Haha.  Gotcha!  Anyone who’s ever spent more than an hour talking cars with this gearhead will tell you that I think hybrids are stupid.  Yes, they reduce emissions and that’s good. Yes, they represent the advancement of automotive and battery technology, and that’s good too.  What I don’t like is how hybrids aren’t marketed as reducing emissions.  They’re marketed as getting more miles per gallon – and that’s why people buy them.  (Well, that and the ability to drive solo in the HOV lane in places like Arizona.)

I’ve been a fan of the new Ford Fiesta since I saw Jeremy Clarkson get chased through a shopping mall by a “baddie” in a Corvette a couple years back.  They’re wonderful cars.  Small, beautifully designed, fun to drive, and made by a company that didn’t lie through their teeth to get billions in undeserved government support last year.  It’s a recipe for the perfect “American” car.  With the slick automatic gearbox, the new Fiesta gets something like 40mpg on the highway.  That’s brilliant.

The Ford Fiesta ECOnetic diesel, on the other hand, gets 65mpg!
(76mpg by European standards!)

Here’s the sad thing, though.  Ford won’t bring that Fiesta to the States.  They also offer ECOnetic diesel versions of the Mondeo and Focus which they won’t bring to the States either.  Ask them why.  Seriously.  Ask them. Ford is all over the web with one of the most well known and respected social media campaigns in the business.  Hell.  I follow them and respect them and have been seriously considering a new Fiesta this summer myself (and I’m a dyed-in-the-wool Mitsubishi guy).  They are actively listening to what people have to say about their products, but the one question I’ve never seen answered (or had answered when I posed the question directly) was why no diesels.  Maybe that’s because I didn’t pose the question the right way (or even ask the right question).

I suspect it’s because the steps required to clean up the emissions of these diesel models to meet with US regulations.  Isn’t that ironic?  We all breathe the same air on this planet.  What is emitted from the tailpipes in Europe is inhaled in the US.  It’s also ironic to think that the US has tighter emissions standards than most of the modern world, yet is responsible for most of the greenhouse gas (from automobiles) and still refused to sign the Kyoto whateveritwas.

If reducing emissions was really important, why not make the ECOnetic Fords comply with US emissions laws, then sell these even CLEANER models worldwide?

Really.  I’m confused.  Ford sells other diesel models in the US.  The last diesel I drove was a 7.3L Powerstroke Econoline van and, man, that thing didn’t even notice 4000lbs of dead DSM and trailer lashed to it’s rear bumper up hills.  Ford sells diesel commercial trucks, ambulances, and busses in the US.    Muscle car guys are shoving Powerstroke, Duramax, and Cummins under the hoods of their Chevelles and Regals.  The vast majority of products in the US are delivered by huge diesel semis.  Even our rail system uses diesel for electric power generation, yet we can’t bring over the Fiesta or Focus ECOnetics?  Why?

It’s not a matter of what can or can’t be done, but of what should be done.

Reducing emissions is important for the environment for sure.  Clean air is clean air and there’s no way around that debate, but if we’re going to encourage people to reduce their consumption of fossil fuels, we should be providing multiple options to do so.  Pushing the hybrid agenda as the cure-all (like the bogus ethanol BS of recent years) is foolish and insulting.

Assuming diesel cars can achieve nearly double the miles per gallon of their gas counterparts:

• If everyone drove diesels, we’d see our consumption of oil nearly cut in half.  (This is just theoretical, here.)
• If demand for oil were cut nearly in half, it wouldn’t be unreasonable to expect fuel prices to drop significantly.
• Even with fuel prices dropping from a nearly 50% reduction in nationwide fuel consumption, the big oil industry would still come out on top, because diesel is less expensive to refine.
• The auto industry could win through this, as adding a diesel trim package to a model lineup likely requires far less engineering than figuring out how to add 600lbs of batteries, an electric motor, and touch screens to last years crossover SUV, now a hybrid that gets less than 30mpg.
• Gearheads like me would jump at the chance to drive a new car that gets 60mpg, looks cool, and isn’t an overweight, glorified golf cart or toaster oven.

Look.  I’m not against hybrids at all.  I think they’re a smart way to go in many respects.  Silent, clean power in densely packed urban areas, with a gas engine that brings freedom to travel the country without the distance limits of the electric car.  The more hybrids we buy, the more hybrids will be developed and that will lead to better battery technology that is one day small and light enough that the handling of the vehicle won’t be reduced to that of a wheelbarrow full of rocks.  But we need options right now.

It boggles my mind to see struggling automakers investing millions upon millions into finding ways to turn their vehicles into poor handling, overly-complex, premium-priced appliances, when they could act right now – in this model year – to offer the same models they already have, but with the addition of a diesel model that gets 25-50% better economy.  Volkswagen is doing it.  And people have no trouble at all paying about $2000 more for the diesel models, which get as many, if not more, miles per gallon, than any hybrid on the market today.  The Volkswagen TDI is known for getting almost 50mpg and there were WAITING LISTS to buy them last year!  Recession be damned!

Seriously, Ford.  I don’t understand this.  If there’s a reason why the existing ECOnetic models won’t work in the US, why not take Powerstroke technology and shrink it?  If people like me can see nothing but positives for offering small diesels, there must be one hell of a negative out there that we’re missing.  Why no small diesel Fords?  This is your chance to flat out dominate the American market, here. I think a 1.3L Powerstroke Fiesta would be freaking incredible and if there’s any way that gearheads who think like me could better understand your position or otherwise help to make this diesel dream a reality, please let us know!

In the glovebox:

• AutoJournos, Meet Auto-Journo
• How to Waste a Survey
• How To Get An Unauthorized Klout Profile Removed