Ford, GM to Add to Lineup of Hybrids
Stung by environmental groups’ complaints that they weren’t living up to their promises, General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co. said Sunday that they would add a total of six gas-electric-powered hybrid cars and trucks to the market by 2008.
Ford made the biggest commitment, promising to add four new models to the hybrid sport utility vehicle it began selling last year. GM said it would add a new type of hybrid system to two large SUVs, the Chevrolet Tahoe and the GMC Yukon, in late 2007.
“Our commitment is clear. Five hybrids -- one very popular one on sale today, another coming later this year and three more in the next three years,” Ford Motor Chairman William Clay Ford Jr. said at a news conference at the North American International Auto Show.
Ford Motor last year put on sale the nation’s first hybrid SUV, the gas-electric Ford Escape. Like Toyota’s popular Prius hybrid sedan, the Escape is often on back order at dealerships.
Bill Ford said the company had accelerated production of the hybrid Mercury Mariner SUV, which would go on sale later this year instead of in 2006. The automaker will follow that with a Mazda Tribute hybrid SUV in 2007 and two mid-size hybrid sedans, the Ford Fusion and the Mercury Milan, in 2008.
The hybrids, Ford said, “are only the start and only one of the four fuel technologies we’re working seriously on.”
The other technologies are environmentally clean diesel, hydrogen internal-combustion engines and fuel-cell electric vehicles.
Ford also said Sunday that the company had signed a contract to begin delivering 12-passenger buses with hydrogen-burning internal combustion engines to the state of Florida next year.
The engines use liquid hydrogen and are considerably less polluting than gasoline or diesel engines.
GM, which has introduced a toned-down hybrid pickup, the Silverado, that cannot run on all-electric power as other hybrids do, said it would break new ground with a dual-mode system for the Tahoe and Yukon.
The system uses several electric motors coupled to the vehicles’ transmissions, to enable the SUVs to run at speeds of up to 50 mph in all-electric mode, all-internal combustion mode or any combination of the two, as conditions demand.
The vehicles will switch to their gasoline engines for primary power and use a second electric motor for assistance when towing heavy loads or climbing steep hills. In the high-speed mode the system also will utilize other GM fuel-efficiency technologies, including a system that shuts down half the engines’ cylinders when the additional power isn’t needed.
GM also showed off a new version of its revolutionary flat platform for fuel-cell vehicles and said it would have a drivable version later this year of a fuel-cell-powered SUV with 300 miles of range on a tank of hydrogen.
“It is the first fuel-cell vehicle capable of 300 miles between fill-ups,” boasted Larry Burns, GM’s vice president for planning and research.
The new test vehicle, called the Sequel, will use GM’s “skateboard” platform, which houses all of the power, suspension and electrical components in an 11-inch-thick package. It was introduced several years ago but has been updated as fuel-cell technology has improved.
