The designers at Ford Europe have created a third generation of the ECOnetic vehicle line based on the Ford Fiesta coupe. This fuel-efficient coupe was shown to auto enthusiasts, reporters and executives in London at the recent British International Motor Show. Ford Europe’s release of the Ford Fiesta ECOnetic follows on the heels of the company’s Ford Mondeo and Focus versions in recent years.

---

Ford Motor Company has been involved in a public-private coalition called the Crash Avoidance Metric Partnership with General Motors, Toyota and other motor companies along with road commissions over the last 13 years. Ford’s representatives announced the first “smart” intersection in the nation as the initial fruits of this collaboration. This Ford-funded intersection is located near the corporation’s headquarters in Dearborn, Michigan and has produced positive results in terms of reduced traffic incidents.

---

The sales figures for hybrid cars, trucks and sports utility vehicles in the United States show a gradual decline of traditional vehicles sales. The 46 percent increase in hybrid sales from April 2007 to April 2008 helped push sales in the vehicle class to 3.2 percent of all vehicles sold throughout the United States. There were 39,898 hybrid vehicles sold during this 12-month period which shows promise for an increasing market share as gas prices increase and gas mileage decreases in traditional vehicles.

---

The Ford Motor Company has built 30 hydrogen-fueled E-450 buses for use by corporate and government clients. The Wayne County Airport Authority has procured two of these buses for passenger transportation within the Detroit Metropolitan Airport complex. This purchase means that Ford has two-thirds of its hydrogen bus fleet running in cities from Florida to Vancouver.

---

As carmakers look to the future and rethink diesel a Kelley Blue Book marketing study suggests they might need to think again even in the advent of the 2008 car showings.

The study shows that about 6% of Americans think diesel cars could be in our future as opposed to the 40% supporting the growth of the hybrid. The minority may visit the 2008 car shows in support of the new diesel offerings from Jeep, Mercedes-Benz and VW. It is hard to say however, if their support will carry carmakers into the future even though the registration of diesel passenger vehicles was up 80% from 2000 to 2005 according to information compiled by Polk.

Along with the favorable Polk data, another report from May 2007 compiled by UBS Limited, Is Diesel Set to Boom in the U.S.?, indicates that diesel will surpass hybrids in the next five years in sales. Can it? Diesel brings back memories of dirt and noise, ooooh that smell. Is the diesel of the future any different?

---