Ford Returns to Environmental Groups for Help

Here we go again.

The last time Ford Motor Co. climbed into bed with the nation'sleading environmental groups, it awakened to nasty protests and aseemingly incurable case of bad press.

That was in 2000 when Ford Chairman William Clay Ford Jr., awashwith the possibilities of a clean start in the new millennium,announced that his company, the world's second-largest automobilemanufacturer, would commit itself to achieving a 25 percent increasein the fuel efficiency of its pickup trucks and sport-utilityvehicles by 2005. Ford also pledged that it would move moreaggressively to clean up the tailpipe emissions of its cars andtrucks.

To the outside world, that may have seemed a corporate ruse. Butto people who know Bill Ford, it seemed natural enough. He long hasbeen an odd fish among his industry peers, often swimming upstream inpursuit of environmental goals when rivals were moving in theopposite direction, or not moving at all.

So, not many people in Detroit were surprised when Ford said hewould work with the Sierra Club and other environmental groups tohelp raise miles per gallon and lower mobile-source pollutants. Butin some General Motors Corp. and Chrysler Group offices in and aroundDetroit -- as well as in some of the corporate suites of Ford'sEuropean and Asian rivals -- there was derision and laughter.

Bill Ford had broken one of Detroit's biggest unwritten rules, hisdetractors said. By starting a public relationship with Sierra Cluband ideologically holding hands with other environmental groups, suchas the Bluewater Network, he was cavorting with the enemy, an actbound to have embarrassing consequences for him and his company,critics predicted.

Two years later, they were proved right. A market downturnwalloped Ford's earnings. Running short of cash, Ford had to backaway from its ambitious plans for radically improving the fueleconomy of its trucks. But demand for traditional Ford Explorer sport-utility vehicles remained high and profitable, as did demand forFord's pickup trucks. The company sold the trucks and took the money.

The result was that Ford -- the man and the company that haddone more to publicize environmental concerns than any otherautomobile manufacturer in Detroit -- was mercilessly attacked for"reneging" on promises to clean up its act.

The Sierra Club in June 2002 launched an advertising campaignpersonally targeting Bill Ford, effectively accusing him ofduplicity. The Bluewater Network released print advertisementsdepicting the Ford chief executive with an elongated nose,accompanied by the caption: "Bill Ford Jr. or Pinocchio? Don't buyhis environmental rhetoric. Don't buy his cars."

Indeed, Bluewater was running "Don't buy Ford" advertisements onits Web site as late as last week.

You'd think, after that unhappy experience, Bill Ford and hiscompany would have learned their collective lesson. To wit: Stay outof alliances with groups that could cause more corporate harm thangood. But Ford is apparently willing to take another chance with theenvironmental activists, this time with the introduction of a newproduct, the 2006 Mercury Mariner Hybrid.

The Mariner essentially is the high-end version of the Ford EscapeHybrid, which went on sale in 2004 as a 2005 model without much helpfrom environmental groups. The Escape, with prices starting at$26,830, has done well in the marketplace, being sold throughtraditional new-car dealerships in the traditional way. But Ford'sMercury marketers think that the Mariner Hybrid, which starts at$29,840, needs the special help of the Sierra Club and a sales schemethat would skew most of its sales toward the Internet.

The Mariner Hybrid, according to Mercury's marketing plan, "willhave a presence on the Web sites of key environmental organizations,including the Sierra Club and National Geographic [Society]." TheSierra Club also "will be working with Mercury to get the news aboutthe Mariner Hybrid out to its members and other environmentallyconscious Americans," the Mercury Mariner marketing plan says.

The logic of that approach escapes me. Were not "environmentallyconscious Americans" buying the Escape? Why didn't they need theSierra Club to reach out and touch them? Why didn't they require"personal sales consultants" -- Ford's term -- to help them buyEscape Hybrids over the Internet?

Dan Becker, director of the Sierra Club's Global Warming Program,who routinely has lambasted Ford in the past, said he is happy to beof assistance to the company in its Mariner endeavor.

"We hope that helping make the Mercury Mariner Hybrid a successwill encourage Ford to invest in better technology to increase thefuel economy of its entire fleet," Becker said.

That ought to be interesting. But I'm curious about how it willall work. Maybe the Sierra Club will run one advertisement urgingconsumers to buy the Mariner Hybrid; but it also will run anannouncement telling them not to buy the Lincoln Navigator, Ford F250heavy-duty pickup truck or that hot-selling Ford Mustang GT.

But the problem is, without sales of those sinners, Ford won'thave much money to develop and produce its saintly hybrids. But maybeit can ask the Sierra Club to help it fix that problem, too.