How can a carmaker best known for selling gas-guzzling pickups make consumers feel a little less guilty about buying one in this age of eco-awareness? Try this: carbon offsets. Simi Valley Ford, in what may be a first for a major domestic auto dealership, is offering to buy two years of carbon offsets for every truck and car purchased at its store through April 22. It works like this: The dealership is donating a varying amount of cash – depending on the vehicles miles per gallon rating – to Carbonfund.org, a Bethesda, Md. environmental group. The organization will then use the money for tree planting projects and other initiatives that in some way cancel out the emissions of the new vehicle. “It’s a way for our customers to buy green,” said Mike Shell, the dealership’s fleet manager, who developed the program. “And it seems to be making a difference to customers.” Shell, who was hired by the dealership in November, previously started two social networking sites devoted to promoting green-friendly lifestyles and environmental policy: GoGreenTube.com and PlanetDaddy.com. The offsets vary from just $45 for a gas-sipping Ford Fusion hybrid, rated at 47 mpg, to $142 for the huge Expedition, an SUV that has generated some bad publicity for Ford in the past given its meager 14 miles to the gallon. Executives at Ford’s Dearborn, Ill. headquarters did not respond to calls for comment, but Shell said they loved the idea so much that they have agreed to pay for all marketing and advertising as a test for a potentially wider campaign. “We proposed it to corporate Ford, and they’re backing it,” Shell said. “If it’s successful, then next year they’ll roll it out to between 100 and 500 other dealerships.” Jesse Toprak, vice president of industry trends at Santa Monica online car sales firm TrueCar Inc. wasn’t sure that the campaign would convince the truly eco-conscious in their decision making, but said the campaign was original and would cut little into the dealership’s sales margins. “I don’t know how many people are trying to save the world with their car purchases,” he said. “But it’s certainly creative. I can’t imagine it’s an extremely expensive promotion and it stands out.” But Shell says the relatively small amounts add up. “If every new car dealership in America did this, annually we’d have 150 million tons offset,” said Shell. “And $15 billion would be going back to renewable energy and other things.” – Kelly Goff
Hitting Brake On Carbon Footprint
