Once upon a time, diesel was an undesirable by-product of gasoline refining. I believe it was Mr.Cumings (Cumings Engines) who developed the current form of diesel engine in common use, to take advantage of lower fuel costs, especially for large, heavy vehicles. As more and more automakers produced diesel engines for normal consumer use (which also get better mileage than their gasoline fueled counterparts), diesel began moving from by product to competitive product and in North America premium product. Could be that Malaysia has the capacity to produce diesel that keeps price down, or that the government subsidizes diesel to keep the cost of goods down?