Ford to convert pickups to low emission vehicles

Beginning in the 2000 model year, all F-Series pickup lines will meet the standards set for the low emissions classification. The company’s Lightning and the Ranger compact pickup are planned as LEVs in the 2001 model year.

“More and more, the marketplace will demand vehicles that are truly clean,” said William Clay Ford, Jr., Ford’s chairman. “I intend for Ford Motor Company to set that standard, not just meet it. Making all of our pickups LEV is yet another step toward that goal.”

Ford produces more than 800,000 F-Series pickups annually and about 360,000 Ranger compact pickups. While Rangers are scheduled to be low emission vehicles by 2001 in accordance with the National Low Emission Vehicle program, there is no requirement that full-size pickups meet LEV standards.

There is, however, a US EPA proposal for more stringent standards that would be phased in beginning in 2004. Ford’s product action for the 2000 model year would take many of its full-size trucks below the initial tailpipe levels in the EPA’s proposal for the 2004 calendar year.

Ford’s trucks that meet Low Emission Vehicle status will emit from about 15 percent to over 50 percent fewer smog-forming emissions than trucks that do not meet LEV. On a total fleet average basis, Ford’s LEV trucks will be about one-third cleaner than they are today, the company claims.