For all the improvements the automotive industry has achieved in vehicle emissions, fuel economy, and convenience, "It's going to take an incredible amount of work, a lot of inspired thinking, and some unforeseen successes to reach new levels of improvement in those areas."

So said Ford Chairman Bill Ford Wednesday during an address at the Convergence 2000 banquet. Known as one of the most adamant proponents of corporate environmental responsibility among U.S. high-level executives, he called on the engineers and others gathered at the banquet to work their technology magic for the dual ends of environmental sustainability and better product.

That magic will work best in a free-market atmosphere, not one marked by government mandates, Ford believes. Government should provide "incentives rather than mandates" to accelerate change, he said. "Customers will be the real regulators."

It makes good business sense to be environmentally responsible and conscientious of the human condition across the globe, according to Ford. "There is no getting around the fact that corporations are being asked to do more than just create excellent products and services," he said. "We are being asked to step up and take a greater role in what's going on in the world around us."

While new technologies often used to entail negative environmental consequences, the new technologies of today are having the opposite effect. Ford took pleasure in describing a few of them:

• A 2000 Ford Taurus that, he said, gives off fewer emissions driving 50 miles than did a similar-sized 1970 sedan "sitting all day with its engine off."
• An electric vehicle, the TH!NK, has gone to market in Scandinavia and is being tested in San Francisco.
• Electronics of such advanced sophistication that a chip used to prevent a car's CD player from skipping has more memory than did the Apollo spacecraft that landed on the moon.

That's today. For tomorrow, Ford envisions hybrid electric vehicles comprising 20% of the market by 2010. Ford Motor Co., he promised, will have a hybrid SUV for sale by 2003. In addition, fuel-cell-powered vehicles from Ford will be operated by a government fleet by the end of next year. "I believe fuel cells could be the predominant automotive power source in 25 years," he said.

Previously announced by Ford were targets of a 25% fuel economy improvement among Ford SUVs by 2005 and a rollout in Europe of low-emissions powertrains that meet the EU's proposed Stage IV emissions five years before becoming law.

In the end, Ford said, "It is technology that promises to, literally, save the world."