Green Ford Focus Fills Up At First Bio-Ethanol Fuel Pumps

BRENTWOOD, Essex - March 16, 2006: When bio-ethanol first went on public sale this morning, the Ford Focus Flexible Fuel Vehicle was front of the queue to be refueled.

The Ford Focus Flexible Fuel Vehicle (FFV) is Britain's first bio-fuel car and can run on bio-ethanol or petrol in any mix in the same fuel tank. Bio-ethanol is a renewable fuel, on sale this month at 10 Morrisons supermarkets and priced cheaper than unleaded petrol from 84.9p a liter.

Five of the forecourts selling bio-ethanol are in Somerset, where Ford has sold the most Focus FFVs. The remainder are in East Anglia – three in Norfolk and two in Suffolk. Somerset and Norfolk are two of the counties where Ford is working with regional bio-fuel groups to establish FFV sales and bio-ethanol filling stations.

Andy Taylor, Ford's European sustainability director, said: "This is an important breakthrough for the Ford Focus FFV and the bio-fuel industry. Ford has been working with partners such as Morrisons for a year to make bio-ethanol publicly available. Together we have taken a vital next step towards encouraging more customers to consider buying Ford's bio-fuel cars."

The 1.8-liter Ford Focus FFV costs from £14,095 ($24,700 USD approx.), in between the petrol-only 1.6 and 2.0-liter Focus models. CO2 emissions from bio-ethanol are almost cancelled out by the CO2 absorbed by the crops such as wheat and sugar beet used to make the sustainable fuel.