In the Los Angeles Times story (linked in title) it says that President Obama's anouncement of an agreement on new Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards nearly didn't happen because Ford was hesitant to sign on. "A senior Ford executive said the company had run the numbers again and concluded it might not survive if it accepted the deal. "
No wonder Obama mentioned his Ford Escape Hybrid, he was probably trying to sooth Ford.
Of the domestic manufacturers I would think Ford would be best prepared for these new standards. With new smaller cars like the Fiesta, more Hybrids like the Escape and Fusion and the EcoBoost engine family. But these are tough standards to meet. I would guess the biggest roadblock to meeting these standards would be trucks. pickuptrucks.com has a great piece on that.
These are strange days to be certain. And let's not forget that Ford, being a truly global manufacturer has to juggle a lot of eggs. Look at my earlier piece on the UK Scrapage program.
So much to do, and no clear directions from governments implimenting new policy on the fly.
I can understand Ford wanting to tread carefully these days.
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