| Ford's goal to produce 250,000 petrol-electric
hybrid cars per year by 2010 has been discarded after nine months as the
company claims that the goal was "too narrow" to achieve substantial
improvements in vehicle fuel economy.
The hybrids, using an electric motor and battery in traffic to augment
the main petrol engine are more expensive to make than regular vehicles,
and Ford has said internal consultants have revised earlier views that
there was a business case for 250,000 vehicles.
Ford will instead look to adopt a broader spread of technologies such
as cars able to run on ethanol.
The U-turn has angered environmentalists, who have drawn comparisons with
2003 when Ford went back on a pledge to improve sport-utility vehicles’
fuel economy by 25 percent over three years.
The company has been hit hard in recent years, with financial pressure
mounting as customers turn away from high-profit vehicles such as large
cars and SUVs. These pressures are in turn compounding problems with slipping
credit ratings at the company.
In 2005 hybrid vehicles made up 1.2 per cent of the US new vehicle market
and this is predicted to reach 5 per cent by 2013.
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