BRENTWOOD, Essex, 1st December 2011 – Ford has become one of the Energy Saving Trust’s ‘Fleet Heroes’ for the second time in three years, winning a prestigious award for its innovations helping to lower fuel bills and reduce car and van fleet emissions.
Ford took top spot in the Innovation in Car and Van Manufacturing category of the awards, which were marked by a special London ceremony attended by transport minister Norman Baker MP.
The Energy Saving Trust’s four judges praised Ford for “bringing premium, efficient vehicle technologies at low cost to wider fleet markets”.
They said: “Ford is bringing premium, efficient vehicle technologies at low cost to wider fleet markets including cars and vans. They are the only volume manufacturer to bring products like active grille shutters, smart regenerative charging, lane-keeping aids and automated car parking to this segment of the market.”
Ford’s ECOnetic Technology is a suite of fuel-saving enhancements, including grille shutters on the all-new Ford Focus which shut to reduce drag and smart regenerative charging on all car models which maintains battery charge with minimum energy loss.
Lane departure warning technology on Ford’s medium and large cars can alert drivers if their position starts to veer out of lane. The popularity of the automatic parallel park feature on Ford medium cars means that over 20 per cent of Ford C-MAX sales have this convenience feature specified.
Steve Fletcher, Ford fleet operations manager, Ford of Britain, said: “It is very pleasing to be recognised for the high levels of advanced technology that Ford is applying across its vehicle range, not only lowering CO2 emissions but also promoting more fuel-efficient and safer driving.”
Norman Baker MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport, said: “If the Government is to meet its carbon reduction targets we must decarbonise road transport and making fleet operations greener is a major part of that.”