Henry Ford made this statement which is pretty apt as Ford prepares to re-enter the green car market with a two-year plan to launch a range of plug-in hybrid and electric powered vehicles.
The second largest car maker in the US, Ford has suffered as much as any other car maker in the world and there is all that federal government money washing around so maybe I am being cynical, but there are plenty of green strings attached to all that greenback!
Nevertheless, the bailout and other federal monies washing around the system (and I think there will be a lot more thrown in before this crisis is over) is obviously having an affect on the psyche of the major car manufacturers. Ford is one of the car makers which has not asked for bailout monies but financially it has suffered very badly and there are huge sums of federal money available which are not part of the bailout plans we keep hearing about on the news. The real issue is how much of this is paying lip service to assuage public opinion and get the bailout money past the lawmakers. While Ford have obviously had this initiative up their sleeves for quite some time, the timing is brilliant in the context of playing your cards at the right time and to greatest effect.
This brings us right back to Henry’s statement – Ford is not going to gain any ground in a real green car market with sweeping statements which fail to materialize and they are late coming into this sector while rivals such as cross-town GM and Toyota have been making plenty of mistakes and learning what works for green car buyers for several years.
Ford has already had one false dawn with the green car market and this may be second time lucky but could there not be a worse time to launch a foray into a new market (to Ford)?
Only time will tell.
