Hoax? Mercedes to cut petroleum out of lineup by 2015

[Joshua Szulecki]

If any customers can afford this, theirs can...

http://green.yahoo.com/bl...ut-of-lineup-by-2015.html

[Nalgene Ninja]

Not exactly confirmation since it references the same article in The Sun.

[Joshua Szulecki]

No, I put hoax because it was labelled as unconfirmed on Slashdot, where I found it. No political agenda enhancements. When I see an article from a source other than The Sun, I promise I'll edit my headline. [Edit: Still no confirmation beyond The Sun. Just a lot of articles linking or paraphrasing The Sun's article]

[Joshua Szulecki]

I really don't know what Ford is doing. They make a profit overseas on their efficient small cars (they actually make a profit almost everywhere but N. America), and they make really good small cars overseas. The European Focus is a REALLY decent car, much better than the older model we have here, and needs to be brought over.

If I were running Ford, I'd roll the hard six and switch to an efficient lineup ASAP. I don't mean just 1970's small cars, I mean mortgage whatever assest they have left that are unmortgaged, sell off Volvo, kill Mercury, and dump all their SUVs, and go for Toyota and Honda's jugular, the small and medium-sized sedan market, and do it with a hybrid for every model, ecoboost (turbo on new fuel rail design) on every model, and revamped aerodynamics on every model. Something people tend to forget is that Toyota didn't steal the Camry's spot on the charts, the got it though Ford's inaction. The Taurus was once the bestselling car in America, but in the 90's SUVs and trucks started to become profitable, gas was $0.99/gal, and Ford decided to ditch the car market. Hence why the Taurus went basically unchanged from 1995->2007. They COULD compete if they wanted to, especially drawing on Mazda and Volvo's experience, but they still seem half-hearted about it when the void is staring them in the face. We're talking about the company that came back from near the brink in the late 80's with the Taurus, so I would expect them to draw on that experience. Heck, the man who is running for idolized their team design system from the Taurus. What is going on there? Are they more broke than they are letting on?

[Joshua Szulecki]

Jay,

The Ford and GM engineers are just as smart as the engineers at Toyota. I'm sure they thought of it. Marketing and HQ probably shot it down. Don't forget, Ford developed their Hybrid system INDEPENDANTLY of Toyota, but due to similarities the companies did a patent swap to avoid legal issues, because Ford came out with theirs just a little after Toyota, and Ford had some technology Toyota wanted. [http://detroitnews.com/2005/autosinsider/0508/08/A01-272872.htm]

Some more technology being developed at Ford:
http://news.cnet.com/8301...4_3-9851249-7.html?hhTest [Plug-in Escape Hybrid]
http://gas2.org/2008/06/1...rid-88-mpg-on-85-ethanol/[Plug-in Escape Hybrid using E85]
http://www.autoblog.com/2...eva-2008-new-ford-fiesta/ [Reasonably sized car]
http://www.ford.com/en/ve...elCell/focusFCVHybrid.htm [Focus Fuel-Cell Hybrid]
http://www.leftlanenews.c...d-ford-fusion-hybrid.html [Ford Fusion Hybrid, supposed to hit market 2008, delayed to 2009?]
http://www.worldcarfans.c...-fusion-hybrid-spy-photos [Ditto]
http://www.autobloggreen....bo-direct-injection-engi/ [EcoBoost]

Unfortunately, they aren't moving fast enough.

[Joshua Szulecki]

Jay,

Most of those quality issues cleared up by the late 90's. Today Ford is on parity with Toyota or Honda on most models, with a few older designs still chugging along that aren't up to snuff. Toyota (Torturous On Your Old Tired A...butt) has had their own problems lately, which I why I always recommend reading the actual reports about more recent models, rather than going by decades old adages. Ford has tried very hard to fix the mistakes of their past. Even in the 1970's they were ashamed of what they were putting out. They were so ashamed that for several model years the Mustang and Thunderbird (Ford's two big names) had the Ford name HIDDEN in the doors, and nowhere else on the car.

But that's enough about American vs. Japanese automakers. The article was about Mercedes. With the pace of battery developments, I could see a total plug-in Hybrid fleet by 2015, but not a full-electric lineup. The range and charging issues still put full-electric cars just a squeek out of full interoperability with ICE vehicles. For commuter car replacements, maybe, but without better long-distance mass transit to replace auto travel, it just won't work yet in the U.S., but probably in Europe.

[Joshua Szulecki]

With the whole debacle surrounding their last electric car, I'm stunned GM's brass was willing to put the words electric and car in the same paragraph.

[Nalgene Ninja]

Here's another from Inhabitat.  Not sure why referencing the same article from a different website makes it a hoax, but whatever.  

This article takes you to the MB international website's "Sustainable Mobility" section referenced in the article.

Doesn't starting out a thread with "Hoax" automatically make it a partisan talking point?  Just calling 'em like i see 'em.  Fair and equal please.

http://www.inhabitat.com/...ick-fossil-fuels-by-2015/

.

I just made the comment because both the 1st 2 links were bloggers talking about the same article from a newspaper site. Nothing partisan about it. The auto industry news is mostly gossip most of the time. Not everything is about politics, Jay.  

But if it was going to happen, why now? Gas prices have been outrageous in Europe and Asia for decades. Just skeptical, because it reeks of past hopes like Space station condos and flying cars.

GM and Ford's problem is they hitched their wagons to trucks and SUVs because they were more profitable. (which when you look at it from the outside seems weird too. Get a ginormous truck for 20k vs a mid-size car for the same price?!  )

[Joshua Szulecki]

Flemdawg,

The original Ford/GM SUVs and all their pickups are built on ancient body on frame (non-unibody) construction, use older engine and transmission design, and had a much smaller feature set in terms of creature comforts. This isn't to say that they *shouldn't* have been built this way (I wouldn't want a unibody truck, fwiw), but the profit there was that they simply cost less to make them.

Even the modern smaller Ford SUVs which are unibody use cheaper components than the cars. My mother and father both drive bargain basement Escapes (2005 actual purchase, 2008 no-choice fleet car), and they use about the most outdated Ford transmission there is. Interior is all hard plastic, and reeks of Hyundai. They get away with a lot more cost-saving features in SUVs and Trucks because people don't expect the same creature comforts in them.

STILL no confirmation of this story from anybody other than The Sun, which happens to be a TABLOID.

[Joshua Szulecki]

Jay,

Like Flemdawg said, rumors are the way of the world in auto news circles. Automakers are VERY secretive, and a lot of these rumors are believed to be intentionally spread. Most of them end up being false, half-truths, or many years further away than originally stated.

[Nalgene Ninja]

Boeing ain't letting that contract go, and it's totally out of the AF's hands for the final selection.

[Magic City Matt]

Let's see, we have Mercedes Benz, Honda, Hyundai, Totota, the EAG air force tanker (if Boeing will let it go), the new Thysskrupp steel mill, and now VW.  Where are the American companies?

Actually this is a good thing. At some point Alabama will be the new Michigan and we will be the ones there when they finally decide to stand up to the petrol giants.

[Nalgene Ninja]

VW deal not totally a done deal, yet. Close but no announcement from Germany yet.

It's not my choice to be the wet blanket, but I always am.