Hybrid Heavy

Ford Motor Co. will step up its planned rollout of hybrid-electric vehicles, launch a new flexible-fuel vehicle campaign and focus on making its cars and trucks safer as part of a rejuvenation effort spearheaded by Chairman and CEO Bill Ford.

Speaking to employees at the Ford Scientific Research Laboratory in Dearborn, MI, officially re-christened as the Ford Research and Innovation Center to reflect the company's new focus, Bill Ford calls on workers to “push those (new) ideas up (and) make (top management) pay attention.”

Mercury is adding a Mariner CUV hybrid this year, and Ford earlier detailed plans for hybrid Ford Fusion/Mercury Milan cars and a Mazda Tribute CUV by 2008.

“By 2010, more than half of Ford, Mercury and Lincoln products will have hybrid capabilities,” the CEO says. “We'll have capacity for at least 250,000 hybrids per year and the ability to scale up.”

The auto maker also will begin a campaign to step up availability of flexible-fuel vehicles that run on a combination of gasoline and/or ethanol.

Ford says it has placed more than 1 million ethanol-capable vehicles on roads worldwide during the last 25 years, but the auto maker will step up that effort next year and seek to improve consumer awareness and availability of the fuel.

The new plan calls for production of 280,000 ethanol-powered Ford F-150 pickups, and Ford Crown Victoria, Mercury Grand Marquis and Lincoln Town Car passenger cars in 2006.