Trident says the Iceni Magna will come with 39 bespoke components, and will offer the car in fastback, convertible and even wagon/shooting brake (aka “estate”) body styles. With a Prius-eviscerating 58 mpg efficiency, the Iceni Magna should offer 2,000 miles of driving on a single tank. That means you could drive from Los Angeles to New Orleans without stoppings, with plenty of range left over to tow a couple floats down Bourbon Street. While you’re there, feel free to indulge in a couple Sazeracs — when your car sips fuel like a teetotaler, why not drink up?

More looks at the Trident Iceni Magna supercar after the Jump…