Ford To Develop Vehicle For Asia

Ford Motor Company has embarked upon a comprehensive research for designing and developing a personal use vehicle for the Asian market, including India. The US automobile giant also intends to develop mobility, environmental and city planning models for Indian cities, where vehicle population growth is becoming a hazard.

Ford has engaged the Harvard University as well as the University of California, Riverside, for undertaking the research. Among the other participants in the study are the Central Institute of Road Transport, the Automobile Research Association of India, the ministry of surface transportation, the Tata Energy Research Institute, the Delhi Central Pollution Control Board, the Central Institute for Road Transport, the Delhi Transport Corporation, the Delhi School of Economics, the Asia Development Bank and the World Bank.

 

The primary objective of this five-year program is to develop user-friendly, computer-based models to help countries such as India plan their transportation systems' infrastructure more effectively. These models can also be used to develop new concepts in personal use transportation systems that are energy efficient, environment friendly and affordable.

In China, Ford completed a similar study in 1998 in co-operation with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, China's Ministry of Science and Technology and several other government, academic and industry organisations from the US and China.

The study developed computer models to assess the potential impact of transportation systems, technologies and policies on the environment and economies of Asia-Pacific countries.

In Vietnam, Ford has developed THINK e.go, an electric bike specifically designed to meet the needs of the local market. The programme will be expanded to other markets once the concept is successful, company sources said.

Giving the broad outline of the Ford-Harvard study for the mobility programme in India, Vinay K Piparsania, vice-president, external affairs, Ford India Ltd, said the India-related research gets kicked off by the end of the year.

Sources explained that the need for such a study arose as emerging market countries are increasingly facing the challenge to provide citizens an economical infrastructure for personal use and public transportation systems that improve mobility, reduce emissions and increase energy efficiency.

In India, for example, transportation is the most rapidly growing sector for energy-use. "The desire for personal mobility -- as reflected by the burgeoning Indian motor vehicle population -- has led to urban congestion and air quality concerns. Many cities including Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, and Bangalore already have air-quality problems that could be greatly exacerbated if transportation growth is not managed properly," according to a Ford report.

Piparsania says the mobility program will develop a manifold of computer modules for efficient planning of personal use transportation systems. "The emphasis will be on emerging-market economies, although data from mature economies will be used for validation purposes."

The first stage of the program focuses on urban settings, topics such as economic needs and benefits from personal mobility, population growth, personal income-vehicle ownership relationships, public transportation alternatives, traffic and congestion, land-use management, air quality and health effects.

The study will also identify key technical, economic and policy parameters common to high-density cities throughout the world. Transport issues related to city suburbs, to inter-city and to inter-regional systems are topics for subsequent projects, the Ford report added.