Here's what is really behind Ford Motor Co.'s decision to back off its promise that it would be able to manufacture 250,000 hybrids by 2010: Ford got sucked into the early hype for hybrids and misread the demand.
Ford CEO Bill Ford compounded that mistake by publicly committing the company to building too much capacity for a product unproven in the market.
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Naturally, environmentalists cried foul about Ford's decision to back away from those unrealistic projections. But in reality, Bill Ford has recommitted the company to a variety of technologies it was already developing.
Doubts about Ford's ability to meet the hybrid goal emerged shortly after the plan was announced just nine months ago.
The flaw? Ford doesn't have a rear-wheel-drive hybrid transmission it could use in its truck-based SUVs, such as the Explorer and Expedition. Through May, Ford's mix of sales in North America were heavily weighted toward trucks, at 62 percent, against just 38 percent for cars.
Last week, Bill Ford wrote in a letter to employees that the company would not “wed itself to a single technology but manage a more flexible approach” to meeting its environmental goals. Ford Motor already was working on several technologies to boost fuel economy and lower emissions while developing its hybrids.
In that letter, Bill Ford said the company will invest in:
Clean diesels. This likely means a European-sourced diesel V-8 of 4.4 liters for the F-150 pickup and the Explorer, Expedition and Lincoln Navigator SUVs. This would give Ford fuel-efficient vehicles to compete with a new generation of GM hybrid trucks and SUVs.
