For automobile manufacturers, there are lots of incentives out there motivating them to go green.
The combination of consumer demands, scientific realities and government legislation have all combined to drastically transform the product line ups of virtually all of the world’s top automakers.
With oil prices on a continuous uphill climb, consumers are demanding more fuel efficient cars that ultimately save money at the pumps. The growing reality that fossil fuels, used in almost all automobile propulsion systems have contributed significantly towards the realities of global climate change have created the need to build cars that burn less (or no) fossil fuels. And several pending legislations in North America, Europe and Asia regarding madated minimum fuel efficiency requirements have automakers scrambling to build vehicles that not only meet, but surpass these targets since failure to do so risks severely punitive fines that no automaker wants to pay.
The Ford Motor Company is one automaker with a clear strategy that is proving successful at dealing with all 3 situations above. With a revamp fleet of vehicles, Ford is contiually building vehicles with more fuel efficient engines as well as a host of alternative propulsion systems. Within the current line up of Ford vehicles are standard combustion engines using “EcoBoost” technology, which is essentially turbocharging a smaller engine to generate the same power as a larger edition. Also in the Ford line up are hybrid, plug-in hybrid and even full Electric vehicles such as the Ford Focus EV.
This past week, during Media Day at the Canadian International Auto Show in Toronto, I had the chance to speak with Steve Ross who is the Product Marketing Manager for Electrification with Ford Motor Company of Canada. In a videotaped interview which appears below we had the chance to talk about the Ford of today compared to a decade ago. I also had a chance to learn about what is motivating Ford to reinvent its fleet, as well as what obstacles and challenges it faces with both design and acceptance by consumers. It was a honest interview which I’m happy to share:
The Canadian International Auto Show, celebrating its 40th Anniversary this year runs from February 15 to 24th in Toronto. Visit www.autoshow.ca to learn more.
Leave a Reply