Randy Miller

What GM Can Learn from Toyota

Both Toyota and Ford owe us an apology in one particular area, and that is they are not selling diesel cars in America. The Ford Fiesta diesel is very popular in Europe, will get over 60 mpg, but Ford refuses to sell it in America. I talked to a Toyota dealer about diesel, and they are putting all their eggs into Prius technology.

Once again car companies are doing poor market research, and using that market research to justify timidity. Somebody like Volkswagen, with the Jetta TDI , is going to start selling a lot of diesels in the US, and everyone else is going to be years behind. Remember how the Rabbit started selling like hot cakes in the US, and the Big Three started buying Rabbits and reverse engineering them.

Do this with your market research, Ford and Toyota. Ask the American people if they would buy a reasonably priced 60 mpg vehicle with an engine that will run for over 200, 000 miles. When they say yes, tell them it is a clean burning diesel. They may hesitate, but they will certainly take a good hard look at it.