Ford: "Sport Utility Vehicles Suck!"

US - Last October Ford Motor Co. executive William Clay Ford, Jr. called global warming a genuine threat to the environment and said automakers who oppose international treaties to reduce greenhouse gasses risk being "marginalized in the court of public opinion." Ford's comments distanced him from other Detroit executives who insist there is no conclusive evidence linking greenhouse gases to climate change.

Ford lambasted the growing popularity of large, gas-swilling sport-utility vehicles including the Ford Expedition. Ford's public statements are closely watched because his family controls 40 percent of the company's voting stock. The 40-year-old great grandson of Henry Ford has indicated that he would like to succeed current Ford chairman Alex Trotman, who retires in 1999. [Note: This Bloomberg News Service item ran in brief form in the Washington Post and in the Cleveland Plain Dealer. It was not picked up by the mainstream media.]