The New York Times reports that Ford Motor Company is "is pondering a wide variety of steps that are aimed at reversing Ford’s losses, resizing the company and enabling it to withstand brutal industry competition." Plans might include selling Jaguar and Land Rover.

Several years ago on Radioleft, we interviewed someone in the auto industry and asked about why gas mileage hasn't improved much over the past 30 years. My 1975 Datsun got the best gas mileage I have ever gotten.

Asked about SUVs, this auto exec claimed that there was no demand for better gas mileage. I said, "Do you mean to tell me that if two Ford Explorers sat side by side on the showroom floor, one getting 18 MPG and one getting 25, no one would choose the 25 MPG." The farsighted executive said, "Yes, that's right."

In an other interview, an expert on car design claimed that using off-the-shelf technology, the auto industry could increase gas mileage by 25 percent now.

Here's some advice for those Ford executives who are wringing there hands and downsizing and selling off the company. Make cars people want. Don't wait for Congress to increase mileage requirements. Design and manufacture cars that get better mileage and do it now. Don't hide behind the excuse that it takes years to plan and implement new designs.

You already have the designs. You've been testing them. You've been showing them off at car shows. Now start making them and selling them. The alternative is going out of business.

Next, set a goal of not more than five years to produce cars using alternative fuels. Again, the alternative is going out of buisness.

It's time for the extortion from the oil industry that have stopped all development of new engines to end.