American hybrids: Build them and they will come

Bill Ford told journalists at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., "Now, more than ever, with the competitive pressures of globalization, America needs to respond to the economic challenges of our time. This is not the moment to stop investing and concede our competitive edge in vital parts of the economy. Just the opposite, we must take the lead and show the world that there is only one, true innovative manufacturing giant. And it has three distinct initials: U.S.A.,(more)."

The world already knows where the innovative giant of auto manufacturing is located, and it isn't in the U.S..

The Ford Escape hybrid is a good start at innovation, but Ford is going to have to look far beyond the hybrid SUV, and even 250,000 hybrid vehicles by 2010 just won't be enough - maybe for a follower, but not a leader.

In the 90's American taxpayers gave a billion dollars to Detroit to create vehicles like the Toyota Prius, but Detroit insisted - with our money in their wallets - that such vehicles didn't make sense. Instead, we should wait for even more senseless (in terms of current technology and costs) fuel cell vehicles.

In other words we should do nothing and enjoy our gas-guzzling SUVs.

Well, the Prius has proven Detroit wrong, and experimental hybrids, such as the Enigma, demonstrate that the real potential of hybrids is barely being tapped. Today's technology can change the world at costs that make fuel cell talk seem almost silly.

Mr. Ford is correct, innovation will be the key. For too long, GM and Ford have chosen to maintain the status quo while talking about the technologies of the future. It is time to stop talking and to start building and selling the future today.

American made, foreign oil reducing hybrid vehicles - if you build them, they will come.