| Courtesy of Ford Motor Company |
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| SUV Hybrid: the environmentalist dream. |
AFP
07/15/2005
Ford Motor Co. on Monday launched a new hybrid version of the Mercury Mariner sport utility vehicle, saying that sales would be "almost exclusively online."
The car, American-made and built by union workers, will also appear in showrooms this fall. The second of five hybrid gasoline-electric vehicles from Ford , the Mariner was moved up on the scheduled because of anticipated strong demand. Ford sells a similar hybrid version of its Escape SUV.
With an inventory pegged at 2,000 vehicles in 2006, the Mercury Mariner hybrid will be available for delivery in October for online shoppers at a sticker price starting at 29,480 dollar.
"We really have a limited supply, which is a good reason to go with this consumer-driven demand and allocation of the vehicle," said Linda Perry-Lube, Lincoln-Mercury online business manager.
"There's definitely pent-up demand for hybrid vehicles."
Hybrids are expected to account for 3.5 percent market share in the United States by 2012, up from 0.5 percent in 2004, according to a recent report from JD Power-LMC Automotive Forecasting Services. The only thing preventing fuel sippers from making a bigger dent is the inability of automakers to churn out more supply.
The study also forecast that there will be 44 hybrid-electric models available by 2012, up from 10 in 2005.
An environmental advocacy organization, the Sierra Club, will be working with Ford to get the news about the Mariner Hybrid out to its members and other environmentally conscious Americans.
The Sierra Club will introduce it to 300,000 activists through the Sierra Club's Insider newsletter, and 3,000 Sierra Club leaders from across the United States and Canada will be given the first opportunity to test drive it and other hybrids at the Sierra Club's Sierra Summit, September 8 through 11, in San Francisco.
"If we can work with Ford to make their Mercury Hybrid a hit," said Dan Becker, director of the Sierra Club's Global Warming program, "Ford will be convinced that you can make money and make a vehicle that's clean."
The Sierra Club and Mercury will also work together to educate consumers about how to get the best mileage from their hybrids.
The new Mercury Mariner Hybrid SUV's electric motor allows its 133-horsepower gas engine to automatically shut down in stop-and-go traffic. As a result, it gets better mileage in the city (33 miles per gallon) than on the highway (29 mpg). Additionally, the Mariner includes regenerative braking -- applying the brakes generates electricity that recharges the motor.
Karl Brauer, editor in chief at Edmunds.com lauded the car as a rebadged version of the Escape, but said hybrids like this are more about publicity and goodwill than anything else.
"In terms of profit for the automakers and relieving US dependence on foreign oil, vehicles like this don't make a much of a difference," Brauer added. "It's just too hard to build them fast enough."
He said he wouldn't be surprised if Mercury sold out its entire inventory of Mariner within a day.
According to Sierra Club, making cars, trucks, and SUVs go farther on a gallon of gas is the biggest single step we can take to curb global warming, cut America's oil dependence, and save consumers money at the gas pump. |
