"Ford's 65 mpg car not for U.S." according to CNN "Breaking News Video". It runs on diesel, you see, and "We just don't think North and South America would buy that many diesel cars," says Ford America President Mark Fields. (Quoted at Grist. Thanks to David Stephenson for the tip.) More, via Business Week, here and here. (The latter with Honda's great "Hate something? Change something!" diesel ad, below.)
And then there's Chrysler, which, according to Nick Chambers at gas2.org, has been
demonstrating plug-in hybrids to select dealers around the US that have “at least” a 300 mile range and can go from 0-60 in “less than” 4 seconds. According to the LA Times, Chrysler Vice Chairman and President Jim Press claims these prototypes are in a “producible” state....No word on the time frame until those of us who might actually buy the plug-in will be able to see it, but Chrysler said back in July that it will start producing plug-ins in 3-5 years. Holy crap. Granted, I’m not a businessman, but it seems like that time frame is engineered to put Chrysler out of its misery without a fight.
Wake up Chrysler. If you’ve got the goods, bring it to the market. There’s no room in this brave new world for beating around the bush.
I know there are issues. There are always issues. But Detroit has been talking about "issues" and hemorrhaging market share for the last, what, three and a half decades?
Listen up: no more bailouts, boys. Build what the market needs, and what it will need: Super-efficient cars with great performance. Mobility systems. Wind turbines. Combined heat and power systems.
I bet you could figure it out if you really put your minds to it. (Or maybe not, in which case you will get the future that you've been sleepwalking into.)