One year ago, Ford Motor Co. officially staked its flag in the U.S. electric vehicle circle when it began to launch three new hybrids and two plug-in hybrids.
And a year later, despite backlash over inflated fuel efficiency claims for the Ford C-Max Hybrid and a delayed launch of the Lincoln MKZ Hybrid, the Dearborn automaker has managed to lift its share of the electric and hybrid market from 3 percent to 15 percent. Ford also has been able to steal customers from its chief competitor, Toyota Motor Corp., which it has brazenly viewed as an equal competitor since before any of Ford’s new hybrid vehicles hit dealer lots.
“I think in this case their bragging is well-founded,” said John O’Dell, senior editor at Edmunds.com. “Ford is outselling everything but Prius by a good margin. And I think they?ve managed to escape fairly well from the C-Max fuel-economy rollback.”