Category: Ford

Ford will soon join China’s unique stretched car segment with an extended Mondeo which is currently being worked on. The first picture of the Mondeo was released on a Chinese forum (when?).

The limousine will compete with the Cadillac, Audi and BMW stretched versions, all of which are used as chauffeur-driven cars. The Chinese Cadillac SLS made its public debut at the Beijing Auto Show. Lengthened by 4 inches, it provides additional room for backseat passengers.

BMW also unveiled a stretched 5-Series at the same motor show. With an extra 5.5“ the saloon is actually an inch longer than the 7 Series luxury model. The limousine features a DVD player, an 8-inch monitor and even a refrigerated storage box.

The Audi A6L is the oldest car in the segment and gives us an insight into the Chinese car market. In two years, 61,000 out of 81,000 Audi A6 sold in China had a stretched body. Four inches longer than the normal A6, it was revamped in April. The main changes concerned the rear space. The car is equipped with a new 10” screen and a DVD player.

Source: Chinacartimes

After months of bad news, Ford announced an end to 21 months of losses with a recorded profit of £370m/€549m/$750m for the second quarter of 2007. Even the troubled PAG division, which includes Jaguar, Land Rover and Volvo, recorded a small profit of £69m/€102m/$140m.

While the announcement astonished the financial community, Ford CEO Allan Mulally avoided triumphalism. He declared that he did not expect the company to record further profit before the end of 2009. He expects simply to reduce the forecasted loss of £8.4bn/€12.4bn/$17bn.

It seems like the restructuring is showing signs of success, but the pill was bitter to swallow. Ford sold Aston Martin, closed 16 plants and axed 45,000 jobs to avoid bankruptcy.

Last week I reported that Ford Australia will replace its inline-6 engine with the Ford Duratec V6 engine. Ford announced yesterday that its Australian division will produce the European Ford Focus in 2011. Production of the Focus will be entrusted to Ford’s Campbellfield plant, which already produces the current Falcon saloon and Territory SUV models.

The Ford Focus has been sold in Australia since 2002. The current second generation is built in South Africa and then exported to Australia and New Zealand. Its production on the Australian continent will probably decrease the effects of currency exchange rates. It is also the first step towards Ford’s commitment to offer job opportunities within the Ford Group to all employees of Geelong factory, which will close in 2010. The Ford Focus move will create 300 new jobs.

The Campbellfield factory will build 40,000 cars every year, of which 15,000 will be exported to South Africa.

With this shift in its current product range, Ford tries to meet the demand for small cars, which has exploded over the past ten years. Small cars accounted for 21.7 per cent of all new cars sold in Australia last year, up from 15.4 per cent in 1998.

Anyone who has ever compared the vehicle sizes in the U.S. with those in Europe will have quickly noticed that the biggest models here are seen as mid-sized cars across the pond. While we Europeans love the Golf, at 165 inches long, Americans love the Toyota Camry, at 189 inches long. However, troubled times are pushing American carmakers to consider the impossible: importing these small European cars onto American soil!

Ford’s CEO Mulally has given the official order to import at least two European-designed Fords in the near future. Ford already sells a compact inspired by the European Focus, but while the Focus adopted the C1 platform in 2004, the American model kept the old one launched in 1998. Ford said that this was because the C1 platform was too expensive for the American market. Nevertheless, Mazda models that uses the C1 platform are sold in the U.S. As a shareholder in Mazda, why was Ford not be able to sell a C1 platform-based car in the U.S.?

In order to meet a potential demand, Ford will probably import the C-Max MPV and new Kuga that will be unveiled at the next Frankfurt Motor Show. The cars will be built in Ford’s Mexico and Wayne factories.

This decision deserves to be questioned. Will European cars save American carmakers? When Ford imported the Ford Sierra at the end of the eighties to be sold as Merkur Scorpio, the public did not really understand the positioning of the car in relation to the rest of the American range. How would Ford fit the C-Max in with the Ford Edge, Taurus X and the Fusion? Only time will tell.

It is well known that Ford is in serious trouble and that cutting costs may be the only method of survival for the American carmaker. There are big decisions to be made, such as whether or not to sell Jaguar and even Volvo. Lesser decisions are also being taken, such as the announcement that Ford will stop producing the inline-6 cylinders engine found on the Australian Ford cars.

The current cars, the Falcon, the Flacon Ute and the successful Territory will replace their inline-6 with the new V6 Duratec engine, built in the U.S.

For the factory based in Geelong, it means that the future of its 600 employees is uncertain. Ford has, however, pledged to give all plant employees other job opportunities within the Ford group.

According to the British weekly car magazine Auto Express, Ford is currently working on a small MPV based on the B platform. The B platform already used by the new Mazda Demio will also be used for the next generation Fiesta.

Despite ambivalent sales from competitors on the small MPV segment, Ford thinks it could surf on the success met by the S-Max. Ford struggles to satisfy the demand for the latter.

Renault Modus’ failure should serve as a lesson for Ford: the MPV will have to be roomy enough to justify the higher price. As the next Fiesta will be probably 154” long, the B-Max will have to be longer. But Ford has to be careful. Too long, and the future B-Max could threaten the C-Max. Ford must also be careful not to design merely a reduced version of the S-Max. Though the S-Max may have enough sex appeal today, the situation will be different in two years.

Bearing all this in mind, the B-Max appears to be a difficult exercise for Ford. Perhaps it would be better not to build a small MPV after all.

  Hello fellow car lovers. So sorry for the delay in new blogs, but I’ve been swamped at work and I lost the pics from the classic car show a couple of weeks back. Just my luck! Anyway, this Mustang is owned by a couple I met yesterday. He is in the army and has dedicated this car to VA’s, POW’s and MIA’s. He takes it to car shows around the Olympia area. Very nice. I know the pic is a little blurry, but I wanted to put it on here so everyone could take a look. The front hood has a ton of names of VA’s on it. I think it’s such a great tribute! I’ll try to find out a little more about it in the next couple days and post the info. He offered to put my grandfather’s name on it too! What a guy! Anyway, take a look and see what you think! Have a great week all!

Today is a day like no other. Among dealing with things like commission-paid work(God help me!)and a massive chocolate addiction, now I must face the fact that my poor little Nissan is finally breaking apart. The starter is making that awful grinding noise, both chrome bumpers are dented, the tranny is slowing, the windshield is dinged in several places and a squeaking noise is coming from the front somewhere. It truly is a sad day for me, not only because I love my dirty,dented, rust-spotted baby, but because today I was offered a 2001 Ford Focus ZX3 with low mileage for the price of $6000.

In that light, I’ll make 3 points. First of all, my entire life the words,"Ford sucks!" have been drilled into my head by various sources. How many times have I seen the bumper stickers with a picture of Calvin peeing on a Ford logo? Not to dis Ford. Really. It’s just what I’ve been taught. Second, I’m totally turned off by hatchbacks. There is no vehicle less sexy. And I absolutely abhor tiny vehicles. I don’t think anything can make me feel more claustrophobic, not even being stuck in an elevator with Carrot Top. How in the hell do I fit all my camping gear in the trunk? Where do I put my kayak? Certainly, not on the roof. It may cave in!I can probably fit more people in the extend-cab of my truck then in a hatchback! Clearly, you can tell I’m bitter. Lastly, six thousand dollars for a car the size of my fist? To me,someone who lives off commissions, that’s like paying twenty dollars for a snowcone with no flavoring. I can buy half of a new truck for that price,drive on two wheels, and I’d be happy.

Ok, ok, in all seriousness, I really am in a rut about all of this. I do need a new vehicle and the person who offered it is great and wouldn’t screw me around. The hatchback, I’m sure, is very econonmical, especially in these days of totally insane gas prices. Ford most likely isin’t as bad as I’ve been told. It’s just that your car is a major part of your life, therefore a major part of you. I know what my father would say right now."Such is life! You’ll never get exactly what you want, so suck it up and stop whining!" Ok, Dad, your right. Getting from A to B is more important than looking hot and going 4×4-ing. But, let me ask ya, would you give up your Corvette for a Pinto in the name of economics? Didn’t think so.

Early 2006, Ford will release the name and characteristics of a new minivan deriving from the SAV Concept seen in Geneva last March. Positioned between the Mondeo and the ageing Galaxy, it’ll be made in Ford’s Belgian factory of Genk. Contrary to the C-Max, the yet-to-be-named new minivan will offer accommodation for up to 7 people. But like the C-Max, it’ll appear as a somewhat sporty people carrier, remaining close to the prototype. Hence, one might guess it’ll replace the Galaxy, released some 10 years ago. It’ll hit the showrooms summer 2006.