Geneva - Officials warned that the forecast sales of Ford's electric car is "very ambitious". He said when Geneva Motor Show was still in progress that it was the type of vehicle in relation to its dominance at the Geneva Motor Show.
Ford's chief financial officer, Lewis Booth, questioned the viability of electric cars if there is no state subsidy. Leading car manufacturers are introducing the latest electric vehicle or hybrid models of them in Geneva.
BMW and Peugeot also confirmed a joint venture valued at 100 million euros (85 million pounds) to develop electric technology.
"Electric vehicles are currently very expensive and they have limitations. There is a question mark about how long the government can subsidize the vehicle when they were under pressure from various financial problems," said Booth.
"Some plan to sell for electric vehicles is very ambitious because I am not sure how consumers will be able to buy. Our philosophy is that we have a set of technologies, ranging from continuing to refine the conventional vehicle, then plug-ins, hybrid and electric vehicles. The decision is on the consumer and we want to satisfy all consumers, it is not just the rich consumers. "
Philippe Varin, chief executive of Peugeot, warned Europe in danger of being left behind by Asia and the Americas if they did not increase investment in infrastructure for low carbon vehicles.
"We should standardize the infrastructure. we are late to be compared to Asia," he said.
"When it's viewed from the amount of money, it requires big enough fund to support car manufacturers in Asia and the U.S. in this technology. The EU and its programs is inefficient. They are too complex and fragmented into many small pieces. To get access to support R & D (Research & Development) is a fairly difficult process. "
"We (Peugeot and BMW) did not seek state support. We said that we should be better at working with the European Union to give birth to first steps and gain access to R & D programs are appropriate."
(ENY/A038/BRT)
