Oh my, where to begin. A no doubt well-intentioned David Kiley at Business Week writes in this issue about the new Ford Fiesta in ECOnetic trim. “The 65 mpg Ford the U.S. Can’t Have” is generous enough to accept that the Fiesta ECOnetic would actually get anything close to 65 mpg (we previously questioned the real-world drop for this model from MPG friendly European testing. Our pot shot guess was that it would be more like 44 in real life). Wherever the final number lands, it’s fantastic, though far less impressive for a tiny diesel engined car with low-rolling resistance tires. But attention-grabbing headlines aside, Mr. Kiley goes on to point out that Ford just “can’t afford” to sell this car in the U.S. You see, ” At prevailing exchange rates, the Fiesta ECOnetic would sell for about $25,700 in the U.S.” That’s a rookie error; direct currency conversion should never be used to calculate what one car would cost in another country. If so, a BMW 328i might cost us Yankees $52,000. While the theme is correct: the ECOnetic’s diesel engine, made in the UK, would be too pricey to import, Kiley suggests that Ford just can’t afford the $350 million to build a factory to produce it for North and South America. Perhaps that’s true, though the novelty-sized Capital One card in Mark Fields’ office might contradict it. But more likely, Alan Mullaly isn’t stupid. Americans and even South Americans are not interested in diesel cars. South America pumps millions upon millions of barrels of oil for cheap petrol out of the ground. Brazil runs on ethanol. And the US is the US. Credit where credit’s due. In this case, it’s not Ford’s bank account to blame; it’s their common sense.
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Hi guys, if you can`t afford to import or re-import a german engineered subcompact, who in the world has prohibited you of rolling up your sleeves and using your own ten american fingers and your own engineering skills to create your own car? If you can`t answer it in one sentence, don`t even start, please!
I really like the commenting in this story. Good job!
I think so many people ask why they don’t just bring over Mondeos and Foci. Because they’re too expensive to fit in the very price sensitive (especially based on size) US market. People here have almost always asked “why should I spend $X on car A, when I can spend the same $X and get Car B, which has more interior room, a bigger engine, and a smoother ride?”
Not saying it can’t be done. But you cheap em out enough, and they lose what makes the Euro cars great. You don’t cheap em out, and you sell way too few cars in the US.
I really hope they keep studying and are able to make it happen, but I can see (and i’m glad the article recognizes it) why so far we haven’t seen it….or when we have, the cars themselves were never what the Euro versions were (Contour/Mystique and Focus)
Yeah,
Seeing how poorly mainstream press reports on the auto industry makes me wonder what kind of job they’re doing with other industries. Of the general magazines, I find the Economist to be the least inaccurate.
Did he remove the VAT from the Euro price before converting it?
@jurisb:
We ARE using our ten [North] American fingers to build the Fiesta and sell it in the US. As you know, the factory is going to be in Mexico, and the car should be on sale about a year from now.
I, for one, am very excited.
The track record for bringing over European versions of vehicles has not been good for Ford. People may be willing to pay a premium for a Mercedes or BMW, but not a car with the blue oval out front. While I’m excited about the Fiesta coming over (always loved those growing up in Germany…such plucky little cars!), most Americans still will consider Ford to be the manufacturer of mid-size middle of the road transportation. Once my son leaves the nest, I’d considering the Fiesta (in appropriately sporty trim) to replace my Fusion, though I’m still jonesing for a nice 2003-2005 Wrangler…
How someone working for a major business magazine could attempt a straight conversion from Euros to Dollars astounds me
Makes me wonder whether he checked to see if that 65mpg number is measured in imperial gallons
As has been pointed out here many times before, Americans are going to have to get used to paying more for small cars, like most of the rest of the world.
They have been sold here for years at a loss by the D3, subsidized by big truck profits to help meet CAFE numbers. Now that particular business model is broken, the D3 will either have to charge more, import from overseas (which the UAW has made very difficult), or decontent like crazy to try to suck some cost out of these cars.
Jerome 10,
If you think back about 10 years, the Focus was a world car – it was built in the US AND Europe. The US branch of Ford decided to keep it the same when the European branch decided it was time to upgrade after 5 years to make sure the Focus there could compete.
Same with the Contour/Mondeo, except Ford US ditched it because when it was updated in Europe it became large enough that it would potentially cannibalize Taurus sales. And it was a much better car than the Taurus was.
So the thing is Ford US could have had the cars here and now, they simply made a piss poor decision not too and focused on their trucks and SUVs.
@Justin:
The Fiesta won’t have Toyota’s Pillsbury doughboy badge on the hood, hence the ire from Jurisb.
Too bad the car has to be handicapped with an ugly nose to accommodate European pedestrians’ silly preference for being stricken above rather than below the knees.
jurisb:
:…if you can`t afford to import or re-import a german engineered subcompact, who in the world has prohibited you of rolling up your sleeves and using your own ten american fingers and your own engineering skills to create your own car?”
As I recall, a good example of this very exercise was the Ford Granada of the 70s.
In Europe, Ford designed and built a reasonably sized, reasonably priced Granada that made its buyer look like an intelligent consumer.
In America, Ford’s Granada was a neo-classic mish-mash of tacky design cliches with an interior only suited to Liberace or a Mexican whore house. This vehicle only made its buyer look like a moron who “kustomized” his car with $100.00 and the J.C. Whitney catalog.
Given Detroit’s track record, it would be better to cut off their “ten american fingers” rather than inflicting more eyesores on the world.
Everytime we don’t import a Euro diesel, a baby butterfly smiles.
Look at the particulate matter pollution of ANY european city — it is always far worse than a US city. We do suffer from smog and ground level ozone, but that is also a function of climate and latitude. I don’t care how clean they say a diesel is, the evidence in Euroland is the air is dirtier.
Justin Berkowitz, you are not answering my question. I said American fingers and brain- meaning engineering capacity. Try another shot.
My take Jurisb is that they (the domestics) are simply not use to engineering small cars. They have plenty of engineering expertise. Unfortunately, they are use to expending it on large trucks and SUV’s while they let their European branches specialize in small car engineering.
I don’t care about a diesel Ford car, but I wish Ford would quickly bring the Mondeo hatchback and wagon into US production. I spent a week driving one in Ireland recently and loved the car. The hatchback was so much easier to get our luggage in and out of than any sedan that it makes me wonder why on earth anyone prefers sedans????
Hi guys, if you can`t afford to import or re-import a german engineered subcompact, who in the world has prohibited you of rolling up your sleeves and using your own ten american fingers and your own engineering skills to create your own car? If you can`t answer it in one sentence, don`t even start, please!
If they did, would you ever consider buying it? If the answer’s no, why bother asking the question?
I’ll have to temper my response since this site, like Sean Hannity’s, seems to be extra sensitive to even a mild flame about the nonsense spouted by its host.
Berkowitz: I flubbed nothing. There was nothing wrong with the conversion I did. Knowing not to simply do the back of the envelope math, I checked with Ford officials about whether the price was valid. They said, absent doing a breakdown on an actual scheme to manufacture the car in North America and sell it here that the price was pretty close to what it would cost if the engine was exported from the U.K.
If you want to dispute the pricing estimate on the car, perhaps you might want to take it up with Ford instead of flaming me, my story or my magazine.
Rookie mistake? I’ve been at this about 25 years, and know that not every thing a reporter might write will meet agreement with every “expert” with a website. If you want to take issue in a bylined posting, take issue. Getting personal in your criticism is for a numbnuts, not a guy with a website called thetruthaboutcars.
A 44 – 65mpg Ford compact would sell in the $25,000 range. That puts it pretty much in line with the Prius with very similar fuel economy, and a greater life expectancy what with diesels going forever and a certain uncertainess about what happens to hybrid batteries in the very long term.
Quasimondo- yes I would bother, I want to drive an American car engineered and designed in US by Americans, I want to watch LCD engineered in US and check time on a watch engineered in USA by a US manufacturer. That`s what I damn want. I want a car with high fit and finish, reliable and modern technologically.I consider myself probably more American than you do, because I want to fight for your country back . So perceive my criticism as an awakening call! Get your country back to your people!
Estimated future price in the Netherlands: 18,750 euro
This probably includes 19% vat + an additional tax, makes for a net price of about 12,579 euro
Now convert to dollars (at 1.45): $18,240
Add tax (7%), makes for a final price of $19,516
Not too bad, IMO.