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| Bill Osborne, president and CEO, Ford Motor Company of Canada, Limited. |
The event drew top names from the top auto companies in North America to downtown Toronto to discuss their respective future "green" plans -- and the challenges they face in achieving them. The event was held at the Design Exchange centre, located at the corner of King and Bay streets in downtown Toronto.
Ford Canada's CEO Bill Osborne spoke first. Ford was the first automaker to combine two hot vehicle segments into one: SUVs and Hybrids -- with their Escape Hybrid model. Osborne said that it's a machine that's selling "as fast as we can build them", but it's not all the green Ford has up their sleeve.
"There isn't just one "silver bullet" technology to follow" Osborne added. "We're looking at many technologies. Clean diesels and hydrogen are important. We're close to making a decision on hydrogen, though the primary concern now is how to refuel and store the gas. We've also been producing a clean-diesel pickup with our new Super Duty, and we're going to expand on our hybrid fleet too, with the Edge and MKX hybrids, which will be built at Oakville."
Osborne also mentioned an upcoming small car for Canada, built on the Mazda 2 platform. Such small cars will be popular for their low fuel consumption, and low price compared to similar hybrids.
He touched on some of the common challenges and brought up a topic which would recur throughout the rest of the presentations -- government involvement.
"The government should have policies making these technologies more affordable. Small families and businesses shouldn't be penalized if they want a safe, green vehicle. And it's very hard to plan products with the inconsistent regulatory framework. The industry itself cannot bear the sole burden of these new technologies."
Steven Beatty, the Managing Director at Toyota Canada, agreed. He suggested that a nationwide fuel standard would be beneficial. "If we can get clean fuels, we'd improve every car on the road" he said.
"But it's a challenge to do." Beatty also suggested that the upcoming election is an opportunity to engage the government, and to take action. The recent green rebate program is one example of government involvement which has worked out well for Toyota. The rebate gives buyers incentives for choosing fuel efficient cars and hybrids.
Toyota is a world leader in hybrids, and Beatty explained some of the success factors which put them in that position. "Ten years back, we weren't waiting for a huge breakthrough, but rather we focused on the smaller areas where we could make improvements."
A decade ago, everyone had laughed at the carmaker responsible for the Prius. Now, they sell more Hybrids than anyone else. In fact, their rival Honda recently announced that they would stop selling the Accord Hybrid while Toyota's Camry Hybrid is flying out of dealer lots. "It's priced at about the average transaction cost of a car in its class, has higher performance, great emissions and fuel economy, and high-end features" Beatty said.
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