Ford Motor Co. announced it is building a US$20 million flexible fuel plant in the Philippines. It expects to produce 100,000 engines over the next 5 years valued at US$100 million.
A first for Ford in the region, the flexible fuel engines will be designed to operate on either conventional gasoline or a combination of gasoline and bio-ethanol fuels. Full production is expected to begin before the end of 2006.
The Philippines government’s alternative fuel program aims to reduce dependence on imported conventional fuel and promote a cleaner environment while potentially spurring agro-industrial investment in rural areas through the production of bio-ethanol fuel.
The engines from the Philippine plant will be used in the production of Flexible Fuel vehicles (FFVs). Currently, Ford Motor Company has more than one million ethanol-powered cars and trucks on the road. In North America, four new vehicles are planned for 2006 that will largely run on ethanol, increasing the production of FFVs in 2006 to as much as 250,000 units.
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