Bill Ford Jr: Let Our Technology Build a Greener World

The Detroit Free Press

Technological breakthroughs hold the promise to create a cleaner, greener future for Michigan and the world, automaker and civic leader Bill Ford told the first annual Free Press Michigan Green Leaders awards ceremony this morning.

“More than a hundred years ago, our city became the global center of excellence for an emerging industry that went on to change the world. The time has come for us to do that again,” the Ford Motor executive chairman told 300 people gathered for the sold-out awards breakfast at the Detroit Yacht Club on Belle Isle.

Listing solar panels, green roofs, wind energy and other technologies, Ford, who himself was one of the 16 winners of the inaugural Free Press-sponsored Michigan Green Leaders awards, said, “As these technologies mature, and they will, I think they offer incredible promise to clean up our planet.”

The Michigan Green Leaders awards, given for the first time today, honored a range of people and individuals for their contributions to a more sustainable future for the state. The winners ranged from the Herman Miller furniture company and Lawrence Technological University to small local efforts like the Mind Body & Spirits restaurant in Rochester.

Reflecting the diversity of the award winners, Ford told the audience, “No one industry or organization can solve these challenges. It’s going to take all of us working individually and collectively to keep our state growing, green and great. But these awards are proof that it’s happening…. Keep it going.”

Free Press Editor and Publisher Paul Anger made clear that this first Michigan Green Leaders awards ceremony will be followed by many more.

“This will be an annual event far into the future,” Anger told the audience.

Bill Ford Says He Feels Akio Toyoda’s Pain Over Toyota Recalls

Bloomberg

Ford Motor Co. Executive Chairman Bill Ford, great-grandson of the company’s founder, said he is certain that fellow scion Akio Toyoda is taking Toyota Motor Corp.’s recall crisis personally.

“Any time anything happens to Ford, it’s personal, good and bad, and I’m sure he feels the same way,” Bill Ford said yesterday. “Other people can resign and go home and do other things. But when your name is on the building and you have the history and the passion, you’re in for the long haul.”

Bill Ford said he hasn’t offered advice to Toyoda, who is the grandson of Toyota’s founder and became president last year. Bill Ford, 52, said he and Toyoda, 53, have come to know each other during the Toyota executive’s visits to the U.S. The two share the same birthday, May 3.

“The last thing he needs is me calling him right now,” Bill Ford said after a speech to the Livonia Chamber of Commerce in suburban Detroit. “I admire him and I think he’s a good executive. I’d like just to catch up when things settle down a little bit.”

Toyoda is scheduled to hold a press conference in Tokyo today to speak on quality and the progress of the recall of the Prius hybrid, the company said Feb. 15. He has met twice with reporters in Japan to apologize for the recall of 8.5 million vehicles worldwide.

‘Deeply Disappointed’

“I take personal responsibility,” Toyoda wrote in a Washington Post column on Feb. 9. He wrote that he was “deeply disappointed” by defects suspected to lead to unintended acceleration.

Mike Michels, a U.S. spokesman for Toyota City, Japan-based Toyota, said Toyoda was unavailable for comment.

When Akio Toyoda’s grandfather, Kiichiro, branched out into autos in 1937 from the family’s Toyoda Automatic Loom Works, he coined the word “Toyota.” He changed “da,” the character for “field” in Japanese, to “ta” in part to play down the perceived rural sound of the family name.

Ford Motor struggled to win back buyers’ trust when Firestone tires on Explorer sport-utility vehicles shredded a decade ago, leading to rollovers and deaths. Bill Ford cast himself in TV commercials in 2002 to help the Dearborn, Michigan-based automaker recover.

“When we had our Firestone event, I thought it was important then to communicate forcefully and frequently,” Bill Ford said. The TV spots included historical footage of company founder Henry Ford.

Ford Motor rose 20 cents, or 1.8 percent, to $11.32 yesterday in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The shares have advanced 13 percent this year, compared with a 13 percent decline for Toyota in Tokyo.

‘No Joy’

Bill Ford said that while Ford Motor takes “no joy” in Toyota’s troubles, the U.S. automaker is beginning to win new customers. Ford Motor’s U.S. sales rose 25 percent last month.

Ford Motor, which had net income of $2.7 billion last year, has said it will earn money this year on a pretax basis and be “solidly profitable” in 2011. The company posted losses of $30 billion from 2006 through 2008 as sales collapsed for the SUVs on which it depended upon for profits.

“Over the last 10 years, we’ve had a lot of really, really difficult moments as a company and I have had personally,” Bill Ford said. “You feel it personally. It’s not a job. It’s your whole life.”