The Financial Times has a headline today about Ford's commitment to producing green vehicles (see Ford Sets Out Plans for "Green" Vehicles, December 2nd.). In a submission to the US Congress, Ford laid out plans for a family of gas-electric hybrids and all electric vehicles as part of a blueprint for the restructuring of its North American car and truck business.
This is the same submission in which says it could survive without a government bailout of $9 billion, but would still like one. So is Ford saying what it means to do or is it saying what it thinks Congress wants to hear?
The Wall Street Journal Environment blog asks the same question in a pair of posts today. See Built Tough: Don't Tell Congress but Trucks Sell. (Kieth Johnson, December 2nd) and Get Trucking: What's Detroit's Real Plan? (Kieth Johnson, December 2nd).
Citing Rod Adams at the Atomic Insight who asks: Is it possible that American auto manufacturers remain out of touch with the reality of the world’s available petroleum supplies? Mr. Johnson has this to say:
When plummeting gasoline prices fail to lure Americans back into their cars, and people in Dallas are jumping onto mass transit, that seems like a very good question.
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