Ford to increase production of hybrid vehicles
09-21-2005, 01:05 PM
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Ford to increase production of hybrid vehicles
Ford to increase production of hybrid vehicles - - Reuters / September 21, 2005 - - SOurce: AUtomotive News
DETROIT -- Ford Motor Co. will boost its global production of hybrid vehicles tenfold, CEO Bill Ford said on Wednesday.
By 2010 more than half of the company's Ford, Lincoln and Mercury cars and light trucks will have hybrid capability, Bill Ford said during a meeting at a research lab here with company scientists and engineers.
He also said Ford will have the capability to build about 250,000 hybrid vehicles by 2010 with the ability to boost that. Ford currently makes about 24,000 hybrid vehicles annually.
The CEO also said the automaker will launch four vehicles in 2006 that will run largely on ethanol, a corn-based fuel, raising the output of vehicles that can operate with more than just gasoline in 2006 to as many as 280,000 units.
Ford Motor Co. also will launch a new corporate advertising campaign in the fall with the theme of innovation, Bill Ford said. The company did not say how much it will spend in the campaign.
By 2010 more than half of the company's Ford, Lincoln and Mercury cars and light trucks will have hybrid capability, Bill Ford said during a meeting at a research lab here with company scientists and engineers.
He also said Ford will have the capability to build about 250,000 hybrid vehicles by 2010 with the ability to boost that. Ford currently makes about 24,000 hybrid vehicles annually.
The CEO also said the automaker will launch four vehicles in 2006 that will run largely on ethanol, a corn-based fuel, raising the output of vehicles that can operate with more than just gasoline in 2006 to as many as 280,000 units.
Ford Motor Co. also will launch a new corporate advertising campaign in the fall with the theme of innovation, Bill Ford said. The company did not say how much it will spend in the campaign.
09-21-2005, 01:07 PM
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I wonder how they're gonna do that when they claim that [the] Japanese Hogging Hybrid Parts
09-21-2005, 06:03 PM
#3
I feel the need...
Ford to Boost Hybrid Output as Part of Greener Image (Update3)
2005-09-21 14:15 (New York)
(Adds Bill Ford comments in ninth paragraph.)
By Bill Koenig and John Lippert
Sept. 21 (Bloomberg) -- Ford Motor Co., the second-largest
U.S. automaker, plans a 10-fold increase in vehicles powered by
gasoline-electric engines as it attempts to catch hybrid sales
leader Toyota Motor Corp.
More than half of the company's Ford, Lincoln and Mercury
models will have hybrid versions by the end of the decade, Chief
Executive William Clay Ford Jr., 48, said in an address to
employees today. This would bring the company's annual hybrid
output to 250,000. The company's hybrids will be profitable by
2010, Bill Ford told reporters after the presentation.
Ford billed himself as an environmentalist when he took over
as the company's chairman in 1999. The Sierra Club's Dan Becker,
who had criticized Bill Ford's 2003 disclosure that the company
wouldn't deliver on a promise to boost mileage in sport-utility
vehicles by 25 percent, welcomed his announcement today.
``Ford is at the bottom of the barrel among major automakers
on fuel economy, but today is a better day,'' said Becker,
Washington director of the Sierra Club's Global Warming Program.
``Increasing hybrid production is a good step in the right
direction.''
Ford's North American auto operations lost money in three of
the last four quarters. Bill Ford said today that a planned
restructuring plan may come within 100 days. The chief executive
hopes to convince consumers and investors that the company is
becoming more innovative, not just smaller, said David Cole,
chairman of the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor,
Michigan.
``On hybrids, it's a question of whether there's significant
demand for a product that's significantly more expensive,'' Cole
said before today's announcement.
Efficiency
Gasoline-powered engines can boost fuel efficiency by 20-25
percent with an additional cost of $1,000, Cole said. Diesel-
powered engines can deliver a 30 percent increase for $3,000 and
may be unable to meet federal and state government limits on
nitrous oxide emissions. Hybrids can deliver a 30 percent increase
in fuel efficiency with an added cost of as much as $6,000, Cole
said.
Ford's North American operations had a pretax loss of $907
million in the second quarter, excluding costs Ford considers one-
time items. The company had lost market share in the U.S., its
largest market, for 28 straight months until July and August, when
offers of employee prices to all U.S. customers boosted sales.
Ford captured 19.1 percent of U.S. sales during the first eight
months of 2005.
Restructuring
Bill Ford today, when talking to reporters, declined to
discuss cost cutting. He said the company has excess production
capacity in North America, echoing statements by Chief Financial
Officer Don Leclair in July. The company will ``vet'' issues with
the Detroit-based United Auto Workers union, he said.
Ford will use proceeds from selling the Hertz Corp. rental-
car unit to ``strengthen'' its automaker's balance sheet and help
develop new car and truck models, Bill Ford said. Ford last week
agreed to sell Hertz to investors Clayton, Dubilier & Rice Inc.,
Carlyle Group and a Merrill Lynch & Co. buyout unit for $15
billion. Ford will receive $5.6 billion in cash, and the buyers
are assuming $9.4 billion in debt.
The chief executive, great-grandson of company founder Henry
Ford, said cost cutting was ``not enough'' and that ``innovation
will separate us from competitors.'' In his message to employees,
he urged workers ``to push ideas up'' the chain of command.
Surprise
The Dearborn, Michigan-based automaker said Sept. 8 it was
moving Hans-Olov Olsson, chairman of its Volvo unit, into the new
position of chief marketing officer. Volvo, which is profitable,
emphasizes safety and environmental awareness in its marketing.
The company will start a new series of corporate-image
advertisements next month, Bill Ford said today.
In his address to employees today, Bill Ford said the company
will offer four additional vehicles capable of running on gasoline
as well as ethanol during the 2006 model year, which begins
October 1. The vehicles are the F-150 pickup and the Crown
Victoria, Grand Marquis and Town Car sedans.
Ford shares fell 10 cents to $9.66 at 2 p.m. in New York
Stock Exchange composite trading.
How Hybrids Work
Hybrids are more efficient than conventional vehicles because
they run in part on electric motors powered by a battery pack that
recharges during braking. Hybrid vehicles now account for 1
percent of the U.S. auto market. Automakers, led by Toyota Motor
Corp., are boosting hybrid production as prices for gasoline in
the U.S. have tripled over the past seven years. A gallon of
regular unleaded cost an average 2.955 a gallon last week,
according to the U.S. Energy Department.
Last year, Ford became the first U.S. automaker to offer a
hybrid, a gasoline-electric version of its Escape small sport-
utility vehicle. The company is also introducing a Mercury Mariner
SUV with a hybrid engine. The 2006 hybrid Mariner sells at a
starting price of $29,840. The standard gasoline-powered Mariner
sells for $21,995 to $27,400, according to the Edmunds.com car-
price Web site.
Ford also plans hybrid versions of its new Ford Fusion and
Mercury Milan sedans in 2008. The standard versions of the cars go
on sale this year.
Ford and other U.S. carmakers are seeking to catch Toyota's
Prius, a hybrid passenger car introduced in 1997. Sales of the
Prius more than doubled to 53,308 in the first half of this year.
Toyota's Executive Vice President Kazuo Okamoto told reporters
last week that all the company's vehicles will eventually be run
by hybrid gasoline-electric motors. He declined to say when.
Toyota's Plan
Toyota, Japan's biggest carmaker, is aiming to make as many
as 400,000 gasoline-electric vehicles in 2006, 60 percent more
than this year's target, President Katsuaki Watanabe said at an
investor conference in New York last week.
GM in 2007 will introduce gasoline-electric hybrid versions
of the Tahoe and Suburban sport utilities. The hybrid engines will
improve the average fuel economy on the large SUVs to 25 miles per
gallon, estimates Cole, of the Center for Automotive Research.
Tahoe SUVs powered by conventional gasoline engines will average
at least 20 miles to a gallon, said Gary White, vice president of
GM's North American truck operations.
Source: Bloomberg.com
2005-09-21 14:15 (New York)
(Adds Bill Ford comments in ninth paragraph.)
By Bill Koenig and John Lippert
Sept. 21 (Bloomberg) -- Ford Motor Co., the second-largest
U.S. automaker, plans a 10-fold increase in vehicles powered by
gasoline-electric engines as it attempts to catch hybrid sales
leader Toyota Motor Corp.
More than half of the company's Ford, Lincoln and Mercury
models will have hybrid versions by the end of the decade, Chief
Executive William Clay Ford Jr., 48, said in an address to
employees today. This would bring the company's annual hybrid
output to 250,000. The company's hybrids will be profitable by
2010, Bill Ford told reporters after the presentation.
Ford billed himself as an environmentalist when he took over
as the company's chairman in 1999. The Sierra Club's Dan Becker,
who had criticized Bill Ford's 2003 disclosure that the company
wouldn't deliver on a promise to boost mileage in sport-utility
vehicles by 25 percent, welcomed his announcement today.
``Ford is at the bottom of the barrel among major automakers
on fuel economy, but today is a better day,'' said Becker,
Washington director of the Sierra Club's Global Warming Program.
``Increasing hybrid production is a good step in the right
direction.''
Ford's North American auto operations lost money in three of
the last four quarters. Bill Ford said today that a planned
restructuring plan may come within 100 days. The chief executive
hopes to convince consumers and investors that the company is
becoming more innovative, not just smaller, said David Cole,
chairman of the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor,
Michigan.
``On hybrids, it's a question of whether there's significant
demand for a product that's significantly more expensive,'' Cole
said before today's announcement.
Efficiency
Gasoline-powered engines can boost fuel efficiency by 20-25
percent with an additional cost of $1,000, Cole said. Diesel-
powered engines can deliver a 30 percent increase for $3,000 and
may be unable to meet federal and state government limits on
nitrous oxide emissions. Hybrids can deliver a 30 percent increase
in fuel efficiency with an added cost of as much as $6,000, Cole
said.
Ford's North American operations had a pretax loss of $907
million in the second quarter, excluding costs Ford considers one-
time items. The company had lost market share in the U.S., its
largest market, for 28 straight months until July and August, when
offers of employee prices to all U.S. customers boosted sales.
Ford captured 19.1 percent of U.S. sales during the first eight
months of 2005.
Restructuring
Bill Ford today, when talking to reporters, declined to
discuss cost cutting. He said the company has excess production
capacity in North America, echoing statements by Chief Financial
Officer Don Leclair in July. The company will ``vet'' issues with
the Detroit-based United Auto Workers union, he said.
Ford will use proceeds from selling the Hertz Corp. rental-
car unit to ``strengthen'' its automaker's balance sheet and help
develop new car and truck models, Bill Ford said. Ford last week
agreed to sell Hertz to investors Clayton, Dubilier & Rice Inc.,
Carlyle Group and a Merrill Lynch & Co. buyout unit for $15
billion. Ford will receive $5.6 billion in cash, and the buyers
are assuming $9.4 billion in debt.
The chief executive, great-grandson of company founder Henry
Ford, said cost cutting was ``not enough'' and that ``innovation
will separate us from competitors.'' In his message to employees,
he urged workers ``to push ideas up'' the chain of command.
Surprise
The Dearborn, Michigan-based automaker said Sept. 8 it was
moving Hans-Olov Olsson, chairman of its Volvo unit, into the new
position of chief marketing officer. Volvo, which is profitable,
emphasizes safety and environmental awareness in its marketing.
The company will start a new series of corporate-image
advertisements next month, Bill Ford said today.
In his address to employees today, Bill Ford said the company
will offer four additional vehicles capable of running on gasoline
as well as ethanol during the 2006 model year, which begins
October 1. The vehicles are the F-150 pickup and the Crown
Victoria, Grand Marquis and Town Car sedans.
Ford shares fell 10 cents to $9.66 at 2 p.m. in New York
Stock Exchange composite trading.
How Hybrids Work
Hybrids are more efficient than conventional vehicles because
they run in part on electric motors powered by a battery pack that
recharges during braking. Hybrid vehicles now account for 1
percent of the U.S. auto market. Automakers, led by Toyota Motor
Corp., are boosting hybrid production as prices for gasoline in
the U.S. have tripled over the past seven years. A gallon of
regular unleaded cost an average 2.955 a gallon last week,
according to the U.S. Energy Department.
Last year, Ford became the first U.S. automaker to offer a
hybrid, a gasoline-electric version of its Escape small sport-
utility vehicle. The company is also introducing a Mercury Mariner
SUV with a hybrid engine. The 2006 hybrid Mariner sells at a
starting price of $29,840. The standard gasoline-powered Mariner
sells for $21,995 to $27,400, according to the Edmunds.com car-
price Web site.
Ford also plans hybrid versions of its new Ford Fusion and
Mercury Milan sedans in 2008. The standard versions of the cars go
on sale this year.
Ford and other U.S. carmakers are seeking to catch Toyota's
Prius, a hybrid passenger car introduced in 1997. Sales of the
Prius more than doubled to 53,308 in the first half of this year.
Toyota's Executive Vice President Kazuo Okamoto told reporters
last week that all the company's vehicles will eventually be run
by hybrid gasoline-electric motors. He declined to say when.
Toyota's Plan
Toyota, Japan's biggest carmaker, is aiming to make as many
as 400,000 gasoline-electric vehicles in 2006, 60 percent more
than this year's target, President Katsuaki Watanabe said at an
investor conference in New York last week.
GM in 2007 will introduce gasoline-electric hybrid versions
of the Tahoe and Suburban sport utilities. The hybrid engines will
improve the average fuel economy on the large SUVs to 25 miles per
gallon, estimates Cole, of the Center for Automotive Research.
Tahoe SUVs powered by conventional gasoline engines will average
at least 20 miles to a gallon, said Gary White, vice president of
GM's North American truck operations.
Source: Bloomberg.com
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