Source: Autoblog
How’s this for an odd twist – Ford essentially kicked off the SUV craze with its Explorer, an embiggened four-door Ranger. And man, did we go crazy. Before the cheap-gas bubble burst, slightly more than half of all passenger vehicles sold here in America were SUVs. Just below the Explorer was and is Ford’s little truck (which is no longer little) the Escape.
Ford USA (incl. Lincoln and Mercury) have, for the first time in a year, over-turned market leader, Toyota, and have managed to sell more cars. Ford’s final tally was 129,898 which is a 31% drop over April 2008 sales, whereas Toyota, at 126,540, dropped 42% over the same period.
Ford has unveiled a new plan to donate $20 from every test drive of all Ford, Lincoln and Mercury vehicles to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. Press release after the jump.
Image credits: Autoblog
From Autoblog
Ford is working hard to continue earning top marks for crash safety. With a platform inherited from Volvo, they might as well keep piling on the goodies, including radar-assisted cruise control that keeps an eye out for impending collisions and charges up the brakes preemptively.
It’s hard to turn away as loyal customer base as Ford has for its Police Interceptors, but the writing is on the wall for the Ford Crown Victoria, and has been for some time. The full-size sedan is based on Jurassic-era technology, and as of last year, it was taken off the consumer market and is available essentially only by fleet purchase for police, taxis and such.
Admit it, you’ve embarrassed yourself at some point trying to parallel park. It’s like they say about drivers at Indianapolis: There are those who have hit the wall, and those who will. The same principle applies when it comes to parallel parking. Like an increasing number of automakers, Ford is moving beyond the realm of auto-dip side mirrors and into the realm of auto parking systems. The Blue Oval’s new Active Park Assist will initially be available on the Lincoln MKS and MKT (about which you’ll hear much more on January 12) next summer.
As numerous products will be appearing at the 2008 LA Auto Show, Autoblog will give us full coverage of the show – which runs from the 19th (today – tomorrow U.S time) to the 20th.
Source: Autoblog
Automotive News is reporting that big inventories of current-generation Ford Fusion, Mercury Milan and Lincoln MKZ models will lead to the closure of Ford’s Hermosillo plant in Mexico for the entire month of January. The Automotive News Data Center quotes inventory levels of the Ford Fusion at 120 days, while the MKZ is at a very high 229 days.
Source: Ford
It was only a few days ago that Ford unveiled the MyKey system, but now Ford has unveiled another new technological advancement for their vehicles – a radar-based Collision Warning & Brake Support system. This new techonlogy promises to help reduce the number of collisions that motorists are having everyday.
(Full size pic: HERE)
Thanks to LeftLaneNews.com:
Our (LeftLaneNew.com’s) spy photographers nabbed Ford’s (or rather Lincoln’s – ed) MKT crossover just hours ago – and they were able to grab one of the first shots of the MKT’s EcoBoost twin-turbo V6 engine. The MKT will be one of the first Ford vehicles to get the highly-anticipated engine, though judging by the stylized “T” and “F” on the plastic cover, it looks like Ford is planning to keep the Twin Force moniker for its upscale Lincoln brand – instead of EcoBoost, which it will use on Ford division products.
