WSJ REPORTS: Ford Shelves Plan for New Explorer Fuel Efficiency Technology

The WSJ has reported that Ford Motor Co., which has vowed to boost
the fuel economy of its sport-utility vehicles by 25 percent by 2005, has killed an effort to use an innovative starter-generator system to make a more fuel-efficient version of its best-selling Explorer SUV, according to Ford engineers and suppliers familiar with the program. 

They went on to report that the move is aimed in part at conserving cash, they said, as America's No. 2 automaker confronts its worst cash-flow crisis since the early 1990s. 

WSJ also reported that Ford earlier this year announced plans to use so-called mild-hybrid technology to allow the Explorer to go 27 miles on a gallon of gasoline, compared with less than 20 miles per gallon for some conventional Explorers. 

They continued the story, Ford has concluded the benefits of the integrated starter-generator technology are greater on smaller vehicles than the Explorer, people familiar with the program said.

The WSJ contacted Jon Harmon, a Ford spokesman, who declined to comment whether Ford has canceled the mild-hybrid Explorer project. He was quoted however, that "a lot of things in [Ford's product] plans are under review" as part of the company's overall study of its North American strategy. Harmon said the Dearborn company “is fully committed to meet the 25 percent SUV fuel economy pledge”.