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
The Escape and Mariner brothers have gained a few new features to REALLY set them apart from the competition. These things include Blind-Spot mirrors, Rear View Cameras (with intergrated LCD display screen), MyKey, Active Park Assist (as featured on the Lincoln MKS) and a new SYNC system featuring new traffic update system, sat-nav and car information.
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.
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.
With great thanks to AutoblogGreen, here is an analysis of the 2010 Ford Fusion/ Mercury Milan’s hybrid system:
The long-awaited redesign of the Ford Fusion and Mercury Milan is almost upon us and we got our first look at the new powertrains this week in Dearborn. As expected, increased fuel efficiency has been the number one priority for Ford’s engineers, followed by power and refinement.
Ford News Blog readers, say hello to the 2010 Ford Fusion.
Here is the press release with all the information on the new 2010 Ford Fusion / Mercury Milan hybrids which feature Fords new SmartGuage & EcoGuide:
Pushing a vehicle to the limit takes on a new meaning in the new 2010 Ford Fusion and Mercury Milan hybrids, thanks to Ford’s SmartGauge with EcoGuide – an innovative new instrument cluster that provides real-time information to help drivers maximum fuel efficiency.
