Ford CEO Alan Mulally smooches an electric Focus.

Henry Ford once said about his Model T, “Any customer can have a car painted any colour that he wants so long as it is black.”  While he may have had interesting ideas about car designs, he knew exactly how to plot the course of his company and, via Ford, the automotive industry.  This is the same man who said to the Chicago Tribune, “I don’t know much about history, and I wouldn’t give a nickel for all the history in the world.  It means nothing to me.  History is more or less bunk.  It’s tradition.  We don’t want tradition.  We want to live in the present and the only history that is worth a tinker’s damn is the history we make today.”

Current Ford CEO Alan Mulally has embraced that idea, and he’s turned Ford in a new direction for the automotive industry.  Ford is the first company to offer an all-electric option for one of its standard production cars.  Much like you can choose between a four-cylinder, a V6, or a V8, the Ford Focus now offers customers the choice between a gas engine and an electric version that consumes no gasoline (as well as a hybrid electric/gas model).  This is a marked difference between Ford and Chevy’s Volt or Nissan’s Leaf; this is a Focus, not a specialty vehicle.

“We can’t guess what the demand is going to be, but it’s on the same line [with the gas-engine Focus] and 70% to 80% of the parts are the same, so you can imagine the efficiencies,” said Ford CEO Alan Mulally.  “You can see why the economics are what they are.”

The demand for electric-powered cars has been fairly minimal, but since Ford’s all-electric hybrid Focus shares 70 to 80 percent of the parts of a normal Focus, this will allow Ford to be flexible and meet demands, no matter what they might be.  If everyone wants an electric Focus, which will retail for $39,995, Ford can build them.  If people only want a few, Ford can continue to build similarly-equipped gas Focuses that retail for $25,000; the price of the electric engine and component parts is roughly $12 to $15,000 and will break even versus the cost of a standard car in 7 to 10 years assuming $4 a gallon for gas.

Tags: Ford, Ford Motor Company, Alan Mulally, Ford CEO Alan Mulally, Ford Focus, Ford launches electric version of the Focus, electric Ford Focus, hybrid cars, electric cars, Ford offers gas or electric power for the Focus, Ford Focus electric, Ford provides electric version of standard cars, automobiles, cars, automotive industry

I’ve never had a problem eating food from a gas station.  Just two weeks ago, I ate a couple of hot dogs purchased from a gas station.  They were delicious.  That’s not the first time I’ve eaten gas station food, and I doubt it will be the last.  There’s nothing like a fun food novelty. […]

Commissioner Roger Goodell gathered 32 NFL owners for one big question.  One of the league’s most wanderlust-stricken franchises is looking to move again.  The Oakland-Los Angeles-Oakland Raiders, tired of gutting it out in a run-down stadium, were once again looking for greener pastures.  Only the Miami Dolphins refused to cooperate.  With a vote of 31-1, […]

In 2006, an injury to Dallas Cowboys starting quarterback Drew Bledsoe opened the door for an undrafted free agent by the name of Tony Romo to take the helm of America’s Team and lead the Dallas Cowboys to an early playoff exit.  Bledsoe went from starter to afterthought in a season.  Now, the circle continues […]

For 89 years, Oscars has never had a major mistake.  The last few Oscars might have had a few flubs, but at least they never got the most important category of the night wrong.  Well, that’s now changed, all thanks to OG Bonnie and Clyde legends Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway.  When Faye Dunaway called […]

Tom Brady has been wildly successful, if controversial.  He’s the first quarterback ever to win five Super Bowls and only the second player to do so after Charles Haley.  Unlike Haley, Brady won all his Super Bowls with the same team, the New England Patriots.  The only thing that seems to be able to stop […]

Ben Affleck, no matter what you might think of him, is a talented actor and director.  He’s got the goods, but he’s smart enough to know when he’s in over his head.  All along, since he took on the mantle of Batman, he’s had his eyes on writing, directing, and starring as the Caped Crusader. […]

In May, students for the for-profit American College of Education were running into some problems.  Their access to email accounts and course information was locked down by Google, who had disabled their accounts.  The reason why?  A fired IT worker for the American College of Education locked the school out of their Google cloud account. […]