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Guys and Gals, here is something that I found today that I thought would be fitting for the Ford News Forum.
Chris
Ford Says It's Working to Reduce Environmental Impact of SUVs
Dearborn, Michigan, May 12 (Bloomberg) -- Ford Motor Co. acknowledges that sport-utility vehicles and pickup trucks aren't as clean or fuel efficient as cars but says it has no plan to retreat from selling the highly profitable vehicles.
``We ask people all the time if the environment is important to them, and of course the overwhelming majority of people say yes,'' Chairman Bill Ford said. ``Then we ask if you're willing to pay for it, and the number drops dramatically.''
The world's second-largest automaker made the comments as part of a corporate citizenship report at yesterday's annual meeting in Atlanta, and said it's working to make sport utilities cleaner and safer. Light trucks now account for about half of all U.S. light vehicle sales, and Ford's sport-utility sales more than tripled from 1990 to 768,743 last year.
Light trucks are among the most profitable vehicles produced by Ford, General Motors Corp., Daimler Chrysler AG and other automakers. Some environmentalists have criticized automakers for making and consumers for buying vehicles they allege are inherently dangerous and more damaging to the environment than passenger cars.
In a study that tries to balance the business advantage of sport-utilities with environmental concerns about them, Ford acknowledges the trade-off.
``SUVs are permitted higher emissions than passenger cars because they are classified as trucks by U.S. regulations and thus are subject to more lenient standards for emissions and fuel economy,'' the study reads. ``SUVs can raise safety concerns for drivers and passengers in other vehicles because of the height, weight and design differences between cars and SUVs.''
For example, all Ford sport utilities sold in the U.S. and Canada already comply with California's Low Emission Vehicle standards, several years before the regulatory requirement.
More than 80 percent of the Ford Explorer, the company's best- selling sport utility, is recyclable.
Chris
Ford Says It's Working to Reduce Environmental Impact of SUVs
Dearborn, Michigan, May 12 (Bloomberg) -- Ford Motor Co. acknowledges that sport-utility vehicles and pickup trucks aren't as clean or fuel efficient as cars but says it has no plan to retreat from selling the highly profitable vehicles.
``We ask people all the time if the environment is important to them, and of course the overwhelming majority of people say yes,'' Chairman Bill Ford said. ``Then we ask if you're willing to pay for it, and the number drops dramatically.''
The world's second-largest automaker made the comments as part of a corporate citizenship report at yesterday's annual meeting in Atlanta, and said it's working to make sport utilities cleaner and safer. Light trucks now account for about half of all U.S. light vehicle sales, and Ford's sport-utility sales more than tripled from 1990 to 768,743 last year.
Light trucks are among the most profitable vehicles produced by Ford, General Motors Corp., Daimler Chrysler AG and other automakers. Some environmentalists have criticized automakers for making and consumers for buying vehicles they allege are inherently dangerous and more damaging to the environment than passenger cars.
In a study that tries to balance the business advantage of sport-utilities with environmental concerns about them, Ford acknowledges the trade-off.
``SUVs are permitted higher emissions than passenger cars because they are classified as trucks by U.S. regulations and thus are subject to more lenient standards for emissions and fuel economy,'' the study reads. ``SUVs can raise safety concerns for drivers and passengers in other vehicles because of the height, weight and design differences between cars and SUVs.''
For example, all Ford sport utilities sold in the U.S. and Canada already comply with California's Low Emission Vehicle standards, several years before the regulatory requirement.
More than 80 percent of the Ford Explorer, the company's best- selling sport utility, is recyclable.
