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Just a
couple of weeks ago, Ford's head of hybrid
vehicles program resigned (more).
Amidst the financial restructuring that Ford is exploring,
many wondered whether the axe was coming down on Ford's
hybrids, thus resulting in this resignation.
Today, Ford, which makes the Ford
Escape hybrid and the Mercury
Mariner hybrid, announced
that its hybrid plans had not changed and that Ford
was moving forward with its plan to make 250,000 hybrids
by 2010.
Still, it isn't hard to speculate as to whether Ford is really
serious about hybrids. By 2010, there is a very good
chance that Toyota will sell as many, or even more, than a
million hybrids.
Currently, Toyota is selling 3 hybrids, the Toyota
Prius, the Highlander
Hybrid, and the Lexus
RX400h. Soon, Toyota will add the Camry
hybrid and a Lexus
GS model won't be far behind. Additionally, work on
the Toyota
Tundra hybrid has already begun and who knows what
else Toyota has up its sleeve, such as a hybrid minivan.
In terms of production capability, Toyota could climb
several years ahead of Ford by 2010. Then, Ford won't be
just competing with Toyota and Honda,
but GM, Nissan,
Volkswagen,
Hyundai,
and more.
Ford's hybrid plan will enable them to compete in the
hybrid market in 2010, but their current plan won't let
them keep the leadership role they currently maintain into
2010.
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- said...
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Ford is not a major market leader anymore, but at
least it has stared with the first small SUV hybrids,
with Toyota following (with the Highlander). As a
corrective note, Ford did not buy the hybrid
technology from Toyota. Ford developed its own, and
while the research went on, it discovered that Toyota
already has many patents covering what Ford was
developing, so Ford agreeed to license Toyota's
patents to avoid problems. Now with two SUV hybrids
(Escape and Mariner) and two more to come (Tribute and
Equator - you read it first here!), Ford will mainain
a foothold in the SUV market where most of the new
buyers are interested. Then Ford will catch up with
Toyota with its hybrid sedans.
As a final comment, Toyota did not make the first
hybrid. I will post a new comment on this.
- said...
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Not only did Ford license Toyota technology, it
also hired Toyota engineers to help implement the
technology. Nonetheless, you are correct that Ford had
developed much of its own hybrid technology.
In fact tax dollars went to this project. More than a
billion tax dollars were given to Detroit in the 90's
to create a next generation of clean vehicles, and
hybrid prototypes were developed and shown at
autoshows.
Ultimately, I think it will take a lot for Ford to
catch Toyota when it comes to hybrids. The hybrid SUV
niche is a great market for them to follow in the
short term, and I think if they could also add a
pickup or two, they would be even in a better
position. For that; however, they and Toyota have some
issues to deal with when it comes to towing and their
hybrid technology.
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