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Internet poll dubs four-ton SUV the "Ford Valdez" Washington, DC - Ford is now building a new 19-foot, four-ton "super duty" sport utility vehicle which will guzzle enough gas to make Saddam Hussein smile. But they don't have a name for it. So as a public service, Sierra Club held a contest to help Ford "NAME THAT GAS GUZZLER". The truck in question is Ford Motor Company's largest and most gas guzzling sport utility vehicle ever. Dubbed by one entrant as a "suburban assault vehicle", the new truck weighs in at over 7,500 pounds and stretch 19 feet in length. It is the biggest sport utility vehicle on the road, dwarfing both the Ford Expedition and the Chevy Suburban. It will emit more global warming pollution than two average cars. "Its basically like a garbage truck which dumps into the sky," said Daniel Becker, Director of the Sierra Club's Global Warming and Energy Program. "Ford typically markets these vehicles as the best way to enjoy the great outdoors. But the truth is this truck is the Joe Camel of the auto industry." The more gas a vehicle guzzles the more pollution it emits. A 14 mile per gallon SUV spews 70 tons of carbon dioxide, the primary global warming pollutant, over its lifetime. Gas guzzling also means more oil drilling and more reliance on OPEC. More fuel efficient vehicles are the biggest single step to curbing global warming and saving oil. The Sierra Club naming contest was held on the organization's global warming web site. Web surfers who visited the site offered humorous and ingenious names and slogans for the behemoth vehicle. Sierra Club leaders from across the country combed through the hundreds of entries to pick the winner. And the winner is...(drum roll please)... "The Ford Valdez - Have You Driven a Tanker Lately?"
It was submitted by a student at the School of Mines in Golden, Colorado who will receive an autographed (doctored) photo of Saddam Hussein hugging Ford CEO Alex Trotman and a Sierra Club global warming T-shirt. Second Place went to: "The Ford Exploiter - Profiting from the destruction of your planet!"
It was submitted by a staffer at the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration's Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory in Ann Arbor Michigan. The third spot was taken by "The FordZilla - Powerful enough to pass everything on the highway -- except a gas station." Fourth place was won by "The Saddam - the truck that will put America between Iraq and a hard place." "If you thought fins on a car were bad, wait until you see the whole whale," said Becker. "Completing Ford's retro theme, rumor has it that the Valdez will come with 8-track stereo and a leisure suit as standard equipment." "Ford seems intent on resurrecting the gas guzzlers of the 1970's," said Steve Pedery, Conservation Assistant at the Sierra Club. "By introducing this Pinto on steroids, Ford management proves that not all dinosaurs are extinct." Top Ten Names For Ford's New Gas Guzzler:
Honorable Mentions:
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