Ford’s U-turn

Ford Motor Co. launched the sport utility vehicle craze in 1990 with its Explorer model. For a decade, Ford has profited enormously by convincing the public that an oversized station wagon capable of roaring up mountainsides and tearing across trackless deserts was just what was needed for a trip to the mall. In 1997, Ford escalated the race to excess with the Expedition, a highway Goliath so intimidating those working on the project nicknamed it the Suburban Fighter.

Now Ford says it’s sorry. In a 98-page “corporate citizenship report” released to shareholders at the annual meeting last week, the company admitted that SUVs are bad for the environment and for the safety of those in other cars during crashes. Chairman William Clay Ford Jr., went so far as to make what amounted to a personal apology to planet Earth.

Not so sorry that it will quit building SUVs until the public quits buying them or so remorseful that it could avoid essentially blaming consumers for demanding less efficient, dirtier and more dangerous rides. Still, with this public contrition, Ford — the company and the chairman — are on record as being commited to making better, cleaner and safer SUVs. If nothing else, it takes a lot of guts to stand before a room full of shareholders and knock the primary source of their handsome returns.

There may be several mundane reasons for this expression of regret. Dollar-a-gallon gas is history. Overall SUV sales have gone flat and sales of the highest-priced luxury brands have ranged from disappointing to disastrous. Ford’s European operations are in trouble; a greener image may help. Congress is under increasing pressure to close or at least shrink the loophole that allows SUVs, vans and pickups to emit substantially more tailpipe gasses than cars. Chairman Ford, a generous supporter of environmental causes, may want to get his company ahead of the curve, to show concern before being forced to, to position Ford as the good guy, as the environmentally sensitive car company.

There is evidence that Ford is genuinely and sincerely ahead of the curve. The company already makes models of SUVs, vans and pickups that are far cleaner than required by law. It recently withdrew from a coalition of heavy industries that lobbies against restrictions on emissions linked to global warming. It preceeded its apology with an announcement of a major new investment in Think Group, its electric-vehicle business.

The last time Americans said they wanted smaller cars in a big way, during the oil crises of the 1970s, American car makers didn’t listen and got run over by Japanese and European imports. There may be self-serving elements in Ford’s SUV self-flagellation, but it’s good that someone in Detroit is looking down the road and around the bend.