Ford Hopes to Quell Emissions Rhetoric

Adopting a conciliatory tone toward California’s new vehicle emissions law, Ford Motor Co. Chief Executive William Clay Ford Jr. said Wednesday he hopes to “lower the temperature” of the debate over automotive greenhouse gases.

Auto makers say they plan to file suit against a law signed by Gov. Gray Davis last month that will greatly restrict the gases emitted by cars and trucks that contribute to global warming, primarily carbon dioxide.

“We’d like to lower the temperature a bit and lower the rhetoric in California and work toward trying to get a reasonable solution,” Ford told reporters at an annual auto industry conference at this lakeside town in northern Michigan. He said he wanted to work with the California Air Resources Board and state legislature to defuse the issue.

The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, a Washington-based grouping of most major auto makers in the U.S. including Ford, has said it will seek to turn over the legislation by filing suit in California.

Ford, who has a reputation as perhaps the most environmentally minded auto executive in Detroit, also criticized governmental interference in the automotive business. “People used to write songs about T-Birds and Corvettes. Now they write regulations,” he said to applause from several hundred participants.

He wouldn’t comment on whether Ford would join the lawsuit, but said he hoped there could be a meeting of the minds with backers of the legislation.

“In Europe you’ve had a collaborative effort between government, manufacturers and NGOs [non-governmental organizations]” regarding automotive emissions, Ford said. “Everyone’s signed onto it, it’s a relatively painless procedure. Here, a lot of people are lobbing bombs at each other.”

California Air Resources Board Chairman Alan Lloyd told The Times on Tuesday that he plans to meet with automotive executives to resolve differences and avoid a lawsuit. But he also called some advertisements put out in California by opponents of the law “misinformation” and “disgusting.”

Under the law, standards must be drawn up regarding greenhouse gas reduction in two years.

Diesel engines are one measure that could reduce emissions of greenhouse gases, Ford said. Recent diesel technology can reduce emissions and increase mileage over conventional engines by 20%-30%.

“Clean diesel is something that in this country hasn’t been well received,” Ford said. “People think of the belching buses of the ‘70s and ‘80s, but diesels have come a long way; I would like diesels to be part of the solution here.”