Vehicle
Our product portfolio is the most important element of our strategy for contributing to a goal of climate stabilization.
Using this goal for guidance, we are exploring scenarios for the contribution needed by improvements to vehicle technologies. We have also worked closely with strategic partners to explore scenarios for the potential contributions of varying combinations of vehicle technologies and lower-carbon fuels. This analysis is being factored into our vehicle "cycle plan," which sets out the products and technologies we will make over the next five years as well as our longer-range product strategy and technology planning.
In the current to mid-term timeframe, we are improving the fuel economy and reducing the GHG emissions of the vehicles we offer by using a broad array of technologies, as discussed in the Sustainable Mobility Technologies section.
Over the past several years, our vehicle GHG emissions have improved significantly in Europe and modestly in the United States (see Data Overview). As seen in Fuel economy of U.S. Ford vehicles by EPA segment graphic, our U.S. vehicles are competitive in fuel economy, ranking better than average in six of 11 categories, worse in four and the same in one.
At the portfolio level, the mix of vehicles we sell will continue to be dictated by the consumer's wants, but our move toward global product design and common platforms and technologies will help us offer greater fuel economy across a wide range of product designs.
A common global approach also allows us to leverage the intellectual and innovative capacity we have developed throughout the Company. For example, in 2006, Volvo announced the establishment of a new hybrid development center in Gothenburg, Sweden, complementing the expertise developed through the launch of Ford's North American hybrid vehicles. Also in 2006, we announced plans to invest £1 billion (approximately $2 billion) in developing environmental technologies in the UK. Over the next six years, Ford, Jaguar, Land Rover and Volvo will introduce more than 100 models and derivatives with improved fuel consumption and exhaust gases.
Our product plans for the longer term are shaped by a need for flexibility. We know that almost any scenario will call for reducing vehicle GHG emissions, but the future development of technologies, markets and political expectations are all uncertain.
Because of this, we are investing in a broad range of promising advanced powertrain technologies, including advanced gasoline engines; hybrids; diesel hybrids and other clean diesel technologies; biofueled vehicles; hydrogen internal-combustion engines; hydrogen fuel cell powertrains; and various combinations of these technologies, plus weight reductions. We are making steady progress in developing these technologies. For example, we have 30 fuel cell vehicles and 30 hydrogen internal-combustion engine vehicles on the road undergoing testing. Please see the Sustainable Mobility Technologies section for more detail.
