Coca Cola (KO) And Ford (F) Announce Plan To Use Greener Materials For Ford Car Interiors

Note: The original verison of this story said Ford would be using recycled PlantBottle plastic to make interior components, such as seat cushions and fabrics. In fact, Ford will be using Coca-Cola's PlantBottle technology to make these components to reduce petroleum consumption, but they won't be made from recycled PlantBottle containers.

Corrected story begins here:

Two well-known American brands are joining forces with a deal that will use greener plastic used for beverage containers to make part of a car’s interior.

The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) and Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F) said Friday they will unveil more details of their partnership at the L.A. Auto Show next week.

Ford will use Coca-Cola's patented PlantBottle technology, which mixes plastic and plant material to reduce the consumption of polyethylene terephthalate (PET), a downstream petroleum product used to make polyester and plastic containers.

Coke says its PlantBottle has offset the use of 400,000 barrels of oil since 2009 to make the company’s plastic containers.

“If PlantBottle interior fabrics were migrated across the majority of U.S. Ford models, it would displace nearly 4 million pounds of petroleum-derived materials, as well as save the equivalent of 295,000 gallons of gasoline and 6,000 barrels of oil,” said a joint statement from the two companies.

Under the new deal, Ford will use the plant-PET plastic in a range of interior components, including seat cushions, head restraints and door panel inserts. Ford will display a Fusion Energi plug-in hybrid with the new material at the 10-day auto show that starts Nov. 22.