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 ...
Can’t. That engine doesn’t meet US emissions standards.
$100.. wow, I would love a classic Merc Diesel from the 80s..
How are the japanese and Germans doing it? Read the whole article.
The US taxes diesel at a higher rate in order to keep people from shifting over from gasoline as a pollution-fighting measure. It costs less per gallon to produce diesel, and diesels get better milage. It is only our benighted tax policies that keep the US consumer from benefiting from this simple math.
Nobody is saying that diesel engines won’t meet the standard, just the specific engine in that Ford.
Many of them have survived in Houston and Dallas. I had an 85 300D Turbo for a while.
The engine meets emission standards, the diesel we sell in the USA doesn’t meet the cars requirements.
The Ford fiesta is for sale in Canada as well.
Locate a spare transmission for it and get it rebuilt ahead of time. The 300D Turbo trans likes to go out around 150-200K.
the problem is not Ford but the govt and the unions.
Incorrect, we sell the ultra-low sulfur diesel that the Fiesta needs. The Fiesta diesel in Canada doesn’t use the same engine as the 65mpg Euro version.
It is also the oil companies, they know we can grow Bio-diesel and it would drive down the price of fuel. So they support the cash cow of ethanol. The politicians really don't give a damn about the voters, it is all about who gives them the checks and the hoes.
GW ping.
When I worked for Chrysler, we were testing diesel engines in just about every vehicle in the Chrysler lineup. They performed great, and are a lot cleaner with the new emissions systems. Too bad the EPA wouldn’t allow them to be sold in the U.S. The engineers I spoke with said that the EPA policy against diesel passenger vehicles is the only reason why they’re not sold here.
Obama can fix this with an executive order.
So what 65 mpg diesel engine does the Canadian version use then? (And the VW's and other Europeon diesel models) I really don't know what the problem with having these new super efficient low emission diesels in the USA. They more than surpass our toughest emission laws. I think it's just a phobia of diesels being the stinky, noisy, smoke belching engines of yester-year preventing them from being sold here.
Actually, they don’t all surpass them. See the lack of diesels we had in 2007.
Euro pollution standards for cars is actually a lot looser than those of the US.
Canada’s emissions standards are also looser than the US’s. Heck, they allowed Russian-made Lada Nivas there.
Nice. Are many of these still around?
Really? I didn’t know that but it does make perfect sense. I always wondered why diesel was so expensive because, as you said, it costs much less to produce. I’ll bet most people in this country don’t realize they are paying the government a bit for every can of beans and roll of toilet paper they buy that is delivered by a truck, which all of it is.
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