Ford CEO sees upside to higher U.S. gasoline prices
Reuters / May 13, 2004
LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Higher U.S. gasoline prices could hurt sales of some of the big SUVs and full-sized pickups that generate much of Ford Motor Co.'s automotive profits.
But Ford CEO Bill Ford told the company's annual shareholder meeting on Thursday that surging prices could help drive Ford and other automakers toward a more fuel-efficient future.
Ford, who has been criticized for failing to make good on his professed commitment to environmental issues in the past, spoke when asked what he was doing to improve the poor average fuel economy of its U.S. vehicle fleet.
Ford said the No. 2 U.S. automaker was "pouring enormous resources" into the development of gasoline-electric hybrid vehicles, and alternate fuel vehicles as well. But until recently, in the face of surging gasoline price increases, he said more fuel-efficient cars and trucks were of little interest to the average U.S. car buyer.
The company was "caught in the uncomfortable position of trying to move our vehicles to a more fuel-efficient future and yet having the demand pulled the other way," Ford said, explaining that U.S. customers seemed to want only "bigger engines and bigger vehicles."
Now, however, Ford told an environmental activist who questioned him at the meeting, gasoline prices could "help drive customer behavior the way you'd like to see it."
"In the rest of the world you don't have this disconnect as much," said Ford, speaking of the clash between consumer preferences and a society's overall environmental goals.
"In Europe where gasoline prices are very high you have CO-2 reduction path that is coming down quite nicely," Ford said, referring to carbon dioxide emissions.
"It's because there's a convergence of pocketbook issues with society issues," he added, saying the same thing may soon prove true in the United States.
If it does, he added, cleaner-burning vehicles will be not just a social imperative, but also "a business opportunity," Ford said.
Reuters / May 13, 2004
LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Higher U.S. gasoline prices could hurt sales of some of the big SUVs and full-sized pickups that generate much of Ford Motor Co.'s automotive profits.
But Ford CEO Bill Ford told the company's annual shareholder meeting on Thursday that surging prices could help drive Ford and other automakers toward a more fuel-efficient future.
Ford, who has been criticized for failing to make good on his professed commitment to environmental issues in the past, spoke when asked what he was doing to improve the poor average fuel economy of its U.S. vehicle fleet.
Ford said the No. 2 U.S. automaker was "pouring enormous resources" into the development of gasoline-electric hybrid vehicles, and alternate fuel vehicles as well. But until recently, in the face of surging gasoline price increases, he said more fuel-efficient cars and trucks were of little interest to the average U.S. car buyer.
The company was "caught in the uncomfortable position of trying to move our vehicles to a more fuel-efficient future and yet having the demand pulled the other way," Ford said, explaining that U.S. customers seemed to want only "bigger engines and bigger vehicles."
Now, however, Ford told an environmental activist who questioned him at the meeting, gasoline prices could "help drive customer behavior the way you'd like to see it."
"In the rest of the world you don't have this disconnect as much," said Ford, speaking of the clash between consumer preferences and a society's overall environmental goals.
"In Europe where gasoline prices are very high you have CO-2 reduction path that is coming down quite nicely," Ford said, referring to carbon dioxide emissions.
"It's because there's a convergence of pocketbook issues with society issues," he added, saying the same thing may soon prove true in the United States.
If it does, he added, cleaner-burning vehicles will be not just a social imperative, but also "a business opportunity," Ford said.