Of course, it isn’t easy being green. The nation’s No. 2 auto maker has no plans to stop producing SUVs. One out of every five cars the company sells is an SUV and the jumbo gas guzzlers accounted for most of the company’s record $7.2 billion in profits last year. Ford spoke with NEWSWEEK’s Keith Naughton about why his company is acknowledging that SUVs need to clean up their act.
Newsweek: Why publicly admit SUV’s shortcomings?BR> Ford: I’ve spent the last year and a half meeting with advocates for social responsibility, environmental groups and human rights groups. And I asked them, ‘What does a socially responsible company look like?’ They said, ‘The leading companies lay out the good and the bad and they say how they’ll address the bad.’
Detroit doesn’t have a history of admitting to safety or environmental problems. Isn’t this risky? Clearly there’s a risk to this, but you shouldn’t have to make a trade off between a fun vehicle and a clean and safe vehicle. We don’t want customers to make those trade offs. Our challenge as an auto manufacturer is to deliver fun, clean and safe vehicles. And we’re admitting we don’t have all the answers yet. We don’t even know all the questions. But we’re headed down this road and saying, “Watch this space.”
Do you worry this move will open you up to a flood of SUV-related lawsuits? In our litigious society, people will find reasons to sue us everyday. But I’m very proud of what we’re doing. Not only are we doing what is responsible for safety and the environment today, but for the future we’re saying, “See where we’re going.”
Is Ford beginning to have image problems like cigarette makers? No. There’s a big difference. We provide a product that, for the most part, improves people’s lives. It gives people personal mobility. But we also recognize that there’s a social cost to that. And that’s the thing we’re beginning to address. My point of view is, let’s address this forcefully and decisively as we can so that there are no social trade offs to owning vehicles.
Was there reluctance within Ford to go public on SUV’s shortcomings? Part of being a great company is to be able to have healthy debates and be able to tolerate differences of opinion. Even within Ford, you won’t find unanimity of opinion on the pace of change we’re making… But the debate [over SUVs] is going on out there in the public and we’re just acknowledging it.
Will SUVs eventually fall out of fashion? I hope not, because our customers love them. We believe we’re the best SUV producer in the business. And we’re taking steps to reduce and eventually eliminate any kinds of social costs associated with SUVs. We made all our SUVs and trucks low emission vehicles [matching the tailpipe output of the cleanest cars]. That was the equivalent of removing 350,000 full-size pickup trucks or putting 600,000 hybrid-electric vehicles on the road. And we did it at no extra cost to the customer. We must give customers exactly what they’re looking for. If we don’t, somebody else will and that won’t be as good a decision for the environment because [those SUVs] won’t be as clean as ours.
Do you regret introducing the Ford Excursion, the largest SUV on the road? No, because there is a market for that vehicle. And by making it a low-emission vehicle, we designed it more responsibly than our competitors would have. If we unilaterally turn our backs on something customers clearly want, then we’re going to put ourselves out of business very quickly. And then we won’t help the environment at all.
Do you drive an Excursion? No. I just don’t need a vehicle that big. I have an electric Ranger [small pickup], a Mustang, a Ford Focus [small car.] and an Explorer Sport-Trac [small SUV].
Is your environmentalism making Ford’s shareholders nervous? There’s a tendency to say this is anti-shareholder. But that [shareholder value] is what’s driving me. If we get this right and are viewed as a great company in the court of public opinion, then our shareholders will be rewarded handsomely.
