Shame on Ford for 'Japanese vs. domestic' rhetoric

Shame on Ford for 'Japanese vs. domestic' rhetoric about car pool bill

When will Michiganians realize that Detroit’s more-than-20-year-old “Japanese versus domestics†battle cry is worn out and ineffective when it comes to today’s legislators and policymakers?

In fact, such ethnic labeling can backfire, as it has in California, where a Los Angeles Times writer suggests Ford Motor Co. leaders are a “bunch of girlie men,†using Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s term, generally, for wimpy people.

Here’s the background: Ford Chairman and CEO Bill Ford sent a letter to California objecting to legislation allowing some gasoline-electric hybrid vehicles to use car pool lanes even if only the driver is inside.

Using the old, ‘80s rhetoric, Ford told Schwarzenegger and lawmakers that the proposal “amounts to a ‘buy Japanese’ bill.â€

Why? Because it will keep Ford’s new Escape Hybrid — rated at 31 miles per gallon on the highway — in the congested, noncar pool lanes, while solo travelers in Japanese-built hybrids — such as Toyota Motor Co.p.’s Prius and Honda Motor Co.’s Insight — will be rolling by in the diamond lanes because they meet the law’s required minimum of 45 mpg.

Did anyone in Dearborn realize — or care — that “the Japanese†comment might offend the bill’s co-author, George Nakano? Nakano is a U.S.-born Japanese-American from the Los Angeles area who spent four years in an internment camp in World War II.

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Jeff