Ford announces £1bn investment in low carbon vehicles and fuels
Mon 17 July 2006
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Ford Motor Company has announced plans to spend "at least £1 billion" developing a range of global environmental technologies in the UK for its Ford, Jaguar, Land Rover and Volvo brands.
The company says that this engineering programme will double the rate of environmental spending in the past and is part of a broad strategy for the company's Ford of Europe and Premier Automotive Group business units that will deliver new, low carbon technologies for the future.
Following the announcement of the fuel efficiency investments, Ford called on the Government to encourage greater car efficiency through subsidies or other financial incentives.
According to Ford's press release, the company will focus on the following key technology areas:
- new generation lightweight aluminium vehicles and weight-saving actions
- direct injection gasoline and advanced diesel engines and new transmissions
- hybrid electric systems tailored for different customers, regions and market segments
- alternative fuels capability
- a range of vehicle efficiency improvements and technologies to improve driver behaviour
The company says that the new initiative will see unparalleled collaboration between the 9,500 engineers that work at Ford, Jaguar and Land Rover R&D centres in the UK and will also bring together engineers from Volvo in Sweden and Ford's other engineering bases in Europe and worldwide.
Ford says that the research and development collaboration will deliver over 100 models and derivatives that offer improved emissions or fuel economy performance. The company says that it will lead to the marketing of a regular Ford Focus - Britain's best-selling car - capable of more than 70 miles per gallon.
Reporting on the story (link below), the BBC's news correspondent, Sumant Bhatia, says the investment can be seen as a vote of confidence in the UK's technical ability at a time when manufacturers are finding it tough to make cost-effective products in the country.
Prior to the investment announcement, according to a Reuters report, Ford has abandoned a pledge made less than a year ago to make 250,000 fuel-efficient petrol-electric hybrid cars a year by 2010.
In an email to employees, Bill Ford, chairman and chief executive, said that the target was "too narrow to achieve our larger goals of substantially improving fuel economy and CO2 performance".
Instead (in a precursor to the announcement reported above) he said that the company will adopt a broader array of technologies to achieve its fuel efficiency aims, Reuters reported.
Related Links
Ford press release
BBC news story
FT news story (call for subsidies)
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