Earlier today I had posted about Ford's wonderful decision to not import a sporty little vehicle that gets 65MPG and has a lot of nice options available.
Well, this sort of piss-poor management is not a new thing at Ford Motor Company.
Check out the TH!NK:
Developed in Norway and brought by Ford to the USA in 2000, they sold for a couple years and then... From Greenpeace (2004):
Th!nk Again: Ford Does a U-Turn
Following a meeting yesterday with the Norwegian Transport Minister, Ford Europe has confirmed it will not scrap its US fleet of zero emission electric cars, but instead send them to eager customers in Norway.
Ford was planning to scrap their US fleet of electric Th!nk vehicles, but following pressure from us and other environmental groups, the car manufacturer has changed its mind. Last month, our activists occupied the roof of Ford Norway's offices, prompting Norwegian Transport and Communications Minister Torild Skogsholm to ask Ford to Th!nk again.
Now, 300 of the cars will now be shipped to Norway, and sold through Ford dealerships to eager customers. Ford has even thanked Greenpeace for having brought this issue to their attention!
Ford had attempted to justify scrapping the cars by citing a lack of US government regulation, and have since claimed that some 180 of the cars have already been scrapped. This was despite the Th!nk car's popularity with American consumers - there's been waiting lists to buy the cars since the hugely popular leasing period started in 2001. Zero-emission cars reduce urban smog, and when charged by electricity from renewable sources, they help fight the biggest threat to our planet: climate change. With rising oil prices causing increased gasoline costs, they are also a sound economic choice. Popular, clean and efficient, shouldn't this be part of the future of transport?
Segue back to 2008 again. The major domestic automobile makers are crying in their soup about needing government (read: our damn money!) bailouts in order to survive. Add to this the fact that the United Autoworkers union is still strong and still doing its job -- the domestic automobile and parts industry lost close to 500,000 jobs since 2000. These business need to fail so that their corporate culture will truly absorb the lesson that they are so far refusing to learn...
