Joe and I arrived last night in Dearborn, Michigan. This sprawling Detroit suburb is the centre of Ford's universe - vast numbers of cars and trucks have been built here for a century. Today it still makes huge numbers of them - too many, in fact, to match a collapse in market demand. Dearborn leads many of Ford's design and engineering projects and remains home of Ford's iconic HQ building, which dominates the area.
But right now it's difficult to work out whether change has overwhelmed even this mighty business. In the parking lot is our car for the week - a Mercury Mariner hybrid SUV (aka Ford Escape Hybrid). The Mariner / Escape hybrid is one of two key designs that Ford is now pushing to mainstream customers in a non-threatening, progressive-change kind of way. A medium-sized "Sport Utility" car which can hold five people and a load of luggage, it drives like a Toyota Prius - in every way, it's designed not to shock customers. Core products like these are Ford's attempt to revive market demand, get production back up and prove to government that it deserves support.
Somehow I'm not sure it's enough. It feels like today's car spruced up with eco-driving features. There's no buzz, no rethink of what a vehicle can be, no sense that what you're seeing here is a dynamic industry creating new stuff that engages people in a new way.
I'm hoping to find some bigger answers in the days to come. We're heading out right now to meet Jeff Greenberg at Ford's VIRTTEX Lab, where the team are doing pioneering work to look at how driving interfaces can can adapt driver behaviour and help them cope with driving new technology powertrains. In the coming days we'll be meeting Sue Cischke, Ford's global head of sustainability strategy, Nancy Gioia who leads electric vehicle partnerships and then key designers such as the iconic J.Mays and Moray Callum.
If you have questions, comments or ideas, now is the time to share them. We'll be sharing the story as we go - with videos, writing and photos. Add comments below, or contact me via Twitter (I'm @charmermark) I'll get your questions in.
Mark Charmer is a founder of The Movement Design Bureau.
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