jpd80

Sigh, Once again David Kiley stamps his misinterpretation over basically correct facts. Yes, the Fiesta has a single top hat but the US version is changed slightly to meet regulations. Unlike the "world car" global platforms were given input from all Ford divisions enabling enough flexibility to meet regional needs and specifications, something that was never fully captured by the Mondeo/Contour.

The government wants its money back and to do that it has to sell it's stock in GM, a profit should make the GM stock attractive to other investors. There is a problem with the plan: 1) Buy GM 2) ? 3) Profit

A surprising decisions hasn't been made public yet but D3 is more than safe.

Combined sales of almost 16,000 last month in tight times would indicate otherwise, CUVs usually carry higher retail price tags (and profit margins) than sedans.

A better plan would be to sit down with all three companies and have an industry agreement so that labor is the same price for Ford, Chrysler and GM. That wold stop the downward spiral in wages. Pensions/VEBA contributions would then become company specific and removed from negotiations.

Agree 100%

I said: Meaning they are already involved.

Terracotta army - nice touch. That's really Old Skool.....

Pity the laws don't cover lemon brands....

Did they ever shout a you a trip down under? I recon you would have fitted in with the rest just fine.

Crash test a Nano? This is what we're talking about, the crumple zone is your legs and spine.

It's actually a dig by FoA at Mazda engineers.

Oh my, that Mach 1 might even turn "would be Camaro buyers" into blue oval true believers..

Probably in Dearborn as part of FoA's extended durability and crash test program.

Edit, Just spoke to someone on this end, he said to me to think about the Sarich 3-cylinder 2- stroke like the 100 mpg carburator, you're going to Ford and telling them to change everything in the engine but your system doesn't pass the first test. Ford has limited resources in personnel and the time to chase down every new idea, if it's too much work to put right, resources will not be diverted. Maybe under different circumstances, part of the technology may have been made to work but in a strange way, I believe Ecoboost achieves all those goals without one quarter of the hassles.

Fiesta is about Escort size, Americans are accommodating people but expecting them to drive even smaller cars is unrealistic. I think Tata is living in Bollywoodland.

Are we going to see motor companies keep going back to unions in US and Canada. Seems like they're playing the UAW and CAW off against themselves and each other. How low will this Dutch auction go on for before the unions say enough.

Clue: A small ignition module like the people using Mods have done for 10 years or so?

Well, it's more a case of look what Ford has achieved and GM still has to get out of the chute. Anyone hoping for a quick rinse GM that's ultra competitive with Ford is kidding themselves, GM will be on bread and water for at least 12 to 18 months. GM are still counting on that $40K Volt to resurrect their company, Time for Ford to really gap these clueless clowns.

Hey, if people are happy driving little more than a motorized shopping trolley in amongst tractor trailers, F Trucks and SUVs that fill US highways, good luck to them. They're trying to do a Smart on the cheap, you can't do that without compromising your buyers' safety.

I mean really, how many times do we have to see the same mules with stuck on camo before people realize these are not undisguised prototypes? There must be some stupid people out there........

Sarich did a lot o work in Australia many years ago, his low pressure air assist Direct Injection was able to reduce droplet size down to 8 to 10 microns, the increased surface area of the smaller droplets has a marked effect on both emissions profile and fuel consumption. His wet sump two stroke engines had a blower fixed to the side - like a gasoline version of a detroit Jimmy diesel. the smaller 1.2 litre engines could achieve early 1990s US emission regs without a cat convertor.

LINK

The government should allow the smooth transition of Ford Credit to a bank, that would ease concerns about government backed GMAC 0% financing to GM buyers.