Ford Escape Hybrid SUV leads Detroit

Last Friday, a press release announced Los Angeles Area National Park Among First in Nation to get 2005 Ford Escape Hybrids. That release noted that Ford had donated two Ford Escape Hybrids to the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, "to meet demanding vehicle needs of the rangers and officials...while reducing the impact of Park vehicles on the environment and the visitor experience."

While this is great news, and great publicity for Ford, it is sad that Ford seems to spend more money and effort marketing itself as an environmental leader, rather than actually creating hybrids and being an environmental leader.

For example, some of Ford's marketing mantras for the Escape include, "On the road to a better future, some are born to lead the way", or "Earth's First and only full hybrid SUV".

The later statement while true, is exceptionally misleading. The first statement is a complete joke.

First, very few Escapes are available for sale right now, in fact, they are not available to the average consumer. When the Escape does become widely available, probably in the summer of 2005, other hybrid SUVs will also be available, such as the Toyota Highlander Hybrid, as well as the Lexus RX 400h Hybrid.

Second, Ford does not have a proprietary hybrid powertrain, and had to lease some of the Escape's hybrid technology from Toyota. Toyota, the leader in hybrid car sales, is already on its third generation of hybrid cars with its Prius hybrid car.

Therefore, if there is a leader in the hybrid car market, it certainly is not Ford, or any other Detroit-based auto maker. While Ford is leading the way for Detroit, Detroit is way behind in hybrids and fuel efficient technology because it simply didn't invest in the future. 

A recent editorial in Business Week, The Stalling of Motor City, says of Detroit, "True it has enormous legacy costs from retired workers and huge benefit costs from current employees. But managerial shortsightedness is what's hurting the industry most."

For years Detroit chose to focus on far-from-efficient SUVs because they offered great profit. In hindsight, how can one not question the damage that has been caused by this lack of innovation. Terrorism, two wars in Iraq, SMOG, and global warming all have been significantly affected by the automobile industry. Rather than investing in America's future, Detroit chose to cash out quick profits.

In fact, Business Week concluded its article stating, "Hybrids are a technological breakthrough for the Japanese. Unless Detroit invests in innovation, it risks falling behind once again. How sad."

How sad indeed. It is time for Detroit to stop pretending to be a leader, and to start being a leader. It might not just be the future of the Detroit auto giants at stake, but the future of America itself.