Ford, U-Haul launch industry-first fleet of eco-friendly painted vehicles on US highways

07 August 2007

Ford Motor Company and U-Haul this week are putting on the road the industry's first fleet of vehicles painted with Ford's environmentally responsible new technology, which reduces greenhouse gases by 15 per cent and cuts Ford's production costs.

Some 200 Ford E-Series trucks painted with this new technology have been delivered to U-Haul facilities around the country. U-Haul will begin renting the units, tagged with eco-friendly decals, to customers this week.

The technology combines an advanced chemical formulation of high-solids, solvent-borne paint with an innovative three-wet application process that requires a smaller, less expensive and cleaner paint shop than traditional automotive paint facilities.

Joe Hinrichs, vice president, North America Manufacturing, Ford Motor Company, said Ford will monitor the U-Haul fleet over the next year to gather important durability data that will help the company develop long-term rollout plans for its industry-first technology.

"This marks a big win for our customers, the environment and the business," Hinrichs said at the annual Center for Automotive Research Management Conference. "We have high hopes for this technology based on our laboratory testing. Once we understand how it performs in the real world, we'll determine how best to apply it to other manufacturing facilities."