There can be little doubt that two of the most iconic American brands are the Ford Motor Company and Coca-Cola. The powerhouse companies have joined forces in the name of creating exciting new products derived from renewable materials to unveil a sharp-looking Ford Fusion Energi manufactured using Coca-Cola’s PlantBottle Technology.
From the outside, this Fusion Energi plug-in hybrid is striking in a green and silver-accented paint scheme that evokes the PlantBottle logo’s color scheme. However, it’s the inside that really shines: lime green-trimmed cloth seats give the PlantBottle Fusion Energi a distinctly sporty look that makes it hard to ignore.
Particularly hard to ignore: the fact that the material used to make these seats comes from the same plastic (polyethylene terephthalate, or PET) Coca-Cola uses to make its plastic bottles. Using PlantBottle technology, engineers at Ford turned the PET into a durable, automotive-grade fiber that was woven into a fabric that is both more environmentally friendly and more durable.
“By using PlantBottle Technology in a plug-in hybrid, Ford and Coca-Cola are showing the broad potential to leverage renewable materials that help replace petroleum and other fossil fuels, reducing the overall environmental impact of future vehicles,” said John Viera, global director of sustainability and vehicle environmental matters at Ford, in the automaker’s official press release.
The 2014 Ford Fusion and Fusion Energi already incorporate a number of sustainable material innovations, including sound-absorbing denim material in the carpet liner, material equivalent to 38.9 recycled clear-plastic bottles (16 oz) in certain cloth-seat models, and 31,250 soybeans for foam used in seat cushions. Ford’s ingenuity has already led to a considerably-reduced carbon footprint while delivering the kind of requisite comfort that drivers expect from their vehicles.
To find out more about Ford’s progress toward better sustainability, or to simply test drive one of our new 2014 vehicles, stop in and see us at Shults Ford Lincoln of Wexford today!
