THE-EDGE: News -
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Published on: 2/25/2006
Last Visited: 3/5/2006
Ford CEO Willian Clay Ford's current line-up of vehicles get worse mileage than his grand-dad's Model T.
"Can This Man Save the US Auto Industry?"That was the headline on TIME magazine's recent profile of William Clay Ford.The next day, Bill Ford announced plans to lay off one-quarter of his company's US workers.TIME's headline now ranks right up there with New York Daily News' "Dewey Defeats Truman" and I suspect the editor who green-lighted that cover has been grounded and given a serious Time-out.
Bill Ford likes to position himself as a "Green" CEO so perhaps his job-chopping "restructuring" was undertaken for the environmental good.After all, in one masterstroke, he eliminated the equivalent of 30,000 polluting autos from US roads.Unfortunately, the fired workers who own these cars may soon be living in them.If this is what Ford meant by "The Way Forward," these laid-off workers have good cause to feel Way-laid.
Over recent years, Ford's production of autos has tanked.But that's a good thing: Have you seen the fuel consumption of those hulks?The original model T got better mileage.The fact is: we need fewer oil-suckers on the road.Ford recently trotted out a new jingle that celebrates "The Thinking behind the Oval" but it's apparent that Ford -- like the rest of the US auto industry -- is lagging behind the curve.
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Bill Ford says he's got a secret plan to build a new kind of car that may contain bio-plastics and will be recyclable.Not good enough.If it still burns oil, pollutes the planet and gets 20 miles to the gallon, it doesn't need to be recycled -- it needs to be composted.Do the folks at Ford really "get" the connection between oil, war and climate change?You have to wonder when the engineers behind Bill's Green grin, were about to follow their gas-gargling Ford Excursion with a larger model dubbed the "Ford Everest."Bill!Pay attention!Global warming is baking the glaciers off Mt Everest!
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Does Ford have a better idea?Ford does have a better concept.Ford introduced a hybrid "concept car" at the American Auto Show that runs on an 85% blend of ethanol -- a domestic, grow-it-yourself, plant-based renewable fuel.But it remains a concept, not a commitment.
Bill Ford walks the talk but he's not ready to drive the jive.Ford could use existing hybrid-electric engines to boost the company's average fleet fuel efficiency to 55 mpg -- instead of its disgraceful 19.1 mpg overall average. (Heck, Ford once produced a popular all-electric car that was pollution-free and had a range of 80-100 miles.) Ford claims there's "no demand" for cleaner cars and the company won't commit to building cleaner, leaner cars as long as most NASCAR Americans remain fixated on Hemis and SUVs.
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Maybe Ford should give these guys a call.
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