Business Week reports on The 65 mpg Ford the U.S. Can't Have
"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 and Honda Motor 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."
2 comments:
Business Week isn't a car mag, and made some important errors in making the Fiesta Econetic look even more attractive then it actually is. First off, the fuel mileage recorded is on the European cycle, and the EPA test results in lower mileage figures for essentially the same vehicle just because it's a different testing regime. It would probably still return close to 50 mpg in the combined cycle, which would be excellent, but not 65 mpg.
Honestly this makes the Fiesta look worse, or helps justify Ford not bringing it, but it's just not kosher to take a British or European price, do the straight currency-exchange conversion and say "It would cost this!" That just never works. A comparably equipped car is much cheaper over here than that direct currency conversion would suggest for lots of reasons.
Finally, Ford really IS going to bring the Fiesta here, they just probably won't sell a diesel version. Part of the reason diesel has been so popular in Europe for the last decade is that it's taxed differently, and the price has tended to be significantly less than Unleaded. In most states in the US, diesel is MORE expensive than unleaded these days, so it loses some of its advantage.
I think the Fiesta is a great car, and I'm glad that morons in this country are finally waking up to the concept of high-content small cars. I think the deck is stacked against diesel cars in the US for the time being, though.
Thanks, I knew you would comment and add useful info.
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