The Japanese automakers are using their leverage as market leaders.
Surprise, surprise. What did anyone expect they would do?!? The same thing
may happen with CF, except on a far greater scale, with more dire
consequences. See:
http://www.cnn.com/2005/AUTOS/09/20/bc.autos.summit.ford.hybrids.reut/index.html
QUOTES:
Ford exec: Japanese hogging hybrid parts
Ford would offer more hybrids, COO says, if more parts were available.
DETROIT (Reuters) - Ford Motor Co. could be offering more hybrid vehicles
if it weren't for the shortage of specialized components, partly due to the
"predatory" approach taken by some Japanese automakers, Ford Chief
Operating Officer Jim Padilla said Tuesday.
"It is a supply issue, and it's supply of several technologies," Padilla
said at the Reuters Summit in Detroit. "The Japanese have shown a little
bit of a predatory approach."
. . .
Ford began offering its first hybrids with the Escape sport utility vehicle
last autumn, lagging firstcomer Honda by five years. It has said it plans
to build 20,000 units this year, with the addition of the Mercury Mariner SUV.
The No. 2 U.S. automaker gets battery packs for the hybrid system, which
twins a gasoline engine to an electric motor and batteries to boost fuel
economy, mainly from Japan's Sanyo Electric Co., and other parts from
various suppliers, such as Toyota affiliate Aisin Seiki Co.
. . .
"You have to realize that hybrids on the market now go for a $3,000 to
$3,500 premium, and that only covers a fraction of the costs," he said.
