The Ford Fiesta ECOnetic: Another Example of Why Ford Is Broke.
I've been sitting on this article for a while, but with the latest news of Ford asking for a taxpayer bailout along with GM an Chrysler, I felt that it was time to pull this one out, ad give you an idea of how dumb and bad the business plan The Big Three have are....
This is the Ford Fiesta ECOnetic. It's not some concept car that Ford is coming up with that might be available in 2014 - it's available today. It gets a sturdy 65 MPG fuel eceonomy, and it's not even a hybrid. It looks pretty sporty too, and even has satellite navigation, so you'll never get lost in Charlotte ever again. Interested? Don't get too excited, because it's not available in the US.
Why? Because Ford is stupid. Because Ford has no vision. Because Ford has been unable to foresee trend for decades, relying on F150 and E Truck (Explorer, Expedition, and the defunct Excursion) sales. They ended the top selling car they had when they dropped the Taurus, then had to rehash it, but they slapped it on the Five Hundred body. Arrrrgghhh! Onto the ECOnetic..
The ECOnetic will likely never be on sale becuase of a few reasons. First off, it's a diesel. Not that it's really a problem. Diesel is costlier, but it is available everywhere, and the new diesel technology is much more efficient and less smelly than the old Mercedes diesels. Secondly, the cars are made in England, so if they were imported to the US, they would cost about $26,000, thanks to the poor exchange rate of the dollar. Guess that's why a strong dollar is important...
Now, you may see a Fiesta in your dealer someday. They plan on producing the car in Mexico - so much for buying American - but they will not be the 65 MPG ECOnetic, but a gas powered model. They already have that car - it's called a Ford Focus. They just don't get it...
To produce the diesel would cost $350 million, and they would have to make 350,000 of them a year to make it profitable, but for a company that is blowing $2 billion a month by doing nothing, building a truly revolutionary car (at last for them) might help turn things around. Wait, I forgot - we're talking about Ford here. Forget the whole post. Sorry about wasting yur time here...
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9 comments:
If we could unfreeze Walt Disney and bring Henry Ford back from the dead, that car would be in the mix for next years model line up and made in America.
laides and Gentlemen, a Paul Adams sighting !! How you been, fella ?
I'm sure there is some logical reason why these cars aren't made here ... unions think they would cut into their action, upper management fears a realignment that might cut into their turf if that manufacturing division becomes to big a part of their company ... or something.
Pull the plug on the bastards. I'm betting foreign investors would love to buy into these companies and clean house, saving a lot of the jobs of the little guys in those companies and giving us better products.
If Citigroup goes down, can they take my student loans with them? Come on...please! I'm worth it. I swear.
lets bail them all out
I think Johnny Cash is giving you Citigroup's answer to that request...
well...the man in black does wear that shade for the beaten and downtrodden. I guess Congress has found Citi to be just that. Poor guys.
Johnny once said, 'I shot a man named Reino, just to watch him die.'
They look like they would crunch like tin foil. Not very safe.
I thought is was "in Reino"
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