New Fiesta Gets 73 MPG, But Ford Says It’s Not For The U.S.
Back in July, Ford released the details of a new Fiesta it plans to begin selling this November. The new car is based on Ford’s ECOnetic platform and can get 63 mpg in the city and 73 mpg on the highway. So why is it only available in Europe? It’s a diesel, and Ford doesn’t think Americans will ever adopt diesel cars.
According to Businessweek, Ford lists a littany of excuses why they could never market this car in the US. Chief among these excuses is that they don’t think they could ever sell enough of them to make a profit. Ford says that in order to produce them for the US market they’d have to build a new plant and then make at least 350,000 of them a year.
If there’s no way to make a profit on these cars and Americans won’t buy them, why are so many European and Asian car makers bringing these new “clean diesels” to the U.S. starting next year? When I see news that Mercedes, Nissan, Volkswagen and even Honda are all building clean diesel cars with excellent fuel economy for the US market, Ford’s excuses start to seem pretty hollow.
- » See also: Teenage-Built Diesel Hybrid Does 0-60 in 4 Seconds, Soon to Break 100 MPG
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Why is it that in the face of going bankrupt, U.S. car makers are so willing to maintain the status quo and slowly die a painful and agonizing death? Look, I understand some basic economics and that a company that is doing its shareholders right won’t take unnecessary risks, but the time for trepidation has past. Get on board or risk losing everything.
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Meanwhile, all I can do is hang my head and shake it. I want to be able to buy American cars again. In fact, every time one of the top U.S. car makers has some crazy desperation sale, I go online and take a look at the line-up… but I can never find a car I’d actually buy.
It’s not that the cars are ugly, or that I don’t trust their reliability — it’s that what I’m looking for is a fuel efficient vehicle that won’t break the bank and looks nice. And when I say “fuel efficient,” I don’t mean 30 mpg. I don’t even mean 40 mpg (my puny Yaris can already pull that one off). I want something with a drastic fuel economy improvement.
I want a car that in some way shows I care about the planet and understand that our future and our childrens’ future depends on drastically changing our habits now. But I also want a car that shows I support buying locally (in this case domestically) and that supports the economy of my own country.
And I know there are millions of other people like me. That’s why I want US car makers to wake up and start selling the cars people want.
You see, in my world I have a fantasy in which I purchase a nice little chunk of farmable land — say 10 acres — grow my own oilseed (like Camelina), crush it and make all of the biodiesel I would ever need (plus some to give my friends). In my fantasy, my operation would be powered completely off of wind, solar and geothermal and I could continue to make my own fuel even if the rest of the world went to hell in a handbasket.
So please Ford (or GM or Chrysler), make my dream a possibility. Take some chances. Stop applying band-aids in a last ditch defense of crusty old shareholders and go on the offensive. That’s how you built the company in the first place, and that’s how you can save it.
Posts Related to the Re-tooling of the US Auto Industry and Clean Diesels:
- “Producible” Chrysler Plug-In Hybrid: 0-60 in 4 Seconds
- VW Clean Diesels Get $1,300 Federal Tax Credit
- Clean Diesel Cars Coming to US This Fall: 2008-2010 Timeline
- Like GM, Ford Decides They’d Better Start Producing Smaller, More Fuel-Efficient Cars
- How to Build an Electric Car Charging Infrastructure: Smart Grids, Fast Charging and Universal Access
- Prototype Ford Escape Plug-in Hybrid: 88 MPG on 85% Ethanol
- Camelina - The Next Generation Biofuel?
- Japan Finally Gets a Clean Diesel Car
Image Credit: Ford
Source: Businessweek
Ford you assholes. Youre already in the hole, take a chance! Set a good price, there is a huge growing market for these!!
You also have to take in to account that ford has to pay taxes on the sale of cars in the US and not in other countries. They would also have to pay lots of taxes to build a new plant to make these cars. Also the government would rather not loose a ton of tax money from decreased demand. Also the environmental regulations make it much harder to get a diesel like this certified in this country. And most of all most of all Americans don’t really give a shit about MPG. Gas is still cheap. Europe pays more than twice what the US does.
> Is there any truth to the argument that cars like the Fiesta aren’t sold in the US due to small differences between US/California regulations and European Union regulations?
No. In fact, Mercedes and VW just got their latest diesel models approved by the strict California regulators.
Ford, please give us a reason to love you!! You have a car that gets 65mpg (63 city, 73 highway) and you find excuses why NOT to sell it in the US. Amazing.
Ahh yes. Remember the good ol’ days when entrepreneurs found ways to reach their market, instead of finding excuses to NOT reach their market? Yeah, those were the days.
> Is there any truth to the argument that cars like the Fiesta aren’t sold in the US due to small differences between US/California regulations and European Union regulations?
YES! This might not apply directly to the Fiesta, but sales of European diesels in the US have been limited by difference in nitrogen oxides (NOx) emissions standards. California has the strictest standards in the world, which have actually been 6 times stricter than Europe.
For more on this, see:
http://gas2.org/2008/05/21/clean-diesel-cars-coming-to-us-this-fall-2008-2010-timeline/
Follow countries like Norway - tax cars on the engine size, then raise gas to $5 per gallon here with a higher tax, and the government will still get plenty of money. This would encourage us to rethink our commuting and wastefulness. Norwegians pay about $10 per gallon, our gas tax is low here. The US could use the extra money to install concrete roads, not asphalt, and reduce global warming as well.
If you like me want to express your discontent with the CEO of Ford Motor Mr. Allan Mulally, you can email him at amulally@ford.com
Dear Mr. Mulally:
I recently found out about Ford’s announcement of the “new” Ford Fiesta Diesel and the fact that Ford is not going to be offering this product in the US.
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/07/ford-econetic-fiesta-diesel-63mpg.php
My comments to you Mr. Mulally is you have got to be kidding that you are not offering this product in the US.
You are struggling to make Ford Motor Company into a profitable business as it once was.
You company is getting kicked around by the Japanese automakers.
The oil companies have killed your profitable SUV and Truck sales here in the US, which is mainly why Ford is in the shape that it’s in. This business is not coming back as long as fuel is near $.4.00 per gallon. Unless you can get the mileage in the high 20’s to 30 mpg we aren’t buying these vehicles again.
Other than the Focus, which is getting half of the mileage as this new car can you have nothing to offer us Americans that can cut our fuel bills.
Now you have a chance to offer the American public something that in my mind would be as huge as when Ford introduced the model T and for some unknown reason you don’t want to offer it in the US?
For a CEO that doesn’t want to take and introduce this to the US. Your company must be looking out for the oil companies if you don’t introduce this product. These are the same people that from what I can see can care less if Ford lives or dies. They haven’t looked out for your company as they been the major reason that we aren’t buying your profitable products any longer. Why protect them by not introducing this product, they are not looking out for you?
I am going to tell you one thing, we American’s will be very upset with The Ford Motor Company if you don’t introduce this car to the US. You have a chance to be #1 in the US and if you don’t take this opportunity, when I need a new car it will be Japanese and not Ford. I am loyal to the US car makers, but if you are not going to look out for us then my loyalty will stop and I and many other Americans will be changing our views and we won’t care if The Ford Motor Company is in business or not.
RETHINK YOUR DECISION. It may be the best or worst decision that you make as a CEO of The Ford Motor Company.
I and many Americans are waiting to see what you plan to do. I can assure you that we will tell all of our friends and family via email of your decision. When we look for a new car we can either look out for your company or decide that our loyalty is gone as your company obviously can care less about us. We need this product in the US, which is a much larger market than Europe is. I urge you to reconsider this decision.
Thank You,
Your name
i live in erie pa and about 2 miles from were i live is the 3rd? largest bio-diesel plants in the usa.and were do you think they sell there millions of galons of bio-fule in tank cars that litter our water front to europe that were.
do you think they would put a diesel pump on there property to sell it in town …no.they got to fill hundreds of tank cars and lode it on to ships.that makes money for them in shiping costs and screws us.
Why can’t people just make a car like Speed Racer?
Look out I think im gonna crash!
*Car Jumps*
[...] acceptable and safe enough to meet standards. But does aerodynamics even matter that much? I mean, some cars today are getting excellent mileage and don’t look like the Prius or the [...]
After all of the bullshit in America about our Fords and our Chevy’s–”i’m a chevy kind of guy” “F-you! Ford could kick Chevy’s ass!”–our very own car manufacturers stab us in the back, create something that would solve, or at least hint at solving, some of our problems and then they give it to the Europeans?! Holy shit. When it does come back here, not only am I not going to buy it, I am going to buy a KIA instead just to screw everything up. I personally feel disrespected by Ford. How dare they assume that we are not ready for their invention. Are we not clever enough to pull up to the diesel pump? Or, are we afraid of change? WHAT IS IT? And then to feed us a hazy bullshitty response is even worse. At least address our ailments to our face. I feel disrespected as a consumer. To hell with the Fiesta.