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big Dave:
Your exactly right about crash testing. Luckly, CPU time is cheap in comparison to changing stampings. Simulations do a great bulk of the testing before a design is ready. In the case of Ford, a raft of new euro models are being worked on right now, and most of the changes are crash and emissions. The stampings must be modified such that all world regulations for crash and safety are met in order to keep the platform common.
The easy things to change on existing models are already in the works: Aero, Tires, calibration. Coming to showroom in the near future.
As for the 2009 Ford Fiesta ECOnetic, email Ford directly about this car and making a similar ECOnetic package for All Fords. From their (Ford's) point of view, the Fiesta ECOnetic is too slow for americam taste, and it has a manual tranny.
If you write Ford, call this out:
You would be willing to trade performance (0-60 time >=10 seconds) and a manual gearbox for good fuel economy, and would buy one if it was available. Ford is trying to balance performance vs FE for its new models. Without a clear market, it wont be available.
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