The Prius just about got itself served by the Ford Motor Company recently, as the Michigan automaker announced it will start manufacturing the ECOnetic Fiesta, which gets a staggering 63.6 miles per gallon - in the city.  On the freeway, the diesel car ramps it’s MPGs up to 73.5.  Unless you’re hypermiling, you’re probably not going to find much better gas mileage anywhere else.

We’ve discussed here before that diesel cars get better fuel economy than your standard engine, but Ford is doing more than just go diesel to make this car run this well.  Treehugger tells us that the car “uses a bunch of tricks to reduce fuel consumption, things like improved aerodynamics (its coefficient of drag is 0.33), weight reduction, low rolling resistance tires, and enhanced lubrication.”

Of course, the catch is that the car isn’t going to be available in the United States for at least a year and a half.  Until then, Ford has announced their decision to go smaller with their fleet, so it’s not like they’re not doing much on this side of the pond.  Maybe these decisions will revitalize the company - I hear they’ve been having a little bit of a cash flow problem recently.

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