$3-4 Gas
Posted by Peter Himler on August 10th, 2006
As Bill Ford extols his company’s commitment to the environment in a pricey TV campaign, yesterday the company seems to have contradicted Mr. Ford’s CSR marketing message. It announced that it planned to build two gas-guzzling muscle cars: a 325-HP Shelby GT and a big luxury car, the Lincoln MKS.
Of course, this yin-yang approach to brand rebuilding wasn’t lost on The New York Times or others following yesterday’s announcement. To explain, Ford’s VP for North American sales said:
“We do have great car products; we do have great fuel performance.”
This prompted one analyst to quip:
“It is a mistake and it’s very disappointing,” said John Casesa, managing partner of Casesa Strategic Advisers in New York. “I just think it shows that Detroit still has a business model predicated on low energy prices.”
Can the nation’s #2 automaker successfully tout its green-ness, while building decidedly ungreen cars? Let’s watch and see.