Climate change is no longer something we speculate about. It's very real. Ford, and the entire industry, must be active in addressing the concerns. In fact, we are obligated to participate – from a customer perspective, from a business perspective and from a societal perspective.
Those of us that operate globally are becoming increasingly sensitive to fuel economy and emissions. Our customers are demanding better fuel economy, and we need to treat this as one of the most important – if not the most important – unmet buyer needs.
At Ford, we are working to achieve this in the near term by providing a wide range of new technologies, including hybrid and ethanol-capable vehicles and systems, advanced engines and expanded six-speed transmissions. We're also working hard to develop longer-term solutions, such as plug-in hybrids, fuel cells and synthetic fuels.
As part of our technology development, we are asking our product development teams to change their mindset. Energy is a precious commodity, and we must treat it as such in every engineering tradeoff and every business decision that we make.
Yet in our quest for fuel enhancements, we can't trade other features that our customers want, such as performance and convenience. Customers are rational: whatever incremental cost they spend up front for better fuel economy must pay off over the life of the vehicle.
The challenge for our Company, and for the auto industry, is that we are not the total solution to the climate change problem.
We want to do our part in the effort to stabilize greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere. Market forces already indicate that we must continue to improve our fuel economy to stay competitive. We must all work together to ensure alignment among climate goals, market needs, and emerging policy and legislation.
Derrick Kuzak
Group Vice President, Global Product Development
Ford Motor Company
