Day 45: MI, Dearborn: visiting the birthplace of our little car

OK so FORD didn’t offer to reimburse YERT for the Escape Hybrid we bought, or explain why Paris Hilton got the free one. (Ford has since contacted us to let us know that they did NOT, in fact, give Paris Hilton a free Hybrid but they did give her a free RIDE in a hybrid. So… Hollywood.com must have been mistaken. We apologize for any error - We took our info from treeugger.) But we did get an escorted tour of the facility and the museum, some P/R pamphlets explaining how green are Ford’s pastures at the Rouge facility, and a “global warming” mug with a map of the world, whose coastlines disappear when you add hot water (which was not free but which i totally could not refrain from buying from the FORD giftshop, without looking to see the Made in China label on the bottom, oooh Bad Yerter).

While FORD still creates some pretty heavy, gas-guzzling automobiles, their Escape Hybrid is the most fuel-efficient American-made vehicle (Ok, Ford also put us straight on this erroneous note, as the most efficient American-made car is certainly NOT any SUV, hybrid or otherwise - it is actually the Ford Focus at 37mpg. So, The Escape is the most fuel efficient American-made SUV. Duly noted. All you American carlovers out there, now you know.) and the Dearborn Rouge Center does have some impressive “green” facets: the largest “living roof” in the world (planted with sedum, a very low-growing succulent creeper that doesn’t rely on consistent rainfall to thrive), porous pavement that catches and filters rainwater for reuse within the plant’s cooling system (leaving the Rouge River thankfully out of the equation), a “bigfoot” cooling system which i don’t exactly understand but which basically relies on tall space, gravity and physics (rather than electrical push power) to regulate temp within the facility, and a very interesting “fumes to fuel” technology that apparently captures toxic paint fumes and turns them into energy - again something that I don’t understand, but which seems on the surface to be heading in the right direction.

What we’re hoping to address in MI: How raising CAFE (Corporate Average Fuel Economy) standards can be viewed as a GOOD thing for automakers instead of the evil jobs/revenue thief it is perceived as presently. LOL No idea how to do that. Any ideas? Anyone? If Japan has been making cars that average 40 mpg for 10 yrs, why is it that American automakers/consumers can’t seem to make that happen in our country? welcoming any thoughts…

and here is the car of my dreams…if only someone could convert it to electric for my birthday…

*(Editor’s Note: Ford has contacted us to correct our claim about Paris Hilton getting a free Ford Escape Hybrid, which we originally found through treehugger at Hollywood.com: http://www.hollywood.com/news/Hilton_Goes_Green_with_Free_Hybrid/4447353. In response, Ford wrote the following to us: “We did not provide Paris Hilton with a free car. She attended an event that Ford Escape Hybrid sponsored in LA. We did have VIP chauffering by Escape Hybrids, and she did receive a ride to/from the event. But, no free car. She did say that she wants one, so we’ll have to see how that plays out.”)
*(Editor’s note: this should read American-made SUV. The Escape hybrid averages 32 mpg while the Ford Focus averages 37 mpg, as does the Chevy Aveo.)

This entry was posted on August 17, 2007 at 11:39 am and is filed under Travelog, Julie. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.