Greenpeace besieged Ford's Norwegian headquarters yesterday demanding it abandon plans to scrap hundreds of electric cars.

Activists occupied the roof of the offices outside Oslo after Ford refused to sell the second-hand Think electric vehicles in favour of dumping them.

Truls Gulowsen, of Norwegian Greenpeace, said: ''It is unacceptable that one of the world's largest car producers wants to send environmentally friendly technology to the scrap heap.''

Ford said it had to scrap the vehicles because they could be unreliable and so damage its brand image. It had rejected several offers to buy, refurbish and sell on the cars, it said.

''From a brand standpoint it would be unacceptable for the Ford brand having this small number of cars running around, which are likely to have serious issues in the Norwegian environment,'' Ford said.

Ford has already invested upwards of £62m in the Think project - which also had the backing of the Norwegian Government. The move to sell the electric car business forms part of Ford's global debt-reduction plan as well as delivering on its strategy of concentrating on the development of hydrogen fuel technology.

In August Ford said it was pulling the plug on the Think program after disappointing sales and lack of government support for electric vehicle programs reduced its mass market viability.