Ford to increase production of hybrid vehicles-

DEARBORN, Michigan (Reuters) - Ford Motor Co. (NYSE:F - news), the No. 2 U.S. automaker, will boost global production of hybrid vehicles tenfold by 2010, Chief Executive Bill Ford said on Wednesday.


At that time, 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 in that year 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.

The company 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.

"(Innovation) will be the lens through which we view our budgets and our capital investments, our people and programs, and the way in which we rank our most essential priorities," the CEO said in a statement.

Ford builds the Escape hybrid sport utility vehicle and will begin production this year of the Mariner hybrid, the Mercury version of the Escape.

By 2008, the Detroit-based company said it will have five hybrid vehicles on the road, including the Escape, Mariner and Mazda Tribute SUVs, all based on the same platform, or vehicle underpinnings. The other two will be the Ford Fusion and Mercury Milan mid-sized sedans.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20050921/tc_nm/autos_ford_hybrids_dc

The Ford Focus Flexi-Fuel Vehicle (FFV) arrived in Somerset with harvest underway. Somerset-grown wheat will be used to produce the bioethanol powering 40 Ford Focus FFVs coming to the county around March 2006.

They will belong to Somerset County Council, Wessex Grain, Avon and Somerset Police and Wessex Grain and Wessex Water – all members of the Somerset Biofuel Project.

Ford – the first major manufacturer to market a bioethanol-powered car in Britain – is sole vehicle provider to the project. It is supplying the bioethanol version of the all-new Focus, on sale this year, to the Somerset partners. They will be able to refuel at five new refueling points convenient to where the four fleets are based.

Ford is hoping the Somerset pilot will stimulate wider interest in the FFV and bioethanol. Already other rural economies have expressed an interest in setting up a bioethanol infrastructure – using local crops such as sugar beet to produce the ethanol.

Paul Thomas, Ford of Britain managing director said: "As number one in the car and commercial vehicle markets, Ford is expected to lead in the alternative fuel market also. Our customers should not be making any compromise for green motoring. With the Flexi-Fuel Ford Focus we are offering the performance and handling of the UK's favourite car with the option of filling up with bioethanol as the fuel becomes more available. We believe this will happen as more and more vehicle fleets – and eventually private buyers – come to see the benefits of this renewable fuel."

http://www.ford.com/en/default.htm

 

MMM yeah [read the guidlines matt].

I think it is a positive step in the right direction. A counter weight to those that decry the motor industry does nothing for the environment [one of the reasons i posted this].. Generaly i think it is great too see. I wish other leading motor companys had the nerve..

Does anybody know of any other leading car company that 'have the nerve' ?.

 

It's a step, but I think they could increase production more and faster.

 

Sorry for the links..i don't have these things fresh in my mind especialy on a saturday *snooze*

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Hybrid - may well become the dominant technology for all-purpose road cars, having an advantage over the electrics for driving longer distances.
Hydraulic Hybrid - Ford Motor Co. and the U.S. EPA are working together to develop a unique hybrid, high-efficiency vehicle that uses hydraulic fluid to store and provide energy to power the car. The technology could be used to dramatically improve the fuel economy of sport utility vehicles and light trucks. The hybrid system uses hydraulic pumps and hydraulic storage tanks to store energy in the place of electric motors and batteries used in electric hybrid vehicles. This hydraulic power system could have cost and power advantages over electric hybrid systems, the developers believe.
Fuel cell - promising long-term outlook, but some obstacles yet to overcome, such as cost, improved performance, reducing the size and weight of the fuel cell systems and setting up a hydrogen fuel supply infrastructure. The current refining process for hydrogen fuel is a dirty process, and will need improvement. DaimlerChrysler has invested US$1 billion in fuel cell research and has built ten fuel cell vehicles either as concept cars or test vehicles, each one powered by Ballard fuel cells. Honda's fuel-cell car, the FCX, is currently being road tested.


http://eartheasy.com/live_hybrid_cars_futuretech.htm

 

Well.. damnit people should care.

 

i live in michigan and my mother is a union rep. for the united auto workers (UAW) and i guess they have a hole line up of cars they are working on that are hybrid

 

I can't afford one.

 

They should make a Hybrid VW mini bus... that would be the single greatest automobile in history... PERIOD.

 

As much as I feel that hybrid technology is an interesting innovation, my concerns with such technology is that while the batteries used to power the car may be okay while the car is new and probably for years thereafter, what will happen when it's time to junk the car? My obvious concern is that a greater pollution problem may result from such a situation!

I do laud Ford for coming out with an ethanol fueled vehicle in Europe and think that such a vehicle should be for sale here. Honda used to sell a high-efficiency, gas-powered Civic HX and before that, VX models. These cars got great gas mileage.

A technology that has been overlooked is the diesel, which seems to get better as time goes on. It's too bad that these engines get the bad rap that they do because it is largely undeserved. VW has made significant progress with this engine. It's too bad that Toyota won't sell the engine stateside, especially now. I think that they could make a killing, especially if they put it in the Camrys and Corollas, as well as the trucks.

 

my mother has been driving her little hybrid for about 4 years now. the family fights over who gets to drive it. i'm in the land of huge trucks, though, so dave doesn't feel comfortable putting me in a teeny little hybrid. we've both seen the outcome of those wrecks, and it's horrible. i really want one, but they're definitely safer in more urban communities.

 

http://www.cnn.com/2006/AUTOS/01/06/detroit_ford_edge/index.html

.

 

Fuck hybrids and fuck the auto industry, and fuck all this consumerist bullshit too while yer at it. Wanna make something of it?

Trin

 

I wrote a reply about capitalism preventing fammine.. how many lives had been saved with the internal combustion engine.. ..

And a few other things..but then i thought you would just reply.. 'fuck that shit'

So i will just ask.. why should we 'fuck consumerism'.. ?... this will be me ''making something of it''.

 

Oh relax, I'm not in the mood no more.

 

I did relax and stopped short of a rant.. and chose a simple question instead.

When you're in the mood .. feel free to answer....or never grace this thread again..