Next Time Ford Will TH!NK Twice Before Investing in Electric Cars
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| Showing his sign language skills Ford's ex-CEO Jac Nasser tells the crowd to 'use their heads' and think ahead, when the TH!NK Electric City Car was introduced at the 1999 North American International Auto Show in Detroit. Is Nasser no longer with the world's second largest automaker due to his foresight? |
Ford is selling off assets in order to balance the budget, part of a restructuring and cost cutting initiative to help it recover from a $5.4 billion loss in 2001. It announced Thursday that its Norway-based electric vehicle company Pivco Industries, renamed TH!NK, will be sold to global Singapore-based electronics and engineering firm Kamkorp.
Whether or not Kamkorp can turn around the fledgling car company that now suffers from low sales is anyone's guess. Word has it Ford initially paid $23 million USD for the company in 1999 and subsequently invested over $100 million USD in marketing and product development.
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| Ford Motor's Bill Ford (center) as seen through the window of a TH!NK City hatchback. Will his decision to axe the electric car company be seen in future year's as shortsighted or envisionary? |
While some considered the move to purchase TH!NK a knee-jerk reaction to California's prospective zero emissions standards, to most it seemed like the blue oval organization was miles ahead of its peers. Since purchasing the electric car company Ford has invested more time and energy into hydrogen technologies, like so many other automakers.