Posted on 11/09/2008 7:02:49 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
If ever there was a car made for the times, this would seem to be it: a sporty subcompact that seats five, offers a navigation system, and gets a whopping 65 miles to the gallon. Oh yes, and the car is made by Ford Motor (F), known widely for lumbering gas hogs.
Ford's 2009 Fiesta ECOnetic goes on sale in November. But here's the catch: Despite the car's potential to transform Ford's image and help it compete with Toyota Motor (TM) and Honda Motor (HMC) in its home market, the company will sell the little fuel sipper only in Europe. "We know it's an awesome vehicle," says Ford America President Mark Fields. "But there are business reasons why we can't sell it in the U.S." The main one: The Fiesta ECOnetic runs on diesel.
Automakers such as Volkswagen (VLKAY) and Mercedes-Benz (DAI) have predicted for years that a technology called "clean diesel" would overcome many Americans' antipathy to a fuel still often thought of as the smelly stuff that powers tractor trailers. Diesel vehicles now hitting the market with pollution-fighting technology are as clean or cleaner than gasoline and at least 30% more fuel-efficient.
Yet while half of all cars sold in Europe last year ran on diesel, the U.S. market remains relatively unfriendly to the fuel. Taxes aimed at commercial trucks mean diesel costs anywhere from 40 cents to $1 more per gallon than gasoline. Add to this the success of the Toyota Prius, and you can see why only 3% of cars in the U.S. use diesel. "Americans see hybrids as the darling," says Global Insight auto analyst Philip Gott, "and diesel as old-tech."
(Excerpt) Read more at businessweek.com ...
You spelled that wrong, it is the checks and the HO's. Hoes are for those who work to pay for the HO's.
btt
The problem is most emphatically NOT Ford, but FEDERAL REGULATIONS.
Don’t kid yourself, if any MFR could simply bring over cars that they have in inventory and are in demand, and sell them here, you don’t think they would do so?
Even GM isn’t THAT stupid.
The closest gas station to me, a Chevron, just converted their diesel tank/pumps to E85, which is a pure boondoggle in my book, meant to placate the ADM lobby / Iowa voters.
My old boss had 300Ds of that era. He’d pick them up lightly used, from people who had to have a new car every two years. He religiously changed the oil every 3000 miles, and did standard stuff like brakes and windshield wipers, and they ran on and on and on and on and . . .
By the time you pay a dollar a gallon extra for special fuel you might as well own the 40mpg diesel Volkswagon has.
With the new EPA Ultra-Low Sulfur Diesel requirements, I am not sure that is true anymore.
The proof is in the past! They MADE the cars with great gas mileage so why not now? Why not here in the U.S.?
My comfortable, mid-sized, luxury, 0-60-in-5.9-seconds Mercedes gets about 30 mpg off the highway (except in stop-and-go traffic) and about 38 mpg on the highway at 75 mph. Not an econobox, plenty of trunk space, terrific handling, seats five.
Diesel is cool.
“Canada’s emissions standards are also looser than the US’s. Heck, they allowed Russian-made Lada Nivas there.”
Not really, any longer. We hold to about the same emissions standards as the federal regs in the US, although not California’s standards.
I don’t really know about what Ford Fiesta with a diesel that is sold in Canada you guys are talking about. I’ve never seen one here, nor does Ford’s Canadian website have them. Generally speaking if it’s not available for the US market it’s not available here, either, and sometimes not even then. It’s not cost efficient to qualify a car just for the Canadian market, when the US standards are almost exactly the same.
24.4 cents/gal diesel vs. 18.4 cents/gal gas. Doesn’t sound like much of a discouragement to me, unless it’s taxed at the wholesale level as well.
Hey, thanks for the post here. I’m a big Diesel fan; if the monies/R&D that’ve been poured into Gasoline engines had been put into Diesels, I think we would be in a much different place (in oil consumption/independence).
Actually, the reasons center around the federal government's inane environazi regulations concerning diesel engines. The fuel is more expensive than gas, even though the actual cost to refine diesel is less (regulations at fault here). And, the emissions on diesels have become very strict in recent years - so strict that diesels that are prevalent around the world cannot be sold here.
I did a little Googling and came up with:
2009 Ford Focus wt. = 2623 lbs.
2008 Honda Fit = 2512 lbs.
1985 Honda CRX HF = 1713 lbs.
So, “less than half” is a bit of a stretch, but, nonetheless, your point is well taken. All these nits who think the auto companies can just increase fuel economy at will are not taking all factors into account.
At this point, what with all the regulations, the auto makers have run out of aero and engine tricks. The last straw was the Euro-mandated and US-recommended high hoodlines “for pedestrian safety”. It is almost impossible to get something with a mandated high bluff front to get better fuel economy than something small and low slung, yet that’s exactly what the government wants companies to do.
Even before then, all the makers were sounding off about running out of things they could do for fuel efficiency while keeping cars affordable.
There is a story running around about Honda taking a look at remaking the CRX idea in a manner that would get the 55-60mpg of the original but meet modern standards. Turns out they’d have to make it mostly out of carbon fiber and titanium and it would cost $65,000 a copy.
Honda shelved the plans.
Was this written in 1971? ;)
Let’s face it, their best selling model is the F-150 (not that efficient) and their most visible model is the Crown Vic.
I guess I’d better hold on to my Mazda MX-3 GS 5-speed!!! (I know, it’s not the best mileage car around, but it sure is a delight to drive on a curvy road!)
A good chunk of that $12,000 cost differential is from building the car in a European auto factory, paying European wages, and with European environmental regulations.
Combined with the weakness of the US dollar versus the Euro.
Build the same car, with the same parts... in Mexico, using US parts makers and with Mexican labor, and you’d be able to drop most (if not ALL) of that price difference.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.