Ford report: Little progress toward fuel economy - Ford Forums

Stacy94PGT · 08-20-2002, 23:43

Reuters / August 20, 2002

DETROIT -- A Ford Motor Co. report released Tuesday aimed at burnishing its environmental image acknowledges that the automaker has made little recent progress toward improving the gas mileage of its vehicles.

In an annual report, Ford highlights various initiatives it has undertaken to fight global warming, which it calls "the most pressing environmental issue facing our industry and our company."

But in the so-called "Corporate Citizenship" report, Ford concedes that the average fuel economy of the vehicles it sells in the United States has remained essentially flat since 2000.

And it admits that carbon dioxide emissions from its U.S. cars and trucks have also held relatively stable over the past two model years, instead of decreasing in line with its commitments as an environmentally-aware "green" company.

Scientists have identified carbon dioxide from internal combustion engines as a primary contributor to global climate change.

Ford Chairman and CEO Bill Ford Jr., the great-grandson of automotive pioneer Henry Ford, has long sought to distinguish himself as more environmentally committed than his rivals. And Tuesday's report reiterates his previously stated goal of improving the fuel economy of Ford's gas-thirsty sport-utilities by 25 percent between 2000 and 2005.

But the report also warns that any further goals for cutting greenhouse gas reductions from Ford "will be tempered by our near-term business realities." The automaker, which lost $5.45 billion last year, is struggling to cut billions of dollars in costs as part of a multiyear turnaround plan.

"This report takes a giant step in the wrong direction for Ford Motor Co., for American consumers, and for the environment," Carl Pope, executive director of the Sierra Club, said in a statement.

The Sierra Club, which once considered Bill Ford a close ally, takes his company and other Detroit automakers to task for failing to use modern technology that already exists to boost the fuel efficiency of standard model vehicles.

Such technology, however, would add to vehicle production costs at a time when U.S. automakers are saddled with razor-thin profit margins amid growing fears about consumer spending.

"Americans want responsibility and transparency from Ford, instead of a slick Page Ranking document that glosses over their disappointing failure to produce cars and trucks that go further on a gallon of gas," Pope said.

Bill Ford, who has shocked auto industry insiders with his candid talk about environmental issues in the past, said he was not at all happy about the Sierra Club's criticism.

"I'm disappointed personally because I feel like I have gone out on a limb environmentally and taken some criticism for it over the years," Ford told Detroit's WWJ-AM radio station.

"In some ways it sort of feels like biting the hand that feeds you," he added.

Ford lists the Sierra Club among several environmental groups, including Greenpeace, that it provided support to last year.

Despite adverse business conditions, Bill Ford notes in a statement introducing the report that his company's donations to projects focused on the environment, education and community development reached an all-time high of $139 million in 2001.

"It's not helpful to just sort of sit on the sidelines and lob bombs," Bill Ford said in the radio interview early on Tuesday.

"If you want to be constructive, come in and have a dialogue and help us figure this out," he added, alluding to some of the difficulties involved in trying to build greener vehicles while shoring up his company's bottom line.