Denise McCluggage: Ford's "Mark Fields is a wuss" on diesels
Denise McCluggage has been writing about the auto industry for a long time. She's known most of the people in the business over the last several decades and she has earned a lot of respect for her opinions. In her latest column in AutoWeek, McCluggage lays into Ford's president of the Americas Mark Fields on the subject of diesels. While the big three German automakers are diving headlong into clean diesel technology for the US market and even Honda is bringing its first diesels here in 2009, Ford is sitting back and waiting. Actually the Dearborn brand is actively shying away from diesel. McCluggage opens her article by calling Fields a "wuss" for relying solely on what customer surveys say about diesel. The problem is focus groups are notoriously unreliable when people are asked about things they know nothing about, especially when it comes to cars and design. Americans that have an opinion on diesel typically have a bad one because of their exposure to noisy, smoky trucks. In my own experience whenever people are exposed to modern diesels they are shocked at how quiet, clean and powerful they are. McCluggage calls on Ford to show some cajones and bring diesel cars like the Fiesta to the US market. I concur and say the same to GM and Chrysler. Oh the hat that she was wearing at the start of the Audi Mileage Marathon? It says "Torque and Range" referring to diesel engines.
[Source: AutoWeek]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
paulwesterberg 1:06PM (10/15/2008)
I think that clean & efficient diesels are a very small step in the right direction, more of an efficiency fad than the future of automotive technologies(electric).
Ford is also super wussy on electric.
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Mike 3:07PM (10/15/2008)
Denise is an idiot. The American consumer is not going to pay a $3,000 premium for the privilege of paying more for diesel at the pump. The Audi and VW diesels will do well because they have affluent customers that can afford the $3K hit on the lease payment and won't notice the premium price at the pump. Like it or not the EPA and the environmentalists have rigged the rules against diesel through emissions regulations that will keep the cost of diesels too high for most American consumers.
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Phil 3:59PM (10/15/2008)
In the UK, there is virtually no purchase cost premium for diesels. This is because diesels retain their value better than their equivalent gas engined vehicle. On a 3 year lease contract, the cost is virtually the same, because of the lower depreciation.
Second users value fuel economy even more than new buyers (because it represents a larger proportion of the ownership costs). This makes older diesel vehicels very desirable.
An S320 (diesel) is worth the same as an S500 (gas) after 3 years, even though the (better equipped) S500 costs 30% more new.
US consumers are missing out, because diesel engines are now the better performing and more enjoyable to drive. The considerably lower fuel consumption is a bonus.
For example, most people would take a BMW 120d over a 120i any day. An A8 4.2 diesel is a better drive than a 4.2 gas.
In both cases the diesel has quicker 0-60 times.
I've owned a couple of excellent 2.2 Honda diesels, and after being used to them I am often amazed at the poor refinement of gas engines in comparison!
Woodenbee 4:37PM (10/15/2008)
I've never been lucky enough to own a diesel, I've always known they were more efficient, with a diesel generator for example you can count the running hours by the 1000's unlike a gas powered one which would be in the 100's if your lucky, Yes it's baffling why Ford is so anti diesel, yet their influence over a lot of the buying public is enormous, people have long taken as gospel whatever their ford salesmen tells them. So many people, as the Autoweek lady points out, know nothing about cars so they rely on these twits for their information, it's been my experience that every car salesmen knows volumes less about any given car than I do. So if Ford or GM wished to sell millions of diesels they could tomorrow, instead of feeding their salesmen myths and lies to discredit diesel and anything else worth having they could educated them on the advantages of diesel etc, it's as simple as that. That's probably why theirs so much emphasis on trying to make out that the Volt is something new and not something they could have been selling for decades, you can't tell me that a 40 mile range EV hybrid hasn't been entirely possible for decades. Oh and Mike trying to blame diesel over regulation/pricing on the EPA etc is so ridiculous I cant be bothered to list the reasons, maybe you should stop believing fantasies to fit your prejudices and instead read facts to expand your mind.
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bc 7:05AM (10/16/2008)
Denise is a diesel car fan who continues to ignore the economics and chemical engineering of oil refining. You cannot magically flip a switch and create more diesel and less gasoline from the same barrel of crude. There is a practical limit to how much of the US fleet can be switched from gas to diesel over time without significantly increasing the cost of diesel relative to gasoline, especially since most other countries have already chosen to go that direction. Therefore, it does not make sense for every manufacturer to plunge into diesel cars.
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PeterG 1:05PM (10/16/2008)
Some very relevant points made here. For me in Canada diesel is about the same price as 'regular' gas (87 octane) and so I see a 30% benefit compared to gasoline. I've visited too many big 3 dealerships and questioned why (for example) Ford won't bring their excellent Focus 1.6 turbo diesel here. They all have a range of good diesel vehicles in europe but refuse to understand that there's a market here, now the rot has spread to the japanese and koreans, the Subaru flat diesel won't be here in Canada for at least another 2 years and toyota/honda/suzuki/mitsu/hyundai all tell me that there's either no demand or that the canadian diesel fuel is inadequate. What I want to know is where this thinking comes from, our diesel has been clean for over 2 years now and veedub sell every tdi they bring over. We do have some choice - a benz or jeep SUV, but I don't want a tank, an imprezza will do nicely.
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Dan Riehl 3:17PM (10/16/2008)
One might want to consider some facts pointed out here.
http://thefastreport.com/2008/10/the-diesel-discussion/
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