WP: Ford Launches Hybrid Initiative

[DeepModem Mom]

Ford Launches Hybrid Initiative
Company Vows To Make 250,000 A Year by 2010
By Sholnn Freeman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, September 22, 2005; Page D01


Ford Motor Co. jumped on the hybrid-car bandwagon yesterday with a promise to boost production tenfold to 250,000 cars and trucks per year by 2010, a decision that moves hybrids closer to the mainstream of the U.S. auto market.

Speaking in Dearborn, Mich., William Clay Ford Jr., the company's chairman and chief executive, said the automaker was acting without prodding from policymakers in Washington. Ford said he made the decision out of concern for the environment and out of a desire to counter "a multi-dimensional energy crisis that afflicts this nation." He said that even though the decision posed a challenge because Ford's vehicles are big and heavy and use a lot of fuel, the automaker had to "get on with it."

Only a tiny percentage of the vehicles on U.S. roads are hybrids. At Ford, hybrids will represent about 4 percent of the company's global sales of close to 7 million vehicles. But Ford's hybrid decision could deliver a windfall of "green PR," similar to what Toyota Motor Corp. has gained for early introduction of its Prius hybrid. Ford's decision also leaves exposed executives at rival General Motors Corp. who have outlined a much more cautious hybrid strategy.

Ford sells only one hybrid vehicle -- a gas-electric version of the Escape, a small sport-utility vehicle. Ford has plans to sell 24,000 Escape hybrids this year. With the new commitment, Ford would offer the option of a gas-electric engine on more than half of its Ford, Lincoln and Mercury models. Annual sales of 250,000 hybrids would surpass the 2004 volume of brands such as Volkswagen, Cadillac and Volvo in the United States.

The announcement comes as gasoline prices have risen steadily, causing consumers to turn away from vehicles with poor fuel economy, particularly gas-guzzling SUVs made in Detroit. Both Ford, the No. 2 U.S. automaker, and GM, the largest, have reported substantial slides in profits in their North American operations this year. Bonds from the two were downgraded to junk status by Wall Street bond-rating agencies, in part because of the companies' reliance on declining SUV profits....


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/21/AR2005092101831.html

[tk2kewl]

1. Now your Navigator will get 12 mpg instead of 8. Woo hoo!

[physioex]

2. LOL....Too little too late shit heads.....

By that time the Japanese will have way surpassed your bankrupt ass...

[krkaufman]

7. Actually, the Japanese are taking it easy on the US automakers...

... by shipping far fewer hybrids than they could. Aside from the fact that even Toyota is concentrating its hybrid technology on larger, more expensive automobiles -- where the cost increase is more easily absorbed.

[still_one]

5. at least they are trying

they were smart enough to oem the hybrid in the escape, using the Toyota design, and I am sure they will do it for the other vehicles, rather than reinvent the wheel

I sure don't see any other American car company jumping up to the plate

[Joebert]

6. Ford is smart.

Americans don't like change.

Ford has offered a vehicle that has no competition. They made a vehicle that gets double the mpg that the like model gets.

They put it into an SUV for the few people that need that kind of vehicle, and the great deal of people who think they need that kind of vehicle.

Should Ford make the Focus a hybrid? Hell yeah. Am I upset that they blew by the other American companies by getting there first, and putting it in the most popular formfactor vehicle? Nope.


- Disclaimer. I own a Ford Escape Hybrid, and love it. If it weren't for Colorado winters, I'd have an Insight. But where I live, an Insight would just be a snowbank.

[tainowarrior]

12. I'm a japanese guy all the way.

American cars have died on me about 170k miles into them. Japanese cars have lasted me until 230,000 miles or more. Less repairs on the japanese too.

I'm convinced that, if it aint' Toyota, Honda, Acura, or Nissan, you didn't make a good purchase. But, to each his own.

[Lochloosa]

19. I agree.

Had a Ford Taurus that blew the head gasket at 87,000 miles. I was told by three mechanics that was the life of the engine and did I really want to sink 1500 dollars into it. I changed the gasket myself and traded it in on a Camry. Love this car!

[physioex]

27. I agree with you mostly.....

But the Japanese are far from being perfect. They also screw big time, like the sludge build up on the Toyotas and Lexus. The oil was being returned to the crankcase through the middle of an exhaust manifold causing it sludge. Toyota has acknoweledge the problem only after first blaming the consumer.

[noonwitch]

14. You're right about both Ford and the american people

The introduction of hybrids is a gradual thing. They are more expensive than regular cars, and people need to know they are better than regular cars before they will buy them.

Ford is a good CEO. He at least considers things like environmental impact and has worked to improve safety at the plants, after the disastrous explosion at the Rouge Plant shortly after he took over the reigns. If only the family could get their football team (the Lions) to have a winning season!

[screembloodymurder]

10. It's the first smart decision from a US auto maker in 50 years.

I'm with you. They should be applauded.

[midnight armadillo]

11. Ford doesn't use Toyota's system

Just to clarify, Ford developed its hybrid system completely independently of Toyota, although it is the same type of hybrid system (Honda's works differently). Ford & Toyota then swapped patents to avoid courtroom pissing matches.

[BiggJawn]

16. Yeah, they had to develop a whole new system...

Toyota designs them as hybrids from the ground-up. Ford made a bolt-on "kit". :sarcasm:
Now we'll see F-350 "Hybrids" that get 9 MPG instead of 6 MPG...

I've come to the conclussion that the only things American auto makers can do is misread the market, design crap, and whine for taxpayer bail-outs....

[Orsino]

17. But a 50% increase in efficiency is good!

If we could do that across the board for American vehicles, we wouldn't have much of a crisis.

I'm still not gonna excuse 9 mpg that isn't hauling major cargo, though.

[BiggJawn]

23. Sounds like what Sam Bodman would say...

I dunno, 50% improvement on absolutely shitty is STILL pretty shitty, anyway you look at it...

I'd be estatic with a 50% increase on mine.
And a Prius owner would be delirious!

[Orsino]

26. Yes, I would.

I'm checking into the Prius+ modification. If I could squeeze the alleged 80 mpg out of my car just by adding some batteries, I'd do it.

[BiggJawn]

29. Wonder how the cost-versus equation works out on that?

Cost of the battery, plus the cost of charging it every night(I understand that the Prius can't totally recharge the extra battery by itself) versus the cost of operating it OEM.

There's a weight penalty involved, too.

Interesting, still.

[Orsino]

30. Yeah.

The Prius has all it can do to recharge its stock battery. The Prius+ mod adds a battery that plugs in.

Now, back when I bought the Prius at the beginning of the year, I was thinking more in terms of conservation than savings, and looking ahead to three-and-four-dollar gas. Who knew those days were upon us? Now my green choice is looking more like a smart choice.

I wonder how soon the Prius+ will make economic sense?

[BiggJawn]

33. How soon? Probably REAL soon...

You'll make out like a bandit until the electric companies move through petitions to jack their rates up like the Carbon Industry does.

Fortunately, that might take a year or two...I think dancing electrons are still fairly cheap in this part of the country. Why they would get more expensive, I can't say, since we have a small Hydro plant 12 miles from here...

I know someone (in fact, she posts here on DU) who has an "electric assisted" bicycle which she commutes 30 miles a day on. She uses the battery mostly for the hills, but what amazes me is that she can ride 15 miles one way and still be fit to work when the same distance on my custom-built Randoneusse would leave me a sweaty mess being "counseled" by the boss on proper workplace hygiene.

[amandabeech]

21. Ford did reinvent the wheel. It did not use the Toyota design.

That's why Ford took 7 years or so to get the hybrid on the road.
Billy Ford stated that Ford wanted to really understand hybrids, and obain all the learning possible about them that can only be obtained through designing and making one.

Many people like you, including many media folks, think that Ford purchased the Toyota design when Ford obtained licenses on some Toyota patents. What happened was that Ford's designs turned out to be so similar to what Toyota developed that Ford ran the risk of being sued by Toyota for patent infringement if Ford had marketed its own design. In order to protect itself from these lawsuits, Ford induced Toyota to enter into cross licensing agreements in which Toyota granted Ford licenses on some of its hybrid technology and Ford granted Toyota patents on some of its diesel technology. Note that Toyota is contemplating offering diesel now.

Toyota confirmed the above information at the New York Auto Show a couple of years ago when Ford showed its Escape hybrid. That's the year that the Escape did 38 mpg in New York City traffic.

Ford went into hybrids after Toyota, but I believe that credit should be given when credit is due. Ford's design is a full hybrid like Toyota's, and unlike Honda's Ford beat Nissan, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Hyundai, Suzuki, GM, DaimlerChrysler, VW-Audi, BMW, Renault and Fiat into hybrids. I don't think that's so shabby.

[redqueen]

31. The Escape hybrid gets 35-40 mpg.

Just sayin.

[autorank]

3. They are soooo "cutting edge." Timing is everything for them.

:sarcasm:

[dethl]

4. Put the damn hybrid system into the Focus!

They shouldn't waste time and should start putting it into cars that get better gas mileage already.

[goodhue]

13. Indeed!

[amandabeech]

22. Ford is having problems obtaining the parts for the electric drivetrain.

My understanding is that they are made by Japanese companies, including Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and some company in the Toyota koretsu that has been accused of giving much more production time to Toyota, duh!

Ford is going to have to get other suppliers to make these parts/assemblies, and that is going to take time. In fact, there was another article recently, perhaps shown here, that discussed the problem.

I think that the windfall profits tax proposal should allow the oil and gas companies to invest $$$ in projects that would increase fuel efficiency in transportation, space heating, and all uses of oil and gas products. Providing cash in a joint venture with Ford and the auto supply companies to build plants for hybrid parts and assemblies would be a good idea, in my mind. Ford has no bucks, but a good technology; the oil companies have lots of bucks, but not enough places to invest them.

[dethl]

25. Supply problems aside...

Ford should take what they can get and push the hybrid systems into their cars with the highest fuel efficiency first. So their profit margins are gonna shrink a little, but it'll be better than shoving hybrids into SUVs and then selling less as gas goes to $3.50+.

[amandabeech]

32. I'd love a hybrid Focus, too,

but I'm not holding my breath.

The mid-size cars and mini-vans will probably be next, because they have been bigger sellers, at least up to now.

[Dover]

8. Yeah, they are so concerned about the environment their lobbiest

worked to dismantle fuel efficiency standards and emissions laws.

Phonies!

[Dover]

9. They've said 2010 from the get-go. Nothing new. And they were referring

to fuel cell cars when they first mentioned that date. They should already be in full blown production of both hybrids AND highly fuel efficient vehicles, but of course they must 'restructure' and dump their pensioners first.

[Sven77]

15. how many billions in incentives over the years

tax dollars to auto-makers for developing alternative energy vehicles. they didnt even have a prototype and toyota had a working model. GM even shredded their electric cars. these companies will obey their oil overlords by keeping fuel economy as a low priority.

[boredofeducation]

18. What ever happened to the GEO Metro?

What ever happened to the Geo Metro? Those little buggers could get upto 58MPG! No expensive Hybrid clunker device needed! Manual, no frills, car cost something like 8 grand in the early 90's. I would buy one, if I could find one. Just proves that Auto Manufacturers can build high MPG vehicles without batteries and low costs, they just don't choose to.

[Xithras]

24. People stopped buying them.

My wife had a '93 Metro convertible with the 1 liter 3 cylinder engine. That thing got about 50MPG in town, and nearly 60 on the highway.

The reality is that they were built like garbage. By 1996, her car was falling apart, and when it finally blew the head gasket with 55,000 miles on the odometer, it was traded in for something more reliable. It took a few years, but when word of the Metro's low quality started getting out people just stopped buying them. GM tried to redesign them at one point to get their sales back up and rebranded them with the Chevrolet name, but the damage was done. The line was eventually redesigned into a larger sedan with a bigger engine, and was dropped completly several years back.

FWIW, GM is trying to get back into the market with the Chevy Aveo. It's targeted at the same subcompact market and gets 35MPG. If they'd drop a hybrid motor into it or replace the 1.6L engine with something a little smaller, they could easily get it over 40-45 MPG.

[EOTE]

28. It was actually a Suzuki...

The Suzuki Swift was rebadged the Geo Metro (and later Chevy Metro) in the U.S. Extremely light weight and fuel efficient vehicles aren't really anything new. I believe one thing that's preventing a vehicle like that from coming to the market now are increased safety standards. I believe the Metro weighed about 2300 lbs. Today, with dual airbags a requirement, as well as steel frame construction and such, pretty much all customers requiring niceties such as power windows and locks, it's extremely difficult keeping vehicle weight down that low. The Miata manages to achieve that weight, but it's an extremely stripped down 2 seater, the Mini comes close due to remarkable packaging. But yeah, in addition to technology regarding power delivery, weight savings can do quite a bit to increase fuel economy and I think needs to be looked at just as seriously as hybrid technology.

[CdnObserver]

20. The Gov would never give tax breaks on hybrids until Ford/GM were onboard

That's the reality of why you get tax breaks on big trucks and not on hybrids.

When Japanese companies are the only ones selling hybrids, it would be cutting GM/Ford's throats to provide incentives.

Hopefully this will allow some sweet incentives to switching to hybrids.

I think Government subsidies to help GM and Ford retool and expand production on these would really help get it all kickstarted.

Of course, the trouble with that is that alot of Fords are made here in Ontario, and alot of Toyotas are made in Alabama. So it's kind of tricky to figure out who to give the handouts to.

[Dave Reynolds]

34. A "real-world" test of the Escape Hybrid, here

http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do/Drives/LongTerm/articleId=103704

Not too impressive.