Yesterday’s Motor Industry news headlines included two contradictory headings…
3 December 2008 – Ford announces battery-powered plans
and
3 December 2008 – Electric car sales drop 58% this year
Elsewhere our papers feature other encouraging eco-motoring stories including Transport Minister Geoff Hoon waxing lyrical about the Tesla and London Mayor Boris Johnson imagining the first genuinely zero emission car (after another slow lap at the Top Gear circuit that is…).
Obviously both trade news headings are accurate; in the same way as new car sales have slumped, electric cars will have been hit too, despite their eco credentials, because they are comparatively much more expensive to buy.
The worry is whether Ford can weather its current trading problems and catch up here with a view to leading the mass market in an electric direction in future. One hopes it has been doing its green motoring homework before now…
Assuming it isn’t too late for Ford to catch up with more imaginative car manufacturers like Citroen, the only way it can do so is if the Government ie tax payers, contribute towards this bill. With 13,000 Ford jobs at stake in Dagenham, Bridgend and Southampton, plus the economic multiplier effect in these regions, could it be that Lord Mandelson is at work, preparing the PR ground for just such an announcement.
I suspect he will have something to say on the subject soon…W- @page { margin: 2cm } P { margin-bottom: 0.21cm } –>
FOXY Steph
