Under pressure of reducing market shares and blitzkrieg of Japanese auto majors in the U.S. Market, Ford is all set to upboost its green credentials. Ford has been competing with Japanese auto major Toyota for the 2nd place in the U.S. auto market, Toyota has topped Ford many times, including June this year.

Ford’s sales declined by 8.1% in June and also saw a decline in the shares. With the competing Japanese companies investing in hybrid cars and reaping profits, it is about time Ford took the hybrid car segment seriously. Hybrid cars have come in vogue due to the constantly rising oil prices and strong lobbying by environmentalists.

Ford recently announced a joint venture with California based power utility Southern California Edison to develop a new generation of rechargeable electric cars. The Chief Executives of both the companies are expected to make an announcement to the above effect soon.

SCE has been supportive to the cause of plug-in cars and will provide recharge facilities to these vehicles, saying that millions of these cars could be recharged at off peak periods. There is also a possibility that parked plug-ins transfer stored energy back to the electric grids, acting as a potential backup source but this possibility is still in experimental stages.

Ford was the first American automaker to launch a hybrid in the U.S. market (Escape in 2004) but backed off due to declining market shares and high production costs. With some officials at Ford admitting that the plug-in vehicles have engineering problems, the commitment of Ford to this project and the hybrid car segment on the whole may appear questionable.

Also, Ford has to be careful, that whatever they invest in isn’t a risky venture by any means. It plans a sale of its British brands Land Rover and Jaguar in a bid to increase profits and lower costs, a failure in a big investment at this time may put the company in dire financial straits.

[Image: Hydrogencarsnow]

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