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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.
>>
Blog on this subject.
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