密歇根新闻广播 福特的未来很大程度上依赖于卡车

The Blue Oval has seen the future, and it looks a whole lot like its past.

Ford¹ Motor claims a rich heritage building the nation's best-selling pickup² and the best-selling three-row SUV. Its Mustang is an American icon³. And its performance pedigree is enjoying a renaissance⁴ under product planners who understand emotion still matters in the business.

Within the next two years, Ford says nearly 90 percent of its sales volume will come from pickups, SUVs and the broadest lineup of commercial vehicles in the U.S. market. That's huge. And its Explorer SUV will come as a hot ST, too.

I know. You're thinking, "What, more gas guzzlers now?"

Not exactly. Two points:

First, Ford is pressing ahead with plans to offer gas-electric powertrain options on all the new vehicles it sells – from Mustangs to F-150 pickups. That means it will be providing customers a hedge against rising fuel prices and it will help legitimize a proven technology that's been slow to gain traction⁵.

Second, it's true the automotive buzz keeps circling around techy mobility⁶ and self-driving cars. But the real market made up of real people isn't there. They're snapping up trucks, large and small. They want SUVs of all sizes. And the largest segment in the space isn't occupied by monster Expeditions. It's compact SUVs like the Escape. They're less expensive, more fuel efficient packages that ride like cars, offer more space, and appeal to millennial⁷ and boomers alike.

American consumers are tilting⁸ in Ford's favor.

Good thing, because investors⁹ are looking for signs the Blue Oval has solid plans to optimize¹⁰ performance. That means telling The Street what the plan is and coming to terms with the death of the Great American Car. That's a reckoning Ford has been slower to embrace than its rivals.

But it will. By the end of this year, Ford is likely to eliminate at least two of its five car models – and, no, one of them will not be the Mustang.

At its so-called "Ford Uncovered" event this week, Ford's brass¹¹ said next to nothing about its cars and that says everything. The Blue Oval can't grow its North American volume to 90 percent trucks and SUVs without cutting some cars.

Only now, Ford is admitting publicly what it needs to do.

After more than a year of relative turmoil¹², Ford's management needs stability. It needs a clear line of thinking to negotiate fundamental, and often contradictory¹³, change in the transportation space.

The Blue Oval is making up for lost time. General Motors is on the move. Fiat¹⁴ Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne abandoned car production in the United States a couple of years ago.

Left unremarked in all this is Ford's strategy to play and win in the race for self-driving cars. It's no accident GM chose Thursday to say it would build its Cruise AV autonomous¹⁵ car and self-driving modules¹⁶ in southeast Michigan.

The implication is unmistakable: What about this, Ford? It's a fair question the Blue Oval will need to answer it soon enough — because that's part of its future, too.

Daniel Howes is a columnist¹⁷ at The Detroit News. Views expressed in his essays are his own and do not necessarily reflect those of Michigan Radio, its management or the station licensee, The University of Michigan.

1 Ford   

n.浅滩，水浅可涉处；v.涉水，涉过

参考例句：

• They were guarding the bridge,so we forded the river.他们驻守在那座桥上，所以我们只能涉水过河。
• If you decide to ford a stream,be extremely careful.如果已决定要涉过小溪，必须极度小心。

2 pickup   

n.拾起，获得

参考例句：

• I would love to trade this car for a pickup truck.我愿意用这辆汽车换一辆小型轻便卡车。||The luck guy is a choice pickup for the girls.那位幸运的男孩是女孩子们想勾搭上的人。

3 icon   

n.偶像，崇拜的对象，画像

参考例句：

• They found an icon in the monastery.他们在修道院中发现了一个圣像。
• Click on this icon to align or justify text.点击这个图标使文本排齐。

4 renaissance   

n.复活，复兴，文艺复兴

参考例句：

• The Renaissance was an epoch of unparalleled cultural achievement.文艺复兴是一个文化上取得空前成就的时代。
• The theme of the conference is renaissance Europe.大会的主题是文艺复兴时期的欧洲。

5 traction   

n.牵引；附着摩擦力

参考例句：

• I'll show you how the traction is applied.我会让你看如何做这种牵引。
• She's injured her back and is in traction for a month.她背部受伤，正在作一个月的牵引治疗。

6 mobility   

n.可动性，变动性，情感不定

参考例句：

• The difference in regional house prices acts as an obstacle to mobility of labour.不同地区房价的差异阻碍了劳动力的流动。
• Mobility is very important in guerrilla warfare.机动性在游击战中至关重要。

7 millennial   

一千年的，千福年的

参考例句：

• Both Russia and America looked to the future to fulfill their millennial expectations. 俄国和美国都把实现他们黄金时代的希望寄托于未来。
• The millennial generation is celebrating the global commons every day, apparently unmindful of Hardin's warning. 千禧一代显然对哈丁的警告不以为然，每天都在颂扬全球“公地”。

8 tilting   

倾斜，倾卸

参考例句：

• For some reason he thinks everyone is out to get him, but he's really just tilting at windmills. 不知为什么他觉得每个人都想害他，但其实他不过是在庸人自扰。
• So let us stop bickering within our ranks.Stop tilting at windmills. 所以，让我们结束内部间的争吵吧！再也不要去做同风车作战的蠢事了。

9 investors   

n.投资者，出资者( investor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a con man who bilked investors out of millions of dollars 诈取投资者几百万元的骗子
• a cash bonanza for investors 投资者的赚钱机会

10 optimize   

v.使优化 [=optimise]

参考例句：

• We should optimize the composition of the Standing Committees.优化人大常委会组成人员的结构。
• We should optimize our import mix and focus on bringing in advanced technology and key equipment.优化进口结构，着重引进先进技术和关键设备。

11 brass   

n.黄铜；黄铜器，铜管乐器

参考例句：

• Many of the workers play in the factory's brass band.许多工人都在工厂铜管乐队中演奏。
• Brass is formed by the fusion of copper and zinc.黄铜是通过铜和锌的熔合而成的。

12 turmoil   

n.骚乱，混乱，动乱

参考例句：

• His mind was in such a turmoil that he couldn't get to sleep.内心的纷扰使他无法入睡。
• The robbery put the village in a turmoil.抢劫使全村陷入混乱。

13 contradictory   

adj.反驳的，反对的，抗辩的；n.正反对，矛盾对立

参考例句：

• The argument is internally contradictory.论据本身自相矛盾。
• What he said was self-contradictory.他讲话前后不符。

14 fiat   

n.命令，法令，批准；vt.批准，颁布

参考例句：

• The opening of a market stall is governed by municipal fiat.开设市场摊位受市政法令管制。
• He has tried to impose solutions to the country's problems by fiat.他试图下令强行解决该国的问题。

15 autonomous   

adj.自治的；独立的

参考例句：

• They proudly declared themselves part of a new autonomous province.他们自豪地宣布成为新自治省的一部分。
• This is a matter that comes within the jurisdiction of the autonomous region.这件事是属于自治区权限以内的事务。

16 modules   

n.模块( module的名词复数 )；单元；（宇宙飞船上各个独立的）舱；组件

参考例句：

• The course consists of ten core modules and five optional modules. 这门课程包括十个必修单元和五个选修单元。
• Our English course is divided into modules on poetry, drama, and novels. 我们的英语课分为诗歌、戏剧和小说等单元。 来自《简明英汉词典》

17 columnist   

n.专栏作家

参考例句：

• The host was interviewing a local columnist.节目主持人正在同一位当地的专栏作家交谈。
• She's a columnist for USA Today.她是《今日美国报》的专栏作家。