Letters.(Letter to the editor)

Spying Euro Fords

So my 13-year-old son leans over in the middle of the new Bond movie and asks, "Why can't we have Fords like that?'' He was talking about the new Mondeo in the hotel scene in the Bahamas. My response was to explain that this is why Ford is struggling. The folks at the top don't have a clue. We get underpowered, ugly Five Hundreds with funky transmissions, and Europeans get cool-looking new Mondeos.

Dale Baker, Crystal Lake, Ill.

Diesel to the rescue

Your Nov. 20 Mercedes-Benz E320 Bluetec story says Mercedes has the world's greatest diesel. Page 4 of the same issue shows the new, larger C-Class but no diesel engine. M-B should put one into the C-Class with 0 to 60 mph in eight or nine seconds rather than 6.6, but 44-plus mpg highway-a perfect car for tomorrow's world. Hopefully, they'll also have some diesels for Chrysler's Ram 1500, Durango, minivans, Pacifica and at least one car. I'd like to see a 300D in the future.

Mike Clement, Birmingham, Mich.

I don't disagree with your conclusion that diesels are more cost-effective than hybrids now, but what was the rationale behind pulling out the quote, "I think it's better to skip the 19th century technology and go right to the 21st century,'' made by a Sierra Club official four years ago about hybrids and diesels? I guess environmentalists are as bad as car people regarding predictions about market demand and its impact on technology cost curves. If you look at the history of technical innovations, you'll see new (displacing) technology is almost always more expensive than the incumbent technology at the outset. With the number of vagaries involved, I see little point at this time trying to declare which technology will be the "winner.''