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The Ford of the future

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We here at Up To Speed don’t carry grudges (well, OK, maybe we’re still a leeetle bit cheesed about that 1978 AMC Concord), so please, don’t accuse us of picking on Ford.

But we couldn’t help noticing a curious juxtaposition of news releases that landed in the UTS inbox almost simultaneously this morning.

One was from Chrysler — yes, that Chrysler — announcing what appear to be legitimate plans to be the first major automaker to deliver an electric vehicle to dealer showrooms. The second was from Ford, touting a conga line of Model Ts through the streets of Detroit this Saturday, “celebrating the centennial anniversary of the ‘car that put the world on wheels.’ ”

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Coming on the heels of the Chrysler news, as well as the unveiling last week of GM’s hotly anticipated Volt plug-in electric car, the bulletin from Ford seemed a bit, well, dated.

Not that we have anything against history. The Model T was a revolutionary car, and Ford is right to mark its centennial. But these days, it’s all about the mpg — or, more precisely, mpg claims — and on that front at least, Ford seems to be losing the PR battle.

J.D. Power released a study today that looks at what bloggers are saying about the various automakers and their “green” strategies. To put it bluntly, Ford gets talked about a lot in the blog-o-verse (a good thing) but receives a lower percentage of positive commentary than most of its rivals (a bad thing).

The irony is that Ford actually has some positive developments to tout in the fuel economy sweepstakes. Early next year, hybrid versions of the Fusion and its Mercury-badged twin, the Milan, will appear in showrooms. Ford says the midsized sedans, which will make their in-the-metal debut at the L.A. Auto Show in November, will get better mileage than the Toyota Camry hybrid. If achieved, that will certainly look good in the magazine ads.

Ford is also introducing its turbocharged V-6 EcoBoost engines next year, which the company says improve fuel economy by 20% and lower CO2 emissions by 15%.

“GM has gotten a ton of publicity about the Volt,” Ford spokesman Mark Schirmer conceded. “But that’s years away and a low-volume car. We’re pursing solutions today that consumers can really reach into.”

Even though the Volt isn’t due out until late 2010 at the earliest, GM has been promoting the car like it was trying to get the last of the ‘08s off the lots to make room for next year’s models.

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If nothing else, that strategy is paying off among bloggers. Indeed, J.D. Power recorded a higher instance of positive commentary for GM than for Toyota, despite the Japanese automaker’s “I Got My MPG” ad campaign boast.

According to the J.D. Power study, “All of the effort that GM has made to market its hybrid vehicles and future powertrains — such as the electric technology that will be featured in the Volt — appears to be resonating with consumers.”

Ford, in short, literally lacks a buzz machine: a car that runs on natural gas or electricity or stale Oreos or whatever and generates the sort of “Welcome to the future!” headlines that every automaker craves today.

By the way, the Model T, Ford says, got between 13 and 21 mpg.

-- Martin Zimmerman

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