Bill Ford eats his words: No 250,000 hybrids a year by 2010

Bill Ford, Ford Motor Co. Chairman and CEO announced in an e-mail to employees on Wednesday that the company is backing away from its promise to produce 250,000 hybrid vehicles a year by the end of the decade. The company plans to pursue a broader environmental strategy, focusing more on other alternative fuels. The announcement follows a letter sent to Congress by CEOs of General Motors Corp. and DaimlerChrysler AG's Chrysler Group promising to double the annual production of alternative-fuel vehicles to 2 million by 2010. Ford plans to focus more on fuels like ethanol, clean diesel and bio-diesel, and advanced powertrain technologies. The target of 250,000 hybrids by the end of the decade was met with significant concern among Ford engineers and others in the company last fall, and Ford's hybrid chief Mary Ann Wright resigned soon after Bill Ford's pledge.  Whlie no hybrid programs are being cancelled, and we can still expect to see a hybrid Mazda Tribute in 2007, a hybrid Ford Fusions and a hybrid Mercury Milan in 2008, many call this one more case of broken promises from Ford Motor Co.
[Source: Detroit News]