Ford C-Max hatchback to be offered only as a hybrid

According to KHABAR KHODRO, Ford Motor Co., in a move to compete with hybrid and electric vehicles produced by Toyota, GM, and Nissan, said today that its upcoming C-Max hatchback will be a dedicated hybrid when U.S. sales begin next year.

And Ford has cancelled plans to offer a version of the C-Max with a four-cylinder gasoline engine.

Ford said it has been able to reduce the cost of hybrid technology, which will make the vehicle more attractive to buyers. Ford announced this year that a plug-in hybrid C-Max Energi also is planned.

Today's move will put the C-Max in competition with Toyota Motor Corp.'s Prius hybrid, General Motors' Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid and Nissan Motor Co.'s all-electric Leaf.

Ford executives, during an event today in Sterling Heights, Mich., said they plan to triple North American production of electric vehicles and hybrids to more than 100,000 models by 2013 as they work to make a quarter of their vehicles run at least partly on electricity.

Ford said this year that it expects the cost of hybrid systems it begins offering next year will be 30 percent less expensive than the system that was introduced on the 2010 Ford Fusion.

Ford said it will be able to keep C-Max prices down because much of the hybrid system has been designed and engineered by Ford. The company also will assemble the system.

For example, an upcoming hybrid transmission was designed and engineered by Ford and will be assembled beginning in the first quarter of 2012 in a suburban Detroit Ford plant.

The hybrid transmission in its 2011 Ford Fusion and 2011 Escape and the 2011 Lincoln MKZ are supplied by Japan's Aisin Seiki Co.

Hybrid loyalty rates 'very high'

"We're seeing that the loyalty rate on hybrids is very high," he said in April. "We just need people to get used to the technology, bring the cost down and the price down for consumers, and we believe it's only going to go up in terms of sales volume."

Ford has been cutting costs by bringing many technologies in-house, such as the hybrid transmission, Marakby said in April.

"By developing the hybrid system's design in-house and sourcing individual components to suppliers, Ford can use less people and less time to get the job done in an efficient manner," he said.