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| Ford Motor Company is committed to the
environment and to improving the fuel economy of our vehicles. We
believe that market based initiatives, not mandated increases, are
the best method of improving fuel economy. We support programs that
foster the development of breakthrough technologies, including
customer incentives for advanced technologies such as hybrid
electric vehicles, fuel cells and alternative-fuel vehicles. |
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Ford is dedicated to improving the fuel
economy of our vehicles. |
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Ford is the world's leading producer of
alternative fueled vehicles. |
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We currently expect the Hybrid Electric
Escape to be released for retail sale in late summer 2004, followed
by the introduction of the fuel cell powered Focus. |
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We are working with environmental
organizations and Congress to create consumer tax credits to
encourage and accelerate the purchase and market acceptance of
advanced technology vehicles, such as hybrids and fuel cells. |
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Vehicle fuel economy has a complex
history as a public policy issue. As one of many vehicle attributes
(including safety, acceleration, cargo and towing capacity, etc),
the importance of fuel economy to consumers has depended to a large
degree on the price and availability of gasoline. In Japan and
Europe, where fuel prices are often twice as high as the U.S.,
consumers value fuel efficiency more highly and purchase small or
more fuel-efficient cars. |
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In the early 1970's, fuel economy
became more important to consumers and governments as the U.S. faced
a major oil crisis. In 1975, the U.S. Congress passed the Energy
Policy and Conservation Act, which included the Corporate Average
Fuel Economy (CAFE) program. CAFE required manufacturers to increase
the sales weighted average fuel economy of their U.S. fleets.
Presently, CAFE standards are 27.5 mpg for cars and 20.7 mpg for
light trucks. |
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Recently, fluctuations
in gasoline prices and the growth of the sport utility and
truck markets have again increased interest in fuel economy.
Additionally, the potential impact of carbon dioxide emissions on
global warming has heightened concerns about fuel economy. |
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Ford supports improving vehicle fuel
economy and reducing carbon dioxide emissions. However,
we believe that the U.S. CAFE program has been an ineffective
policy because it measures what people buy, not what manufacturers
provide. We instead support alternative, market-based policies to
achieve reduced fuel consumption. These approaches could achieve the
same objectives with the added benefits of lower costs and more
flexibility to manufacturers. |
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CAFE is a weighted average that
reflects what a manufacturer is able to sell, not merely what
vehicles it offers. For example, an automaker can increase the fuel
efficiency of all of its vehicles, but, if it sells a higher number
of large cars or trucks, its CAFE average may still decline. This
means that full-line manufacturers like Ford that sell a significant
number of full-size cars, pickups, minivans and SUVs have a
significantly higher CAFE task than manufacturers that produce
primarily smaller vehicles. |
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During 2001-2002, stricter CAFE
standards were debated in Congress. We opposed legislation that did
not take the competitive impacts described above into consideration.
We instead supported alternative legislation that required the
scientists and experts at the National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration (NHTSA) to establish new fuel economy standards at
the maximum feasible levels after considering all the potential
employment, safety, economic, and competitive tradeoffs and impacts.
Though this legislation was not passed, under existing statutory
authority, NHTSA recently completed an 18-month rulemaking process
to raise light-truck CAFE standards to their maximum
feasible levels for the 2005-2007 model years. |
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