The NEC allows the use of hardwired rubber cord for some installations but is pretty tight about it.
Here is my guess why, here in the US flexible cords are made of rubber which tends to dry rot.
When I have worked with flexible cords from other countries I find them to often be of better quality, not made primarily of rubber etc.
I would be all for a move away from the US type rubber cords to European type flexible cords.
Bob,
Is the use of PVC flex not that prevalent in the US?
Rubber has certain advantages when used in Industry, in that it is resistant to attack from things like gasoline, oils and the like.
PVC however, being polymer-based should not be exposed to these sorts of things.
PVC also has the down-fall of being awkward at low temperatures, it is hard to work correctly when the temperature is low.
I worked on a large PVC cable some years back at the hieght of winter and it snapped like a fresh carrot,luckily the 400V supply had already been turned off to it.