EV Digest 2848
Topics covered in this issue include:
1) EVLN(My first step into the electric car wars)-long
by Bruce EVangel Parmenter <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
2) EVLN(Grieve built an electric car as a senior project)
by Bruce EVangel Parmenter <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
3) EVLN(GM employees surprised how smooth EV1 drives)
by Bruce EVangel Parmenter <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
4) EVLN(Serramonte wanted an nEV at one of its properties)
by Bruce EVangel Parmenter <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
5) EVLN(Edsel's Children sold off non-car-building electric car business)-long
by Bruce EVangel Parmenter <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
6) EVLN(Batteries: $200, Case: $150, Thief: Heartless)
by Bruce EVangel Parmenter <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
--- Begin Message ---
EVLN(My first step into the electric car wars)-long
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--- {EVangel}
http://www.latimes.com/features/printedition/magazine/la-tm-ev123jun08,1,5653617.story?coll=la-headlines-magazine-manual
June 8, 2003 Peter Buys an Electric Car
* When a Local Actor Falls in Love With the EV1, Little Does
He Know He's About to Enter GM's Twilight Zone
Times Headlines D�j� Vu Peter Buys an Electric Car
By Peter Horton, Peter Horton is a Santa Monica-based actor,
director and writer.
I consider myself a reasonable man. As such I tend to expect
others to behave with a modicum of reason and common sense.
Especially those with power.
It was with this perspective in the spring of 2001 that I
watched in shock as 30 years of environmental protection
were being methodically dismantled. From the Clean Air Act
to the Clean Water Act to global warming initiatives�you
name it, it was being killed. As my shock plummeted into a
sense of powerlessness, my gaze drifted past the porch rail
and landed with a thud on our family car. A big, fat,
gas-guzzling SUV. Just sitting there taunting me.
Like a slap I realized I was one of them. The UNreasonable
ones. So I made a decision. A radical decision. I decided to
go electric. I had seen those sleek, sort of George Jetson
EV1s shoot by me with surprising speed on the freeways. I
thought, fine, I'll get an EV1. But as I lifted the phone to
make the call, I had no way of knowing that this simple,
reasonable act was my first step into the electric car
wars.
In 1990, California found itself in danger of losing federal
highway funds if it couldn't find a way to meet air quality
targets set by the Clean Air Act. As the California Air
Resources Board searched the hazy landscape for relief, its
eyes landed on a prototype electric car coming out of GM
called the Impact, to which Johnny Carson cracked, "What's
next, the Ford Whiplash?" So the air resources board
proposed a mandate that by 1998, 2% of cars sold in
California would be zero-emission vehicles. By 2001 that
would increase to 5%. And by 2003 a whopping 10% of all new
automobiles sold in California would be emission free.
GM's first response was to dive in. The company committed
millions of dollars and teams of designers and engineers,
who emerged six years later with a sleek rocket ship of an
electric car renamed the EV1. It then set out in search of a
sales team, one that was not only good at selling cars, but
that had the patience and passion to educate an interested
but suspicious public. It ended up with a group of men and
women in their 20s who were almost all single, determined
and enthusiastic about the electric car. GM titled them,
rather dryly, "EV specialists." By the time I met them five
years later, they could be more aptly called "the
Subversives." They were battered and bitter, but fighting
with almost religious fervor against GM, the company that
had recruited them, for the survival of the EV1.
The result of my call to Saturn, through which EV1s were
being sold, was a dismissive letter basically saying there's
no way in hell you can get one of these cars. I was welcome
to join their waiting list, along with undisclosed others,
for an indefinite period of time, but my chances of getting
a car were slim since they also informed me that they
weren't planning to make any more.
That didn't seem logical. If the cars were so great that
there was a waiting list, wasn't that a good thing? Didn't
the waiting list suggest a market, especially if it were a
long list? (I would find out later it was a few thousand.)
Clearly I needed to learn more, so I decided to pull
whatever strings I had.
The first string led to actor/director Hart Bochner, an
enthusiastic EV1 owner, who immediately hopped into his car
and came whirring up to my house for a test-drive. The first
thing you notice with one of these cars is what's missing.
There's virtually no sound. Just the slight hum and quiet
clicks of the brakes. Second, there's no exhaust. No fumes
come wafting by like a wake chasing a motorboat. Then, when
you get behind the wheel, there's no lag between pedal and
power, and boy, does this car have power. With no gears to
complicate acceleration, you get that launched sort of
feeling, a childish giddiness the Subversives called "the EV
smile."
After a brief but invigorating spin around the neighborhood,
we hummed to a stop in front of my house. Hart bounced out
of the car like an Amway salesman, pamphlets in hand,
already well into his pitch about how hard these cars are to
get and how frustrated he was that GM and the oil lobby were
trying to kill the EV1.
"But wait a minute," I said. "I guess I can understand why
the oil lobby would try and kill it, but why GM?"
"I don't know," he said, "but they are."
When GM first launched the EV1, it was to mixed reviews. The
cars were expensive, the infrastructure was minimal, there
were constant breakdowns and, worst of all, the advertised
range of 70 to 90 miles per charge was in reality about 50.
As one of the Subversives put it, "They had this battery
pack that was worthless. And they knew it from the get-go. I
mean, why were we releasing this car, with these batteries,
when we knew it didn't meet our specifications?"
Needless to say, the reaction from consumers was chilly. By
March 1997, the cars were stagnating on showroom floors and
GM was making more vehicles than it was leasing. So after
the initial batch of 648 Generation I cars, GM shut down the
assembly line.
The Subversives, who all had high expectations for the EV1
and its potential to change the automotive landscape, also
had a deep distrust of GM. So when GM shut down the plant,
the Subversives, who didn't feel that the company had given
the car a chance to succeed, dug in their heels and the war
began.
The Subversives designed, printed and distributed their own
brochures, took over all event marketing from the company GM
had hired, and decided to go after their celebrity
customers, who they knew would talk about the car publicly.
Subversive No. 1: "We knew we had to show GM the product
they were asking us to sell was worth making. But we knew at
some point GM was going to get behind this. It had to. It
was just too great a car."
By the spring of 1999, the Subversives had done it. They had
leased all 648 cars. And word was getting out, with requests
for cars starting to flood in. Still, GM didn't reopen the
plant. The Subversives got frustrated.
Subversive No. 1: "We had leased every car we had. We were
begging for more. GM would say, 'If there's demand we'll
build you more cars.' We'd say, how do you, GM, define
demand? Tell us what you want and we will give it to you.
How many is demand?"
Subversive No. 2: "We were on the front line, talking to the
people who wanted the cars. GM would say, 'We don't see the
demand is there.' The fact that 10 new people committed to
leasing a car today was anecdotal to them. I mean, how could
we determine if there was or wasn't a market if there wasn't
enough product to sell those present buyers?"
With no more cars to sell and demand rising, the Subversives
took the initiative and started a waiting list.
Hart gave me the name and number of "the insider," the EV
specialist I would have to talk to if I had any hope of
getting a car. She turned out to be a woman named Deborah
Anthony, a bright, cheery, likable person who always spoke
as if she had a secret. In fact, as I got to know the
Subversives, I found they all spoke that way. She told me it
was a longshot, but she'd see if anyone in Detroit was a fan
of mine from, say, "thirtysomething" or some other project.
I laughed. Then I realized she was serious.
For the next two months, I badgered and begged Deborah for
my car, peppering her with questions about why these cars
were so hard to get, why GM wasn't making more, didn't they
see there was a market? Her responses were patient but
cryptic: Always the company line, but with a telling tone of
voice or random comments that would slip out. Never the
words but the music: parts unsaid that left me feeling this
ship I was trying to board was well on its way to sinking.
Finally, one afternoon she called to tell me she had been
offered another job. She thought it wise to take it rather
than face the firing she was sure was right around the
corner. Firing? "Oh, yeah. For all of us." Then quickly,
"But don't worry. That doesn't mean you shouldn't get a car.
In fact, I have some good news�I think. People in Detroit
are fans! I think you're going to GET A CAR! Oh, and the
person replacing me? You'll love her. Her name is Chelsea
Sexton. She's even more passionate about the EV program than
I am."
And Chelsea Sexton was. A tall, willowy, kind of crunchy
woman, she assured me I'd get a car if she had to give me
hers. In spite of the downsizing, she was determined to
fight, and she so respected those of us like Hart, Ed, Ted,
Mel�"Mel who?" I asked. "Gibson!" she replied. "Do you know
him?" Not wanting to jeopardize my chances of getting a car,
I said, "Oh, yeah," as if we were good friends, even though
I've only met the man once or twice.
"By the way," I said, "I'm not going to wake up one morning
abandoned, am I? With you and the rest of your support team
gone, a three-year lease on a prototype car with no support,
no one to fix it, no one to explain this thing's behavior
when it doesn't act like a normal car?" She just smiled and
with a tilt of her head said, "I'm not going anywhere.
They're gonna have to drag me out kicking and screaming.
Plus, you guys are pioneers. You're leading the way into the
future. I just love that." Well, that was it. I wasn't going
to let Hart or Mel be pioneers while I stayed back with the
herd.
By the fall of 1999, the Subversives were feeling
optimistic: There was talk of the much-improved Generation
II EV1, which featured an advanced battery. GM and the state
of California were starting to make headway with the
infrastructure, placing charging stations throughout the
state, and subsidies were kicking in, which brought the
monthly lease payment in L.A. County down to a reasonable
$275 a month. But GM had a problem. They had been able to
persuade the air resources board to give them a pass on the
1998 2% requirement for zero-emission cars as long as they
could get 186 Generation II vehicles on the road by the end
of '99. It was now November, and after much delay, the cars
had finally arrived�a year's worth that not only needed to
be leased but on the road by New Year's Eve.
The Subversives dove in. They worked straight through
Thanksgiving and Christmas, 14- and 15-hour days, seven days
a week. They even came up with an incentive system where
each hour they would leave an update on their common
voicemail so that everyone knew what was going on.
Subversive No. 3: "You'd check your voicemail, and there
were like 10 deliveries that day. It was so exhilarating.
Especially because no one thought we could do it. Nothing
was going to stop us."
And just hours before New Year's, they leased and delivered
the last of the 182 cars. They were elated. Subversive No.
2: "That was our most hopeful. We had real traction then."
But the silence from the top was deafening. Finally, GM's
EV1 brand manager, Ken Stewart, sent out a letter: "I want
to personally thank you for the wonderful job . . . Your
efforts and results were absolutely outstanding. . . . You
were a part of one of the highest performing teams I have
ever had the pleasure to work with." The use of the word
"were" didn't escape them.
Subversive No. 3: "We never knew if GM was really happy that
we delivered all those cars or if they were really upset
about it." Then came the announcement that confirmed their
worst fears. GM announced it was only going to make a total
of 500 Generation II models and then it would once again
shut down the assembly line.
What was becoming clear to the Subversives, and anyone
interested in the future of the EV1, was that it only had a
future as long as there was a mandate. And the mandate was
starting to crumble. The 2% and 5% zero-emission
requirements had been eliminated entirely, and the 10%
requirement for 2003 could now include low-emission gasoline
vehicles.
According to former state Sen. Tom Hayden, this was how GM
played the game: "They embarked on a scheme of apparent
cooperation while concealing their complete disdain for and
resistance to mandated change. They didn't flat out say no;
they complained that it would be very difficult. Then they
sought the extension and wanted to broaden the definition
from electric vehicles to low-emission vehicles. All
reasonable-sounding adjustments, at least in comparison to
saying no. In fact, this is the new way of saying no.
Deadlines have to be pushed back, not because we're stalling
but because we're cooperating. In fact, we're happy to
cooperate with you. Then in the end, the ultimate trump card
is, the public doesn't want it."
On Feb. 23, 2001, GM filed suit against the state of
California, claiming that the production requirement
involving electric cars illegally ignored cheaper and safer
options. For the Subversives this was a knockout punch. The
immensity of what they had been up against suddenly
registered.
Subversive No. 1: "The feeling among the group had been, 'We
can make them do this.' How naive was that? We're going to
make the biggest company in the free world do something they
don't want to do. If we can just make a big enough case and
get enough visibility to the project."
GM told the Subversives to stop taking names on the waiting
list and to not admit there ever was one, as GM's primary
argument in the lawsuit claimed there was no demand.
It was now July 2001. Still no car. But in spite of the
delay, in spite of the shaky outlook for this car, I still
wanted one. Maybe it was because President Bush was still
assaulting the ecosystem, or maybe I just couldn't let go of
the thrill I had felt driving Hart's EV1.
So when I finally got the call, I was thrilled, I think. On
the other end of the line was a frenetically chirpy voice:
"Hi, it's Chelsea. They said yes! You're getting a car.
Well, actually, you're getting my car, which is the silver,
what you wanted right? And�ah�you're actually getting my car
because I've been�ah�well, 'let go.' But don't worry, 'cause
I'm not gone until the end of September, which will give us
plenty of time to set everything up. Oh, by the way, they
asked if you were interested in a shorter lease, two years
instead of three. I told them no. You definitely wanted
three."
"Ah, ah�of course," I replied with as much confidence as I
could muster. Five months of trying, not only two but now
three EV specialists�this was a lot for even a tree-hugger
like me. This had gone from being illogical to being
unreasonable. It was time to call GM and find out what was
going on directly from Goliath's mouth.
The only name I had was EV1 brand manager Ken Stewart. The
only phone number, a general GM listing in Detroit, Mich.
The operator answered after the second ring. "Yes, I'd like
to speak with Ken Stewart please." "Who's calling?" "Well,
um, my name is Peter Horton and I'm writing about the EV1. .
. . " "Hold please." After a few moments, "Yes, he'd like
you to call Dave Barthmuss over at public relations." "Dave
who?" "Barthmuss, B A R T. . . ."
Dave Barthmuss was a polite, swizzle stick of a PR man,
charming and direct without divulging very much.
Me: "Why did you guys decide not to continue with the EV1?
It's such a great car."
Dave: "The big issue was we could only lease about 700 cars
in the first four years."
"But you only made 648 cars in the first four years. How
could you lease more if you didn't make more?"
"If we had leased more, we would've made more."
"That doesn't sound like a very aggressive marketing
approach."
"If there had been a market, we would've been more
aggressive."
And so on. Finally he told me he had no problem letting me
talk to Ken.
I liked Ken. His opening statement was, "GM is still very
bullish on the tech side of this car. The more you learn,
the more gee whiz there is in it. The problem is the
batteries."
Somehow the use of the phrase "gee whiz" without irony made
me think he was a decent guy.
"What's wrong with the batteries? The ones in my car seem to
work fine."
"Do you know how much it costs to replace those batteries? A
lot."
"Yeah, but doesn't it cost a lot to replace a transmission
or an engine in a traditional car?"
"Not as much as you'd think. An engine's only a couple
hundred."
"That's because you mass produce them?"
"Well, that and other factors."
"If you mass produced the batteries, wouldn't their cost
come down?"
"Yeah, but we're not."
"Why not?"
"Because there's no market. No one wants an electric car."
And there it was. That pedal tone of a refrain. Is there or
is there not a market for this car?
"So when did GM lose faith in the EV1?"
"We haven't lost faith in it. The problem is nobody wants
it."
"What about the waiting list?"
"What waiting list?"
"I've been told by some of your former employees there's a
waiting list of a few thousand people."
"We don't have a waiting list. We have an information list.
People who are interested in the car."
"Well, how do you know there's no market if you've never
mass produced it and launched it with comparable numbers and
dollars to other launches like, say, Saturn?"
"If there had been a market we would have."
I took a deep breath.
"OK, in 1990, when [then-GM Chairman] Roger Smith proposed
an electric vehicle, GM's plan was to produce 25,000 cars
per year. By 1996, when the car was finally ready, that
number had been reduced to 1,500 before you'd sold one car.
Before you knew if there was a market or not. What
happened?"
A beat of silence. Then, "You're asking the wrong question."
Huh?
"There were so many duties for the customer above and beyond
turning the key. Getting a 220-volt electric line and box
put in your house, which meant city permits. . . ."
He then went on to talk about "days supply of vehicles" and
"share of voice versus share of market," and as he spoke I
realized I wasn't going to get a satisfactory answer from
Ken Stewart or Dave Barthmuss or anyone at GM on when or why
they lost faith in the EV1. Why they put so much money and
effort into creating such an extraordinary automobile and
then turned around and slowly choked the life out of it.
Finally, he stopped and hesitantly asked, "So what's your
take on this?"
What's my take? That's a very good question. I know one
thing for sure�it's complicated. Some have said that GM made
the EV1 to prove electric cars won't work. Ken Stewart's
response is, "If that was our aim we never would've made
such a great car."
And he's got a point. These days, as I slide behind the
wheel of my EV1 and set off to navigate the streets of Los
Angeles, environmental and political aspects get lost in the
sheer aesthetics and excitement of the drive. It truly is a
great car.
So what happened? Was there really no market? As former GM
CEO Robert Stempel said when I reached him at his new job at
Energy Conversion Devices, which manufactures batteries used
in electric vehicles, "We all know it takes some time for a
new product to catch on. Especially if it's something as new
and radical as the EV1. I mean, Saturn wasn't a moneymaker
when it first came out. But after some time and good
marketing, it's become profitable."
Time and good marketing. The EV1 was launched in December
1996 and production stopped in March 1997. Only four months.
And the marketing was hardly on the level of Saturn.
Tom Hayden: "Our mistake in the beginning was believing that
by mandating it, making it necessary and giving them
incentives to make it profitable, they would do it. We were
mandating an unwilling party. Unwilling in the deepest
sense. Unwilling to make a profit off an electric car
because of an unwillingness to embrace the notion."
Greg Hanssen, a former EV1 owner, explains: "GM, I think,
feels they got burned somehow. They felt that they put out
the vehicle and there wasn't enough support for it, and the
thought of building 100 times as many, then facing the
marketing, trying to educate consumers about this type of
vehicle was just scary to them."
Scary? Somehow we don't usually assign such human emotions
to large corporations. But then again, maybe that's the
point. Maybe it is too much to ask a corporation that
thrives on the bottom line to take on the monumental
financial risk of educating consumers, of teaching us to be
smart about our dependence on foreign oil and to do what's
best for our planet and ourselves.
Maybe they're right: If we don't demand it, they shouldn't
build it. Then again, what if they had? What if they had
followed through on Roger Smith's dream? What if they had
truly presented us with the alternative? Would we have come
along? Would there have been a market?
Unfortunately, we will never know. Now as I drive through
Los Angeles and see the various hybrids and hear about the
demise of Toyota's electric RAV4 and about the inevitable
fuel-cell vehicles, I can't help but feel the electric car
wars are over. Somehow in this story, Goliath won.
Or did he? From my new EV specialist, Rob Randall (who
sounds like a character out of "Braveheart"), "Today, with
the Panasonic batteries, carpool lanes, free parking at
meters, the infrastructure, the subsidies�if we could start
over again today with all that, we'd change the world."
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EVLN(Grieve built an electric car as a senior project)
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http://www.sacbee.com/content/news/story/6793626p-7744256c.html
News x - close Recent Stories By Ralph Monta�o
Albert Grieve, graduating today from Laguna Creek High
School and soon heading to Lincoln University on a
scholarship, built an electric car and compiled a book on a
science project. Grieve also managed to become a good
wrestler in just two seasons in the sport. "I like to keep
busy," the 18-year-old says.
Sacramento Bee/Hector Amezcua
It's about looking forward
College awaits bright teen who has seen -- and overcome -- a
lot.
By Ralph Monta�o -- Bee Staff Writer
Published 2:15 a.m. PDT Thursday, June 5, 2003
Today, Albert Grieve will graduate from Laguna Creek High
School, where he was a good student, a decent wrestler and
an editor at the school newspaper.
He built an electric car as a senior project and drove it to
school.
[...]
He enrolled in Laguna Creek High School his junior year.
Feeling he needed a productive way to vent some pent-up
anger, he went out for wrestling.
Laguna Creek wrestling coach Fred Marks said Grieve had no
experience and lost most matches his first year. But he
improved greatly over the last year through determination
and hard work.
[...]
About the Writer - The Bee's Ralph Monta�o can be reached at
(916) 321-1159 or [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Jim Sweeney led Sacramento city schools for almost seven
years, although the average stay for chiefs in urban
districts is less than three years.
Sacramento Bee file, 1998/Dick Schmidt
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'@----- @'---(=
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EVLN(GM employees surprised how smooth EV1 drives)
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http://www.democratandchronicle.com/biznews/0603story1_business.shtml
GM tests electric cars here By Todd Grady
Democrat and Chronicle AIMEE K. WILES
General Motors Corp. employee Jackie Paganin removes the
charging paddle from her assigned EV1 electric vehicle and
prepares to drive home after work at the GM fuel cell plant
in Honeoye Falls. The company is using the cars to collect
data to develop the fuel cells. [Day in Photos]
(June 3, 2003) � General Motors Corp. has found a new use
for its EV1 electric car, which the automaker stopped
manufacturing more than three years ago.
The world�s largest automobile manufacturer is using a fleet
of more than 60 EV1s to quietly collect data for fuel cell
development at its Honeoye Falls operation.
GM is loaning two-seat EV1s to employees at its Global
Alternative Propulsion Center under a three-year program
that also includes EV1s based in Massachusetts. The Honeoye
Falls site is a hub for GM fuel cell activities.
I�ve had people hanging out car windows trying to hear if
it�s really electric,� said Jackie Paganin, an
administrative assistant for GM, who drives an EV1 daily
between her home in Le Roy and Honeoye Falls.
The data from Paganin�s car and other EV1s cruising along
area roadways is helping map a route for the future.
Obviously, there aren�t a lot of fuel cell vehicles running
around yet, but with the electric vehicles you�re kind of
using the same drive motors and some of the regenerative
braking,� said Steve McIlwaine, facilities manager for fuel
cell activities.
GM employees in Honeoye Falls are working toward helping the
auto manufacturer reach its goal of producing large
quantities of emission-free fuel cell vehicles for potential
customers by 2010.
[...]
The drive motor�s electronic controller in the EV1 is
similar to the one in GM�s prototype fuel cell vehicles.
We�re getting a whole a lot of data and durability on that
electrical drive-train,� McIlwaine said.
Researchers are also studying the effects of cold weather
climates on the EV1�s battery.
GM started manufacturing the EV1 in 1996 for use in warm
weather climates.
Consumers could lease them only through selected Saturn
dealers in California and Arizona before GM pulled the plug
on manufacturing, citing reasons that included increased
repair costs.
On a summer day, the EV1�s battery can get up to 130 miles
per charge, but temperatures below freezing limit the
range.
GM is limiting use of the EV1s to employees with less than a
70-mile round-trip commute.
The cars are hooked up each day to chargers in a parking lot
at GM in Honeoye Falls.
Despite the battery limitations, the EV1 is not short on
technology.
To start the car, the driver punches a code into a keypad.
Regenerative braking captures kinetic energy from the car
and returns it as an electrical charge to the battery.
The EV1 can accelerate from 0 to 30 mph in less than three
seconds and from 0 to 60 mph in less than nine seconds.
A prototype EV1 was clocked at 183 mph in 1994, setting a
land speed record for an electric vehicle.
I think it�s surprising how smooth it drives,� Paganin said.
�It�s like gliding.�
E-mail address: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
For more information on EV1, click on www.gmev.com.
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Serramonte Center Seeing Green
Daly City Shopping Center Goes Electric with New Security
Vehicle
DALY CITY, Calif., June 5 /PRNewswire/ -- Dick Bartlett,
General Manager of Serramonte Center, announced today that
the 35-year old shopping center has purchased its first
all-electric vehicle. The two-passenger vehicle will be
used to patrol the parking lots and assist customers at
Serramonte Center.
According to Bartlett, the choice to purchase an electrical
vehicle to patrol Serramonte's grounds was a deliberate,
conscious decision. "Capital AND Counties, owners of
Serramonte Center, wanted to introduce an electric vehicle
as an alternative to a gas powered vehicle at one of its
properties," Bartlett said. "This was the best, most
environmentally sound choice to make, and it happens to be
the most cost-effective choice as well. The vehicle is
quiet and has no exhaust emissions, which makes for a more
pleasant visit for our shoppers. And it's the only one of
its kind manufactured in the United States. That weighed
heavily in our decision making process."
After much study, Bartlett and his team went with
DaimlerChrysler's GEM, manufactured by Global Electric
MotorCars of Fargo, North Dakota -- the first "multi-purpose
Neighborhood Electric Vehicle (NEV) automotive engineered
for both street and turf."
GEM's batteries are charged on standard 110-volt outlets and
will be powered up in a special garage Serramonte is
building to accommodate the vehicle.
About Serramonte Center
Serramonte Center has provided San Francisco and the
Peninsula with an exciting, unique shopping experience for
the past 35 years. [...] For more information,
visit [ http://serramontecenter.com ].
Serramonte Center is owned by Capital AND Counties U.S.A.
INC., headquartered in San Francisco. Capital and Counties
U.S.A. Inc., a real estate investment and development
company, is part of the U.K. based Liberty International
Group. The U.S. subsidiary has approximately 2 million
square feet of office and retail space under ownership.
U.S. property holdings are focused in California and also
include Ghirardelli Square, San Francisco; The Senator
Office Building, Sacramento; The Willows Shopping Center,
Concord; and The Pacific Financial Center, Los Angeles.
SOURCE Serramonte Center CO: Serramonte Center ST:
California SU: PDT Web site:
http://www.serramontecenter.com
http://www.prnewswire.com 06/05/2003 10:00 EDT
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http://www.usatoday.com/money/autos/2003-06-09-ford_x.htm
Posted 6/10/2003 12:05 AM Updated 6/10/2003 3:28 AM
Ford Motor turns 100
Ford family celebrates 100 years of cars
By David Kiley, USA TODAY
DEARBORN, Mich. � On Sunday, William Clay Ford Jr. will lead
a blowout celebration of Ford Motor's 100th anniversary.
Ford Jr. will run the party because, for the last 20 months,
he has run the company that his great-grandfather, Henry
Ford, founded in 1903.
William Clay Ford Jr., left, and dad William Clay Ford Sr.
sit in a replica of a 1914 Model T.
By Jerry S. Mendoza for USA TODAY
The last two years have not been easy for Ford, 46, chairman
and CEO of the world's second-largest automaker: contentious
tire recalls; customer and employee lawsuits; highly
publicized quality problems; $6.4 billion in losses and a
roughly 60% decline in share price. (Related story: First
Henry Ford had wide-ranging interests)
Even the family-owned Detroit Lions football team has gone a
miserable 5-27 in the last two seasons.
But despite the challenges, there is something rare in U.S.
history to celebrate: a family that has stayed focused on
running its business for a century.
For Ford Jr., pride in the family's heritage � and the
wealth it has brought them � mean the stakes are both high
and personal as he works to turn around the struggling
automaker.
Ford and his father, William Clay Ford Sr., recently sat
down together in the house where Henry Ford was born for a
rare joint interview with USA TODAY. In a wide-ranging talk,
they discussed their family and its history, their company
and its future.
Ford file About Ford the company
2002 revenue: $162.7 billion.
2002 operating loss: $980 million.
2002 market share: Ford is the second-largest automaker in
the world, with a 13% share of sales. It also is the second
largest in the USA, with a 21.5% share.
Market capitalization as of Friday: $19.6 billion.
Global employees: 350,321.
Global payroll: $18.3 billion.
2002 global sales: 6.97 million cars and trucks.
Global sales outlets: 28,000.
Brands: Ford, Mercury, Lincoln, Jaguar, Volvo, Land Rover,
Aston Martin. Ford also has a controlling stake in Mazda.
About Ford the family
Stock: The family owns 70.9 million class B shares, which
gives them 40% of the shareholder votes on any issue; 47.2
million are held in a trust by William Clay Ford Sr. and
Ford Jr. and Edsel Ford II and are voted as a block.
Living Fords:
Third generation: The children of Edsel Ford: William Clay
Ford Sr., 78, and Josephine Ford, 80.
Fourth generation: Led by William Clay Ford Jr., 46,
includes 13 cousins.
Fifth generation: Numbers more than 30. Elena Ford, 36, is
the only fifth-generation Ford now working for the
automaker.
Source: Ford Motor
The two men are close. Ford Sr., whose father died when he
was 18, speaks with pride about his only son, who has
fulfilled what the family most certainly sees as its destiny
� running their car company.
Ford Jr. often speaks in protective tones about his father,
who has had multiple heart surgeries.
"I try not to burden him with too much about the
day-to-day," he said.
He also has continued to help his father run the Lions. Even
though he said he would cut back after he became CEO, he
still talks to general manager Matt Millen and new coach
Steve Mariucci almost daily.
What was eminently clear during the interview was the pride
they take in being Fords and owning Ford. For them, their
heritage means being unwilling "to punch out like other
families, so your family's name continues to be used on
products, especially something as ubiquitous as the Ford
name, and you don't have any connection to it anymore," Ford
Jr. said.
Said his father, 78, who has served on Ford's board for 55
years: "When you look at the advantages we have all received
through my grandfather's efforts, there is a sense of
responsibility, and the sense that we want to continue this
is inbred in all of us."
Ford Sr. said he has never been in a family meeting where
selling the company was discussed.
"Not in my generation. No talk of cashing out. Bill's
generation has had their own meetings, which I haven't
attended."
"We talk about anarchy against the third generation," his
son joked.
"But seriously, in my dad's generation, it was just brothers
and sisters. Now, it's cousins and second cousins, and it
gets more complicated." But he, too, said there had not been
a meeting to discuss selling.
The Ford family has held onto control of the company into
the fifth generation through a special class of stock. It
gives the Fords 40% of voting shares despite holding only
3.7% of the outstanding stock.
That 40% control shields Ford Motor from outsiders who might
want to take it over. Ford Jr. says Volkswagen and
DaimlerChrysler would have tried takeovers in the last two
years if not for the Ford family's control.
The control also makes Ford Jr. all but invulnerable to the
board of directors, stacked with family and longtime
friends.
Ford Sr. said he never campaigned to have his son made CEO.
"In fact, I was excused by the board from a lot of meetings
about it," he said.
It's obvious that both Fords considered it the right thing
to do. Ford Jr. � he likes to be called Bill � said he took
control of the company when Jacques Nasser was ousted as CEO
in late 2001 out of a sense of responsibility "to both the
company and my family."
His father, noting the advantages that go with being a Ford,
said: "There are responsibilities that go with those
benefits. We hang in there through thick and thin."
Still, Ford Jr. talks as if he took the job reluctantly: "Me
having to take over means we failed. That wasn't easy."
But Douglas Brinkley, author of Wheels for the World, a new
book on Ford Motor and the Ford family, doesn't buy Ford Jr.
as a reluctant CEO.
"I spoke with every living CEO and president of Ford, and
they all said they knew Billy would be CEO one day," he
said.
Ford Jr. will always be dogged by the question of whether a
CEO by birthright is best to run the company.
"I think he will prove to be a good one, but would he be
there if he wasn't a Ford? No," said David Cole, director of
the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor, Mich.
"Normally, I would say second-generation family members
running the show, maybe. Third generation, no. Never mind
the fourth. ... But I think Ford is an exception," said
George Raymond Jr., founder of The Raymond Institute, a
consulting firm specializing in family businesses.
Bill Ford and his cousin Edsel became the first
fourth-generation members of the board in 1988. Henry II,
the last Ford to be chairman, died in 1987, around the same
time heart-bypass surgery knocked William Clay Sr. out of
the running for the job.
Ford Jr. no longer lives in the family compound in tony
Grosse Pointe, Mich. He lives in Ann Arbor, a college town
where his children attend public school. When he has time,
which isn't often, he can be seen jogging around town and is
known for trying to ditch his security detail.
He clearly strains at times under the spotlight that goes
with being rich and powerful. He chafes, for instance, at
questions about whether he should have been allowed to buy
into the initial public offering of Goldman Sachs, banker to
both the company and the family. Under pressure, he donated
the profits to charity.
Ford Jr. has dubbed his turnaround plan for the company
"Back to Basics." He has sold off non-car-building
businesses acquired by Nasser, such as a British car repair
chain and an electric car and bicycle business. He scrapped
a morale-killing worker-performance system that spurred
employee lawsuits. And he has focused on beefing up product
lineups.
"I'm not sure we could survive another episode of losing
track of our core business," Ford Jr. said.
"You can forget what it was like during the bad times, and
you start riding around high, wide and handsome, and that's
what Billy inherited," his father said.
Back on track
By all accounts, Ford Jr. has worked hard to mend fences
with employees and dealers who were alienated by Nasser's
style. "It's tough to argue that Bill isn't good for Ford,"
says Jim O'Connor, the automaker's North American sales and
marketing chief. "He brought all the constituencies together
� dealers, employees, managers and labor � faster than
anyone else could have after a very tough period."
But in the end, Ford Jr.'s tenure as CEO will be measured by
how much he can make the family business resemble the nimble
and more efficient Toyota and Honda rather than any version
of what Ford used to be. He will be judged on:
Profit. Ford Jr. recently faced Wall Street analysts eager
to see results from his 18-month-old turnaround plan. The
plan had seemed to be limping in an economy that is lurching
like a car with only first and second gears working. But
reaction was good: Some analysts said that for the first
time in two years, Ford's outlook was better than that of
General Motors or Chrysler Group.
Even with a hobbled economy and high incentive costs, Ford
Jr. is on track to reach his break-even goal this year. Cost
cutting and quality improvements that reduce warranty
payouts are helping offset spending on incentives.
The big test, though, will come this fall when Ford
negotiates a new contract with the United Auto Workers
union, seeking concessions on plant closings and health care
costs.
UAW President Ron Gettelfinger was the union's Ford
representative before his election last year. And Ford Jr.
has made it a point to reach out to the union in the wake of
Nasser's pricklier style.
"Ford's (financial) weakness and Bill Ford's relationship
with the UAW could help get them favorable terms," says Sean
McAlinden, a labor relations expert at the Center for
Automotive Research.
Product. When Ford Jr. took over, the automaker was under
pressure for having too few products for the Ford brand,
while Mercury was in limbo and Lincoln adrift. Ford
unleashed 15 products at last January's Detroit auto show,
three times the usual number. It will roll out an almost
staggering 100 new models in the next five years.
But that won't solve all the problems. There is a sense that
while Mercury is getting new models, they are a return to
being Fords with extra chrome. And Lincoln might take more
than a decade to get healthy, because baby boomers have
largely ignored it, and Generation Xers with money to spend
are much more likely to pick a Japanese or European luxury
model.
The Premium Auto Group � Volvo, Land Rover, Jaguar and Aston
Martin � struggles to make consistent profit because of high
costs and too few products.
Environment. Before he took over as CEO, Ford Jr. was
non-executive chairman and the company's conscience when it
came to cleaner cars. As CEO, he must wring every penny of
profit out of the big-ticket sport-utility vehicles that
environmentalists hate. That means forgoing some costly
changes to make SUVs more fuel efficient. Ford Jr. has had
to admit that the goal of 25% improvement in fuel economy
for SUVs from 2000 to 2005 won't be met. In a report last
year, he said the company's strategy to address global
warming "will be tempered by our near-term business
interests."
That shift infuriated environmentalists. Robert Cox, former
Sierra Club president who is campaigning to get a seat on
Ford's board next year, says Ford Jr. is letting advisers
corrupt him. "Bill Ford the chairman was for doing better
than what government mandates ordered on fuel economy. ...
He has to reconnect his vision with his business plan for
turning the company around."
On the plus side, a $2 billion makeover of the toxic River
Rouge complex in Dearbornthat his great-grandfather built is
an environmental model for how to reclaim and clean up a
decades-old facility.
"It's not as sexy as improving fuel economy on an SUV, but
investing in a plant like Rouge that could have easily been
razed and the jobs moved elsewhere is something a leader
with deep roots in the company does," Cole says.
Looking ahead
For the future, Ford Jr. said he's still intent on leading
the industry's conversion from gasoline to cleaner hydrogen
power.
He also said he's not interested in politics, although
either Michigan's governorship or a U.S. Senate seat would
be a possibility. "I can do a lot more with my name inside
the business world."
One worry he apparently won't have: Lee Iacocca, fired as
Ford president by Henry II, told author Brinkley that "the
No. 1 mistake a Ford CEO can make is underestimating the
power of the family ... if they unite and turn on you."
Bill Ford Jr. seems to have that one covered. Said his
cousin Edsel: "He is absolutely the right person for the
times we're in."
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EVLN(Batteries: $200, Case: $150, Thief: Heartless)
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http://www.sbsun.com/Stories/0,1413,208~23249~1445503,00.html
Article Published: Monday, June 09, 2003 - 5:54:21 PM PST
Thief nabs battery, freedom By GREGG PATTON, Staff Writer
There are petty criminals. And then there are petty
criminals aiming for the Grinch of the Year Award.
Last week Mary Ann Millard of Colton had a battery stolen
off of her electric wheelchair. Congratulations, somebody.
You've disabled the disabled.
Millard figures she won't be seeing much of anything other
than the inside of her mobile home until July.
The battery is one of two on her Solo three-wheeled electric
wheelchair and has to be specially ordered, along with a new
case. She was told the batteries should be ordered in pairs
for maximum efficiency.
Batteries: $200.
Case: $150.
Thief: Heartless.
Millard, 66, and her significant partner of 26 years, Bobbi
Kyle, 64, who occasionally uses the chair herself because of
severe arthritis, live on about $1,600 per month from their
combined disability, Social Security and veteran's benefits.
She will buy the batteries when the checks arrive around the
first of July.
The batteries, which last about two years, weren't in the
budget until the end of the year. The money wasn't the big
issue with Millard, though. She was fretting more this week
about something else. A grandson whom she has helped raise,
Michael A. Millard Jr., is graduating from Colton High
School on Thursday.
"I could manage being housebound for a month,' said Millard.
"But I don't know how I'm going to get to his graduation.'
The thought made Millard tear up for a second, but only for
a second. She will find a way to get there, whether it is
with the help of her three children, or her seven
grandchildren, or with a rented wheelchair. Whatever it
takes. The feisty senior doesn't want anyone feeling sorry
for her.
"I just wanted to rant about the chair a little,' she said.
"If (the thief) reads this and knows how mad I am, I've
accomplished something.'
Kyle guessed it was taken last week when she and Millard's
grandson took the car, which is outfitted with a special
chairlift, to the Colton Main Library. Millard has had the
chair for 10 years, but this is the first time someone
messed with it when it was left unattended.
Over the last few years, she has depended more and more upon
the chair for mobility. Saddled with diabetes, two heart
conditions and a circulation problem in her left leg, she
said she now uses the electric vehicle any time she leaves
the house.
"They call these the golden years,' said Millard. "Let me
tell you, it's more like the metallic years. Your hair is
silver, your teeth are metal and your bottom is lead.'
Her joke cracked her up and she slapped her thighs.
"If you don't laugh, you'll cry,' she said. "And nobody
wants to hear you cry.'
She can't imagine who would steal her batteries, which are
good only for the chair. Certainly not another disabled
person with a similar chair, she said, because he or she
would understand the hardship inflicted by such a theft.
"The disabled people I meet are some of the friendliest,
most honest people you'll ever know,' she said. "Maybe it
was a kid's prank.'
A son of a gun, for sure.
Gregg Patton's column appears Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays
and Sundays.
He also writes "Like Nowhere Else' which appears
occasionally. Readers may call him at (909) 386-3856, fax
him at (909) 885-8741 or e-mail him at
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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