[beatr911]

Companies have to sell what the customers will buy. It's pretty dang simple.

If improved FE sells, who cares how they discover how to do it. To us ecomodders it makes total sense in alot of ways (environmental, national security, etc.) to improve FE to the maximum extent possible. We want modern Metro XFi's and Civic VX's. The rest of the US market wants more refinement, bling, gadgets, power and space than those examples. As more of an afterthought they want to know they are getting good mileage, like 30+. Ecomodders want like 50+.

The other part of the deal is the perceived value by the customer. The freakish Smart paves the way for small cars being a safety issue with alot of safety marketing, but if it was priced at under $10K everyone would think it was a joke. If the Fiesta contains adequate features and delivers a quality experience at it's price point it will provide a good value for the customer, oh and it will get 30+ mpg. The new Ford is getting good at the car game.

They made what the customer really wanted with the Mustang in the '60s, the Taurus in the 80's. The stupid SUV's in the '90s. It just so happens that quality small cars align with ecomodder philosophy (thank goodness) right now and Ford just happens to have a good shot at satisfying much of it with the Fiesta, Fusion and improvements with other models. Let's just hope the corporate philosophy holds to fuel efficiency like Honda used to and Toyota does often, it will probably serve them well in the future.