Archive for the ‘Ford News’ Category

The 2010 Ford Fusion Hybrid has erased any doubt that an American car company can offer an affordable, well-built sedan. This was the conclusion of  Motor Trend‘s editors after one year of access to the Fusion in their famous fleet.

Besides the Ford’s excellent design and handling, the Fusion scored major points for requiring nothing more than a few standard oil changes and tire rotations during the year. Besides its low maintenance cost, the Fusion hybrid reduces 3,504 pounds of CO2 from entering the atmosphere. Combine this with its astonishing range and gas mileage, and you have a all around winner in the sedan class.

[W]hat impressed just about everybody was that it’s simply an honest, affordable, well-constructed sedan. The thing the experts said American car companies weren’t supposed to be capable of anymore. – Kim Reynolds Motor Trend Magazine

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With the Ford Mustang, one thing hasn’t changed with time – it is still one of the hottest sport vehicles on the market. In a recent Auto Guide review, one editor compared the new 2011 Mustang GT with his original 1987 version and found vast improvements in all categories, making it still one of the best rides on the road.

Other than its classic design, the Mustang’s main attraction is raw power. The new  GT boasts a 5.0-liter V8, the first 5.0-liter engine to power a Mustang since 1995 and with nearly 100 more horsepower than last year’s model, the 2011 GT is setting the standard for vehicles in its class. Fuel efficiency is also increased over last year’s model and the entire outfit uses high-tech American aluminum instead of the iron of yesteryear.

On the road, this GT Convertible feels solid as a bank vault. No squeaks, no rattles, and less chassis flex or cowl shake than the new Mercedes E-Class, or BMW convertibles. – Ken Glassman for Auto Guide

Now if we could just get some sunshine so we could let the top down…

Looking for your own Ford car, truck or SUV? Browse our latest online specials on new and pre-owned vehicles 24/7 at damerowford.com.

After recent wins in Sweden during the World Rally Championships with the Fiesta,  Ford rolled out its newest racing hopeful – the 2012 Ford Focus Touring Car at the Geneva Auto Show. As Motor Trend reports, Ford announced last winter its interest in using the new global 2012 Focus as platform for touring car races around the world, including the British Touring Car Championship.

Developed in partnership with BTCC veterans Arena Motorsport, the Focus Touring has a 2.0-liter turbocharged I-4, which has been slightly modified to meet the FIA’s S2000 class regulations. It is also equipped with a roll cage built to meet FIA standards.

This new BTCC Focus is the first result of a collaborative effort between Ford and race teams around the world that have already built and raced successful Focus race cars. – Jost Capito, Ford’s director of global performance vehicles

While other modification details were unavailable during the show, the Focus body sported flared fenders, slammed ride height, and wild rear wing. We can’t wait to see it in action.

Looking for your own Ford car, truck or SUV? Browse our latest online specials on new and pre-owned vehicles 24/7 at damerowford.com.

Not only is the Ford Mustang Boss 302 a hot-looking sports car, it can tear up some serious pavement. Edmunds Inside Line took the new Mustang for a spin on the famous Laguna Seca raceway and found the vehicle to be unrivaled in its performance.

The original Boss 302 was introduced in 1969 as a road racing car for the street. The 2012 version is more powerful, louder, quicker and offers better handling than any previous models. It is offered with two levels of equipment: the standard Boss 302 and the limited-edition Boss 302 Laguna Seca package. Both come with 5.0-liter engine that cranks out 444 horsepower.

Check out the test drive in this video:

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Ford was recently awarded Best New Technology by the Automobile Journalists Association of Canada (AJAC) for the company’s rear inflatable seat belts. The announcement came at the 2011 Canadian International Auto Show over the weekend, according to Torque News.

In order to reduce injuries that could be incurred during an accident, Ford’s inflatable rear seat belts reduce pressure on the chest while helping to control head and neck motion. By spreading the impact force more than five times that of conventional belts, pressure is reduced on the chest which also affects head and neck motion. The Ford vehicle’s crash-sensing system determines exactly when the inflatable belt should deploy.

Traditionally, heat-generating chemicals would be used to inflate the belts, however, Ford uses cold compressed gas. This means, the inflatable belts do not get warmer than the wearer’s body temperature and they fill at a lower pressure than traditional airbags.

Ford’s rear inflatable seat belt technology will enhance safety for rear seat passengers of all ages, especially for young children who are more vulnerable in crashes. – Sue Cischke, Ford group vice president of Sustainability, Environment and Safety Engineering.

Ford originally introduced the seat belts in the 2011 Explorer and has promised to offer the technology globally.

Looking for your own Ford car, truck or SUV?  Browse our latest online specials on new and pre-owned vehicles 24/7 at damerowford.com.

The Ford Fiesta wins the Sweden track in the  2011 World Rally Championship Race despite deep snow and below freezing temperatures. Check out this video documenting the team journey to first place. Brrrrr…

Looking for your own Ford car, truck or SUV?  Browse our latest online specials on new and pre-owned vehicles 24/7 at damerowford.com.

Ford’s Michigan Assembly Plant has been converted from truck production to build the new 2012 Focus sedan and hatchback. As reported in a recent Motor Trend article, it’s also the factory for the electric Focus and both hybrid and plug-in hybrid versions of the Focus-based C-Max multipurpose vehicle.

Ford can utilize this one factory for electrics, hybrids and gas-powered models. According to Ford product chief Derrick Kuzak, this flexibility means the factory can add production of a particularly popular model while cutting production of models that aren’t selling as well.  He says the Fiesta’s early 60/40 hatchback/sedan split is more hatchback than Ford expected.

Besides the Focus Sedan and Hatchback, Ford plans to start producing the Focus Electric and all of the C-Max models (standard, hybrid and plug-in) within the next two years.

Looking for your own Ford car, truck or SUV?  Browse our latest online specials on new and pre-owned vehicles 24/7 at damerowford.com.

For car enthusiasts, the 2012 Ford Focus is a much anticipated and long overdue vehicle. Many fans have been awaiting the day that the American market would experience some of the top-notch Ford vehicles only available in Europe. And they may just find satisfaction in the radically improved Focus.

In a recent Motor Trend review, the new Focus proved to be a solid, confident performer in both the sedan and four-door styles.  Touted changes included the combination of  the new direct-injected 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine with  the well-chosen gear ratios that make the engine feel stronger than the numbers may suggest. The optional five-speed manual and comfortable front bucket seats also won mentions.

As has been the trend amongst compact sedans lately, the Ford Focus has vaulted from forgettable to formidable in one fell swoop. The improvements to the new car are night and day compared to what we had, and we’d expect no less from an all-new car. – Scott Evans, Motor Trend Magazine

Ford Fiesta RS WRC

Ford has revealed the finalized paint scheme for its latest rally weapon, the new Ford Fiesta RS World Rally Championship car. The vehicle debuted at the Paris Motor Show back in September, but the exterior color theme has been hush hush until now.

Although similar to the paint scheme of the Focus WRC cars from last year, there are a few differences. Mainly, the bright green of former sponsor BP has been removed and the base color is white instead of blue. The overall point was to make the Fiesta look aggressive and clean, reports Motor Trend Magazine.

Hopefully, people appreciate it when it’s on the stages, that it will be eye-catching, and create an iconic image people will remember in the future. – Gerard Quinn, Motorsports Director for Ford Europe

The Fiesta RS WRC car is based on the Fiesta S2000 rally car, which has proven successful in global rally competition. Power comes from a turbocharged 1.6-liter I-4 based off Ford’s new EcoBoost 1.6-liter, and is channeled through an all-wheel-drive system.  The Fiesta RS WRC will debut at Rally Sweden on February 10.

To check out your own Ford car, truck or SUV,  browse our latest online specials on new and pre-owned vehicles 24/7 at damerowford.com.

Who could forget the super hot Ford GT, the mid-engine, rear-wheel-drive, 550-hp supercar that the company built from 2005 to 2006? Well, there may be another incarnation, or so rumored and reported by Automobile Magazine.

When asked about the possibility of a successor to the GT at an intimate media dinner, Ford president and CEO Alan Mulally chose to neither confirm nor deny. Instead, after a thoughtful pause by head of global product development Derrick Kuzak, Mulally jokingly pleaded ignorance.

All I know is, if the ground is wet, they don’t let me drive it. – Alan Mulally Ford President and CEO

All joking aside, the skillful skirting of the issue was enough to give journalists hope for a GT supercar future, which will surely spreads to fans of the Ford vehicle as well.

To learn more about our other great new Ford cars, trucks & SUVs, browse our latest online specials on new and pre-owned vehicles 24/7 at damerowford.com.