Green Fords

In the auto industry, where being biggest or fastest has always mattered most, the startling new benchmark for bragging rights is being greenest. That's what Ford Motor Co. chief executive Jacques Nasser seemed to be suggesting last week when he announced that beginning this fall, the company's popular F series pickup trucks will pollute the air no more than its cars do today. Just a year ago, Ford said it was cleaning up its sport-utility vehicles' emissions. Now Nasser says the 2000 model trucks will meet Environmental Protection Agency regulations mandated for the year 2004--without costing consumers a nickel more.

The announcement drew cheers from environmentalists and regulators, who warn that America's infatuation with big trucks and sport-utility vehicles poses a dangerous ecological threat because the big rigs emit more pollutants. Ford's 1 million annual truck sales account for a third of the U.S. market. By voluntarily cleaning up its truck emissions, Ford is challenging the industry to do likewise. Says Daniel Becker, director of energy policy at the Sierra Club: "Ford deserves applause for coming out earlier than they were required to with cleaner trucks."

The good publicity is a boon to Ford, which just three months ago was savaged by the greens over the introduction of the giant Excursion utility truck. The Sierra Club dubbed it the Ford Valdez, after the ill-fated oil tanker. The company's new attitude toward the environment reflects a slow shift throughout the industry toward greener machines. Yet the challenge remains: how to balance consumers' craving for size and speed with the need for clean air. At least this time, Ford did both.