Ford truck marketing manager Doug Scott had a little chin wag with Automotive News [sub]. No surprise there, given that the Blue Oval Boyz have just unveiled the new F-150 (recently reviewed on TTAC by our own JB). Nor are Scott’s opening comments about Ford’s full-size pickup startling in any way, shape or manner. Improved access to the bedside (via steps), rear-hinged doors gone because nobody gave a flip about the old version’s flip-out doors, yada yada yada. And then Dougie launches a salvo at The General’s plans to introduce a gas – electric full-size pickup, after the dismal failure of its hybrid full-size SUVs. “It is a publicity stunt,” Doug says, firing the first barrel. “It is no different than what you are seeing with their large SUVs,” he clarifies, loosing the second chamber. Reload. “They are not selling any Tahoe and Yukon hybrids.” Bang. “It’s about something to advertise.” Bang. And now, the knife… “In our case, we chose to have a democratization of technology like EcoBoost. Get more fuel efficiencies out there in mass and volume to as many people as you can, rather than focus all this energy on a very limited application that isn’t going to be really appealing to many people.” So much for that, then.
Find Reviews by Make:
Read all comments
The SUV hybrids are, really, a joke. However, there might be sometihng to a work/fleet pickup truck with hybrid drivetrain that could be justified with savings.
I doubt that the price point GM hits with their hybrid pickups will make any such calculation work out for anything anywhere near work truck prices but I’d like to be wrong.
ZING!!
I bet GM is feeling a bit dumb right now. :D
This kind of blunt honesty will garner Ford credit with pundits and serious car fans.
As for the rest of the population, nobody will know what Doug Scott said, nor will they care about the GM hybrid trucks and SUVs.
Agreed that this is basically an exercise in greenwashing.
GM would be better off killing the luxo-SUVs and pickup trucks and putting more effort into trying to build high-quality small and mid-sized vehicles.
Sour grapes Ford?
AFAIK GM will also be building a diesel engine for light duty trucks (4.5L) and I have yet to see a turbo engined vehicle get good gas mileage if boost has to kick in for any significant amount of time.
Does this mean they’ll be killing the Escape hybrid? I’m sure they don’t want to seem hypocritical—just sayin’.
Get more fuel efficiencies out there in mass and volume to as many people as you can, rather than focus all this energy on a very limited application that isn’t going to be really appealing to many people. Absent from the quote, but I’m sure he meant to add, “Please pay no attention to our Flex. Nope, there are no parallels to what I just said.”
I have yet to understand America’s aversion to Diesel fuel. I get better milage per $ out of my SUV (diesel) than out of my BMW 5 series (gas). Though race car performance is lacking, my wife’s Peugeot (diesel) is far more reasonable to drive than my Corvette (lots of gas!). Every manufacturer has a diesel version in Europe including Ford and GM. You can even get Jeeps in diesel! That’s about the only sensable thing Jeep has done since the Wrangler went back to roud headlights!
Forget the E85 and Hybrid farces and improve diesel performance like Audi and Peugeot! (…and I really can’t believe I said something nice about EITHER of thos brands!)
Kurt.
So, is Doug Scott Batman or Robin? Ka-pow! Ooof!
It isn’t often when I get to say: Hey, that marketing guy is absolutely right!
Kirt,
Reference the article written elsewhere describing the massive tanking of diesel sales in Europe. I, too, love the diesel, but it appears that gas-fed vehicles sales are on the rise in Europe due to the gains made in turbo-charging, etc…and for now (at least here in the States), the huge difference in price between diesel and regular petrol will continue to make diesels a tough sell.
Threeer,
I read the article you mentioned last week and I underdstand that sales figures in Europe are changing due to the price of gas vs diesel. However, now that diesel prices have dropped (in Europe) I expect sales of diesel vehicles to increase again. Living on both sides of the pond, I see many more diesel vehicles on the roads of Europe than their gas versions. In America, I used to point and laugh at the diesel cars, now I’m like the school bully wondering why no one likes me and if I can still get in on the act and be cool again. I have been slow to jump on the bandwagon but when I pay $4.80 for diesel and $4.92 for gas and the diesels go a third farther on the same fill, even my math challenged brain starts wondering “Hey, what gives!”
Kurt.
GM sells Hybrid SUV’s? Hmm, who knew?
While I like Ford’s approach, and really like their marketing guy’s honest attack on GM, having worked with Ford’s engine engineers in the past I doubt their ability to live up to the hype of the Ecoboost. If I were Ford, I’d be careful of touting it too much lest everyone pile on when it doesn’t live up to their expectations.
The Ecoboost system probably won’t be as fuel efficient as the hybrid powertrains, but at least it probably won’t command a $10,000 price increase.
The price on Chevy and Dodge’s hybrids will have to be $5000 or less over a similarly equipped vehicle for them to have any kind of marketing cachet. At $10,000 over their average V-8 truck, six miles per gallon fuel economy, it would take at least ten years to get back the extra price.
“Does this mean they’ll be killing the Escape hybrid? I’m sure they don’t want to seem hypocritical—just sayin’.”
factotum: No. Dude, don’t you get it? The GM hybrid SUVs are not selling at all, they don’t offer any real fuel savings, they have big, stupid decals on them, and they are extremely overpriced. Thus why they aren’t selling any.
The Escape hybrid looks just like a regular Escape, is just slightly more expensive than a Prius, and it actually offers real fuel savings. It gets MPG in the early to mid thirties in the city. That is around 12 or so MPG better than the regular Escape. So, in other words, the Escape Hybrid actually has a case. Thus why Ford is able to sell them. Sales aren’t extremely high though, because as far as I know, Ford produces them in smaller numbers than the normal Escape.
You just contradicted yourself, “dude”. Sales aren’t extremely high though, because as far as I know, Ford produces them in smaller numbers than the normal Escape. How is this different from GM’s hybrids? As far as I’m concerned, neither Ford nor GM sell hybrids in “extremely high” numbers relative to Toyota.
If Ford isn’t committed to selling “extremely high” numbers of Escape hybrids, it, too, is a publicity stunt. That was my point.
it actually offers real fuel savings. As do the 2-mode Tahoe/Yukon. And last I checked, the $10,000 premium is no more. Carsdirect is listing them at at least 6K under MSRP where when they were intro’d they were selling at MSRP.
The Escape hybrid is the second best selling non-Toyota hybrid vehicle in North America, hardly a stunt. It outsold all of GM’s hyrbids combined by 2000% in April 2008 (the last figures I have handy) and weighs almost half of a what a Yukonho does.
On the flip side, the 2-mode Tahoe/Yukon hybrid gets a whopping 2 extra MPG in real world mixed driving (see Consumer Reports article on same) and are not selling even in the thousands, premium or no. A greenwashing joke, as was correctly called by most.