Ford, Subaru and Volkswagen Rated As Top 3 Safest Cars

Once again, Ford, the automaker of the moment, has found something else to win.

Ford, Subaru and Volkswagen top the insurance industry's annual list of the safest new vehicles. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety is giving its top safety pick today to 19 passenger cars and eight sport-utility vehicles for the 2010 model year, and Ford and its subsidiary Volvo received the most picks, six.

The institute substantially reduced the number of awards compared with 2009, because of tougher requirements for roof strength.

Japan's Subaru and Germany's Volkswagen and sister brand Audi came next on the list. But there were bits of good news for a lot of automakers, including General Motors and its new Buick LaCrosse. Here's the whole thing:

LARGE CARS

Buick LaCrosse

Ford Taurus

Lincoln MKS

Volvo S80

MIDSIZE CARS

Audi A3

Chevrolet Malibu (built after Oct. 2009)

Chrysler Sebring (four-door with optional ESC)

Dodge Avenger

Mercedes C-Class

Subaru Legacy

Subaru Outback

Volkswagen Jetta (four-door)

Volkswagen Passat (four-door)

Volvo C30

SMALL CARS

Honda Civic (four-door with optional ESC, except Si)

Kia Soul

Nissan Cube

Subaru Impreza (except WRX)

Volkswagen Golf (four-door)

MIDSIZE SUVs

Dodge Journey

Subaru Tribeca

Volvo XC60

Volvo XC90

SMALL SUVs

Honda Element

Jeep Patriot (with optional side thorax air bags)

Subaru Forester

Volkswagen Tiguan

2011 Ford Mustang V-6 is finally out

The new Mustang V-6 is Ford’s first rear-drive application of its familiar 3.7-liter with twin-independent variable cam timing. The Mustang 3.7 includes aggressive deceleration shutoff, piston-cooling jets, polished valvetrain tappets and electric power steering and transmits its power through six speeds, automatic or manual.

And the numbers are impressive: Ford claims 305 horsepower at 6500 rpm, 280 pound-feet at 4250 rpm and 30 mpg with the automatic, on the highway. “We are the only ones who can provide 30 mpg and 305 horsepower,” says Barb Samardzich, Ford’s global powertrain vice president. What’s more, redline is now a Honda-like 7000 rpm.

For those of you keeping score, the Mustang’s new V-6 is 0.5-liters smaller and 41 pounds lighter than the lump it replaces, it has 95 more horses and it’s 2 decibels quieter.

In addition, Ford will offer the V-6 Mustang with a performance package, featuring the GT’s suspension with high-performance brakes, summer tires on exclusive 19-inch wheels and vehicle stability control. Ford figures it will be popular with Mustang’s younger buyers (read, “growing out of the Civic Si”). So the next Mustang-Camaro faceoff won’t just be about 0-60 and quarter-mile, it’ll be about which one can go furthest on a tank of gas, as well.

LA Auto Show: 2011 Ford Mustang Promotes Fuel Economy

When we think of muscle cars we think of the Ford Mustang and the Chevy Camaro. Both have always tried to best each other when it comes to performance, but Ford are going in a different direction with its upcoming 2011 Ford Mustang and will be promoting fuel economy.

The new Mustang will be on show at this weeks LA Auto Show. but it certainly seems strange to see a muscle car thinking more about economy rather than power. Not that the 2011 Ford Mustang lacks power, the V6 engine produces more horsepower than the previous model.

The 2011 Ford Mustang’s engine has been refined to produce 304hp and delivers 30 miles per gallon on the highway. The car should begin production early next year and will go head to head with the Chevy Camaro.

We have to wonder how Ford managed to get these superb fuel economy figures. According to Reuters this was thanks to a new six-speed transmission and advancements from its aerodynamics.

2011 Ford Fiesta Pricing Released

While no official release has announced pricing for the upcoming Ford Fiesta, the Ford consumer website today launched a configurator for the upcoming compact, complete with prices. At $13,995, the sedan is almost two grand cheaper than the five-door—which starts at $15,795—but we still don’t count that as a reason to get the frumpy-looking four-door over the shapely hatch. Options and accessories can push either past $20,000, with our personal bests being $23,245 for the hatch and $22,900 for the sedan.

Our reigning favorite in the sub-compact arena is the Honda Fit, which starts at $15,610 and can push a similar terminal sum when laden with dealer-installed options. The Fiesta offers much in return for pricing on par with the champ, though. There’s the standout styling—which can be accented with a number of adventurous but genuinely attractive color choices—and back-road behavior that even one-ups the Honda. It’s rare that a subcompact car like this gets many people excited, but we’re looking forward to more time with the Fiesta.

Ford Motor Co.To Offer New Fiesta Sub-Compact at $13,995

Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) has announced that it intends to offer its new Fiesta sub-compact vehicle at the starting price of just $13,995.

The pricing of the new vehicle, which is due out later this year, will be a crucial element for the automobile that’s hoping to win new consumers with its small car.

Ford’s car marketing launch manager, Paul Anderson, said in a statement that “Although we have a starting price just below Toyota Yaris, we will offer a significant amount of additional equipment than consumers can get on the Yaris or the Honda Fit.”

Ford is planning to offer a variety of features and feature packages on the vehicle that will include everything from interior trim colors to heated seats.

Ford may invest $500M in Michigan for electric cars

Ford Motor Co. said today it might invest between $300 million and $500 million to assemble hybrid and plug-in hybrid vehicles and assemble lithium ion batteries in Michigan if it receives tax credits from the state.

The investment would create up to 1,000 new jobs at a plant yet to be named.

“Michigan has a fantastic vision and we received a lot of positive comments,” Nancy Gioia, Ford’s director of global electrification, said today after testifying for state Senate’s commerce committee in Lansing.

Ford is asking the state to modify its battery development tax breaks so that batteries for both hybrid and plug-in electric vehicles are eligible for tax credits. Currently, the tax credits only apply to the development of batteries for plug-in electric vehicles.

Gioia said hybrid vehicles that are powered both by batteries and gasoline engines, such as the Ford Fusion hybrid and Toyota Prius, will account for the bulk of electric vehicle sales for many years.

Currently, Michigan offers a $500 tax credit for a four kilowatt per hour battery pack with a maximum total value of $135 million.

Ford is asking the state to approve tax credits of up to $85 million between 2012 and 2014 and an additional $35 million after 2014. On Wednesday, Gioia will testify Wednesday in front of a Michigan House committee.

“Michigan, we think, is a great site, we think it works well with a number of initiatives Michigan has developed,” Gioia said, and “it drives high-value new jobs in Michigan.”

However, Gioia said Ford is considering several other sites around the world where it builds or plans to build compact cars, including Louisville, Ky.; Saarlouis, Germany and Chongqing, China.

Megan Brown, spokeswoman for Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm, said the governor supports Ford’s request.

“This is part of our long-term strategy to attract all of the electric and battery supply chain to Michigan,” Brown said. “Coming after the Chevy Volt announcement Monday, this is more great news.”

Ford’s announcement came one day after General Motors Co. announced it would invest $336 million at its Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly Plant to produce the Chevrolet Volt.

“We’re aware of their efforts and we support them,” said Bridget Beckman, a spokeswoman for Michigan Economic Development Corp. “It fits in with our advanced battery strategy.”

Gioia also said Ford has decided to bring the assembly of lithium ion battery packs and battery pack development in-house and is considering Michigan for that work as well.

Ford currently buys battery packs made by Delphi Corp. in Mexico. Ford currently sells several hybrids, including the Escape SUV and the Fusion and Mercury Milan hybrid sedans introduced earlier this year.

Ford declined to say where in Michigan the assembly of the next generation hybrid and plug-in hybrid vehicles might occur but has said they would be built off the company’s compact car platform.

Previously, Ford announced plans to introduce a battery electric version of its Transit Connect commercial van in 2010, an battery electric Ford Focus compact car in 2011, as well as a next generation hybrid vehicle and a plug-in hybrid vehicle by 2012.

Ford plans to begin building a new version of the Ford Focus compact car late next year at its Michigan Assembly Plant in Wayne and an electric version of the Focus at that plant in 2011.

Ford has already pledged to spend $500 million to retool Michigan Assembly to build the Focus and will receive more than $160 million in local and state tax credits and grants for that project.

Ford Plug-In Hybrid Due in 2011, Electric Car Next Year

At a technology briefing held today at Ford’s Advance Engineering Center in Dearborn, MI, company representatives gave a sneak peak at the automaker’s green plans. The lineup includes official introduction plans for both a battery electric vehicle and Ford’s first plug-in hybrid (PHEV).

The PHEV will arrive in 2011 and Ford has said it will debut in a C-Class (compact) platform. While rumors have suggested this could be a new Lincoln model, Sue Cischke, Ford Group VP for Sustainability, Environment and Safety Engineering, all but laid those to rest by commenting that in order to keep costs low, the different powertrain options will be rolled out using the same platform. In other words… look for a Focus plug-in hybrid in 2011.

Ford has decided to go the same route as Toyota when it comes to plug-in hybrid technology, having their plug-in hybrid operate in essentially the same way as a conventional hybrid with a mixture of gasoline and electric power used to move the car. This is different from the formula used by Chevy and the upcoming Volt, which uses gasoline to power the electric motor, which powers the car. Ford didn’t discuss pricing, but did say that their system allows for a much smaller battery. As a result, the battery will be much less expensive, meaning the Ford PHEV, is likely to cost significantly less than the Volt’s targeted $40,000 price point. The Ford PHEV will use a lithium-ion unit.

As for the battery electric vehicle (BEV), it will be just that… a vehicle, a not a car. While an electric Focus is due in 2011, next year Ford will debut an electric version of its new Transit Connect utility truck. Ford representatives acknowledged the problems of launching BEV’s on a large scale and Cischke did say that BEV’s would need the help of government incentives in order to break into the marketplace. Another major problem in getting electric cars into the marketplace is that electric stations need to be created, and while cost certainly is an issue, the larger problem is that Ford’s aroach to the U.S. market is national, while electricity providers are regional.

Ford is expected to debut the all new Focus at the upcoming Detroit Auto Show in January and we expect to hear more about the introduction of its first plug-in hybrid then or shortly thereafter. AutoGuide’s Detroit Auto Show coverage begins January 11th.

Mustang's 5-liter V-8 vrooms into next decade with good gas mileage

2011 Ford Mustang GT.

It sounds better than it looks, and the 2011 Ford Mustang GT 5.0 looks great. Ford Motor Co. was to officially announce today the return of the 5-liter V-8, and the public will get its first look at the muscle car in January at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit.

The legendary engine has lived in the Mustang on and off for nearly 30 years but never with as much ferocious power or outstanding gas mileage. The new GT will be able to get up to 25 miles per gallon while cranking out more than 400 horses.

The current GT, powered by Ford's bullet proof 4.6-liter V-8, produces 315 horsepower and averages 23 mpg on the highway.

By the numbers the new naturally aspirated engine will deliver 412 horsepower, 390 pound-feet torque and a rumbling growl that can make the hair on the back of your neck stand up.

"I've been waiting 48 years for this," Jim Farley, Ford's vice president of marketing and a longtime Mustang enthusiast, said during a media preview of the Mustang GT. Farley drives a Grabber Blue Mustang GT. "When I joined Ford, as soon as I heard about this engine, I knew we had something special," he said.

The hallowed engine block -- a 5-liter engine has almost the same displacement as 302 cubic inches or a Boss 302 -- has a long Mustang history. When the 1983 Mustang GT 5.0 High Output arrived, it cranked out a then-thunderous 157 horsepower. A four-barrel carburetor on the 1986 GT wowed consumers with its 210 horsepower. The last GT to use the 5-liter V-8 was the 1995 Mustang.

Ford could use the new engine in other vehicles, such as the F-150 pickup, to provide more power than the current 4.6-liter V-8, though executives would not comment on that possibility.

Engineers and designers said they were challenged to top 400 horsepower on a 5-liter displacement engine. Additionally, they were given only a few years to create it, losing 12 months of development time.

"It's faster than we've ever done it," said Mike Harrison, V-8 engine programs manager, of the work his 10-person team did.

Engineers opened up the intake and created new headers for a "better breathing engine," Harrison said. They also gave the V-8 twin independent variable valve camshaft timing to enhance its performance.

Ford will showcase the new GT with the black and red 5.0 badge at the auto show in Detroit. But this car adds more than just power.

Ford will add a new six-speed automatic or manual transmission to the GT, replacing the five-speed gear box on the current model. With the improved gear ratios and with lots of low-end torque, drivers no longer will have to downshift to third to find power at 70 mph. (The new speedometer goes up to 160 mph, up from 140 mph.)

It will feature electric power-assisted steering, known as EPAS. This fuel-saving technology operates without a traditional steering pump, and Ford has worked to dial in a solid steering feel, engineers said.

There also were changes to the car's suspension and tuning. Ford promises a much quieter ride in the 2011 Mustang GT due to additional sound-deadening materials. Engineers added support to make the body 12 percent more rigid to improve its handling. The Mustang GT will keep its solid rear axle, perhaps the one sharply criticized attribute, but one many enthusiasts have come to embrace.

A special Bermbo brake package also will be available on the new GT with 14-inch disc brakes (taken from the GT 500), 19-inch wheels and summer performance tires.

Ford said it also will add features such as integrated blind spot mirrors, illuminated visors, and a universal garage door opener on the 2011 Mustang GT.

The 5.0 V-8 engine upgrade follows the introduction of a new powertrain to the 2011 Mustang V-6, which comes with a 3.7-liter engine that provides more than 300 horsepower and still allows the car to hit 30 mpg.

2011 Ford Racing Boss 302R

Ford Racing unveiled the all-new Boss 302R based on the 2011 Mustang GT. The 302R is a factory-built, race-ready machine poised to compete in Grand-Am, SCCA, and NASA classes, as well as individual track days.

Ford Racing starts with a Mustang coupe, equipped with the new 5.0-liter V-8 engine and six-speed manual transmission, and adds things like a roll cage, racing seats, a safety harness, racine dampers/springs, and beefy Brembo brakes.

The price of all this new Mustang hotness? $79,000. Only fifty 302Rs will be sold through Ford dealers, with the first deliveries expected to take place in the third quarter of 2010.

Forty years after its namesake became a road racing legend, the BOSS is back on track for 2010 with a new 5.0-liter V-8 engine.

In honor of the 40th anniversary of Parnelli Jones’ 1970 Trans-Am championship in a Mustang BOSS 302 prepared by Bud Moore Engineering, Ford Racing is introducing the BOSS 302R, a factory-built race car ready for track days and road racing in a number of Grand-Am, SCCA and NASA classes.

“To keep pace with consumer demand, the Ford team has built modern versions of the most iconic performance Mustangs over the years,” said Jamie Allison, director, Ford North America Motorsports. “From Shelbys to Bullitt, Mach and Cobra Jet, it is now time for BOSS to join the list of America’s most coveted Mustangs. The original BOSS 302 was a championship-winning legend and the new Mustang BOSS 302R will carry on the tradition. The Mustang was born to race from the start, and this new Mustang is bred to win.”

The Mustang BOSS 302R is a serialized off-road-only vehicle ready to race. Each base model will come with a 5.0-liter four-valve engine and a six-speed manual transmission with a roll cage, race seats, safety harness, data acquisition and race dampers/springs, and a Brembo brake and tire package, starting at an MSRP of $79,000.

And, with a special Grand-Am Homologation Package (M-FR500-BOSS R1), it will also be ready to compete in the Grand-Am Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge series (formerly known as KONI Challenge), starting with the season-opening race in Daytona on Jan. 29, 2010. As of today, five BOSS 302R race cars will be delivered to customers ready to race in Daytona. MSRP of the BOSS 302R1 is $129,000.

The Grand-Am Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge-ready Mustang BOSS 302R will feature a sealed high-output race engine with an upgraded cooling system, a close-ratio six-speed transmission with integral shifter, a seam-welded body, race suspension/KONI dampers and ABS brake tuning, race performance exhaust and a high-speed balance one-piece driveshaft.

The BOSS 302R follows in the very successful footsteps of its most recent road racing predecessor – the Mustang FR500C from Ford Racing. In 2005, when the Mustang FR500C debuted at Daytona, the first car was delivered on Wednesday of that week and won the KONI Challenge race on Friday.

In five years of competition since then, the Mustang FR500C has won three Triple Crown championships of driver, team and manufacturer’s titles in KONI competition including back-to-back (2008 and 2009). The FR500C has also seen success in FIA GT4 competition winning the 2007 and 2008 driver’s championships.

“We expect the BOSS 302R to continue the successful tradition of winning with factory-built production-based race cars from Ford Racing,” said Allison. “The FR500C and FR500S road racing Mustangs, and the Mustang FR500CJ (Cobra Jet) for drag racing have proven to be great cars for our customers, helping teams win races and championships. We believe that the BOSS 302R will provide that same sort of competitive product for our customers with the tradition you can only get from Ford Racing.”

Each Ford Racing factory-built production-based turnkey race car has won its competition debut.

“Racing has long served as a technical proving grounds for production engines,” said Allison. “What’s good enough for the streets is now good enough for the racetrack. The 5.0-liter block and architecture in the Mustang BOSS 302R is the same as the 2011 Mustang GT.”

“We have a great team on the BOSS 302R project,” said Andy Slankard, Ford Racing engineering supervisor and the lead engineer on the BOSS 302R project. “Between our partners at AutoAlliance International, where the Mustang is built, Team Mustang, Multimatic and the entire Ford Racing team, we have once again proven to be a leader in turnkey production-based race cars.”

Available through Ford dealers, a total of 50 BOSS 302R Mustangs will be built by Ford Racing. Delivery is anticipated in the third quarter of 2010.

2010 Ford Fusion Sets New Hybrid Sales Record

Earth to Detroit: we want green cars! If any of the major automakers seem to be getting the message, it’s Ford, the company that started it all. According to a recent release, sales of the 2010 Ford Fusion have helped the company set a new record for hybrid sales in 2009.

The Ford Motor Company is reporting the sale of 31,000 hybrids through November, with hybrid sales up 67 percent from 2008. This trend reflects serious consumer interest in American-made hybrid gas-electric vehicles, as Ford’s numbers fly in the face of overall hybrid industry sales, which have slumped by 11 percent over the same period of time. The Fusion gets 41 mpg in the city, 36 mpg on the highway and was rated one of the “10 Best” cars for 2010 by Car and Driver. Introduced in March of this year, it now represents 45 percent of all Ford hybrid sales for 2009.

“Hybrid customers increasingly are considering Ford,” said George Pipas, Ford sales analyst, in a statement. ”And we are seeing a growing number of conquest sales, many of them from customers coming from import brands, mostly Toyota and Honda.” He adds that Ford’s hybrid technology is introducing them to a whole new community of customers who might have otherwise never visited a Ford showroom–i.e., people who want a reliable, fuel-efficient car for the 21st century.

Ford Mustang Beats out Camaro Sales in 2009

The news is in, and it's the kind of news I like to hear. Yesterday Ford reported Mustang sales were up 62 percent in December when compared to last year's figures.

This December Ford sold 6,527 Mustangs. In December of 2008 Ford sold 4,027. Not bad, all things considered. Heck, in November of this year Ford only sold 3,627 Mustangs. December turned out to be a great sales month for the company. In all, Ford sold a total of 66,623 Mustangs in 2009.

What about the Camaro you ask? Well, get this. Chevrolet sold 61,618 of the cars in 2009. But wait, in all fairness, the Camaro was only available for nine months out of the year. Ford's Mustang, which has been in production since 1964, logged sales figures for 12 months. All-in-all, it's likely things would have been different had the Camaro been on the market for the entire year. But hey, no need to look a gift horse in the mouth! One thing's for sure. With a 412 hp 5.0 GT in the upcoming 2011 lineup, and a 305 hp V6 Mustang on the way, things are sure to get interesting. I think things will really begin to turn around for the Mustang in the coming months.

As for the Challenger, Dodge sold 25,852 in 2009. This was a 48 percent increase over 2008 when the company sold 17,423 of the cars. This past December Dodge sold 2,536.

Ford Wows CES With MyFord Touch Communications System

A car that can tweet. A car that can play Pandora streaming music stations. A car that lets you tag songs you hear so that you can download them later. A car that is its own mobile Wi-Fi hotspot. Sounds like a concept you’d see at an auto show, right?

Actually, the technologies will first appear in some Ford products late this year.

For the last few years, most auto critics will tell you, Ford’s SYNC system has been the best in-car technology system on the market. But the rest of the auto industry is threatening to catch up. Kia’s upcoming UVO system is the first serious threat (it looks remarkably like the first version of SYNC did a few years ago), and more competitors are sure to emerge soon, now that Microsoft has made the technology that drives SYNC available to other automakers. So Ford has upgraded.

In a presentation at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, the automaker has unveiled SYNC’s replacement, called MyFord Touch. Business Week reports, “Ford Motor Co. plans to bring social networking, Web browsing and iPod-style thumb controls into 80 percent of its models by 2015 as automakers woo consumers with communications features.” The system will make its first appearance later this year on the 2011 Ford Edge, Lincoln MKX and Ford Focus.

MyFord Touch will allow drivers to access smartphone applications in their cars with voice commands, or through steering-wheel mounted thumb controls. CNET reports, “The first three available applications are the Pandora streaming music service, Stitcher news and audio service, and Twitter.”

The Detroit Free Press explains, “Sync will be compatible with a smart phone application for Twitter called OpenBeak. Sync will be able to read tweets aloud and let drivers tweet without taking their hands off the wheel.” It will also allow in-car internet use. “Anyone who plugs an air card into the Sync USB port can turn the car into a mobile, Wi-Fi hotspot. Also, for vehicles with MyFord Touch or MyLincoln Touch, Sync's Web browser will be able to run on the touch screen when the vehicle is in park.” Drivers will be able to send MapQuest directions to their car, and tag songs for download through a steering-wheel mounted thumb button.

More apps will come quickly. CNET says, “Ford created application programming interfaces (APIs) that will allow third-party developers to modify smartphone applications to work with Sync. More apps will be available over time, such as ways to coach consumers to drive more efficiently.” Developers won’t be able to build their own in-car apps (at least, not without some hacking), since “Ford plans to approve which applications will be available.”

The possibilities are exciting. PCWorld reports, “Ford shared the Sync API with students at the University of Michigan, among other institutions, to see what applications they might come up. One such app is a "breadcrumbing" tool for a convoy of cars following one lead driver who knows the way. As the leader drops virtual breadcrumbs along the route, directions to that point are generated and shared with following cars.”

Jalopnik has a list of other possibilities, ranging from an app that allows you to order take-out through your touchscreen to a travel expense tracker for those who drive their cars for business.

MyFord Touch may prove a real advantage for Ford in the marketplace. Business Week notes, “Sync was critical to the purchase of a Ford model for 32 percent of buyers last year,” and was present on 70 percent of Fords sold in 2009. With the competition catching up, MyFord Touch could be key to Ford’s future.

Autoblog comments, “Before seeing MyFord Touch, we already thought that Ford had the best navigation/entertainment stuff in the industry (SYNC is really, really good – especially with Sirius Travel Link). MyFord Touch brings Ford a generation (or two) beyond the competition. In other words, no one could even compete with Ford's old stuff. How on earth will they manage against MyFord Touch?”

If you're in the market for a new car, check out the U.S. News rankings of this year's best cars as well as this month's best car deals.

Ford's direct ethanol injected Bobcat engine not based on new 5.0L V8

ot based on new 5.0L V8

Last year, we heard about a very interesting sounding experimental engine that Ford was working on dubbed the "Bobcat." The engine in question is a 5.0-liter V8 that featured turbocharging and two independent fuel injection systems.

systems. The primary system utilizes traditional port injection to deliver gasoline to the cylinders. The secondary system injects E85 directly into the combustion chambers.

Now that Ford has officially revealed the new 5.0-liter V8 for the 2011 Mustang GT, we began wondering whether the new engine was the basis for the Bobcat. We had a chance to chat with Mike Harrison, the chief engineer on the 5.0-liter and the 6.2-liter truck V8, who told us that the 5.0-liter Bobcat was actually derived from the old 5.4-liter V8 currently used in the F150 and the Shelby GT500.

For Bobcat use, the longer-stroke 5.4 was used in combination with a smaller bore giving thicker cylinder walls needed to withstand the high internal pressures of the boosted 750 pound-foot engine. According to Harrison, the Bobcat was part of a Department of Energy-funded research project and there are no current plans for a production engine based on the technology. Harrison tells us that the extra cost of the dual injection systems and more robust block and heads negates much of the savings from not needing a diesel after-treatment system.

Ford to Launch New Mercury Small Car in 2011

ORLANDO, Florida (Reuters) - Ford Motor Co will launch a new small car for its Mercury brand in early 2011, based on the automaker's new global compact car platform, Ford President of the Americas Mark Fields said on Sunday.

The new Mercury is one of the 10 vehicles Ford is planning for its global small car architecture, that also underpins the upcoming 2012 Ford Focus, and would expand the lineup of the mid-level premium brand long devoid of new products.

The launch also underscores the No. 2 U.S. automaker's support for the brand despite uncertainty in some analysts' views over whether Ford will keep the brand in the long term.

Fields unveiled the plan during a meeting with U.S. dealers at the annual National Automobile Dealers Association convention in Orlando, Florida.

"The trend toward more fuel-efficient vehicles is very important, the trend toward (small) cars in general is coming back. We are responding to that," Fields told reporters after the meeting with dealers.

U.S. sales for the Mercury brand fell 23 percent to 92,299 vehicles in 2009, while the overall market was down 21 percent. The company's flagship Ford brand sold 1.44 million units in the U.S. market in 2009, down 14 percent from a year earlier.

A Ford dealer who attended the meeting said the new Milan was likely to be showcased at the New York Auto Show in March.

FIESTA ORDERS

Ford U.S. sales chief Ken Czubay said dealers can start to order the new Fiesta small car on Monday, months ahead of its launch this summer.

The Fiesta, which could get 40 miles per gallon on the highway and 30 mpg in city driving, brings Ford back to a subcompact segment it abandoned and represents the automaker's big bet that it can drive back to profitability with a new lineup of cars.

More than 6,000 consumers have made reservations for the Fiesta through Ford's online order system, Czubay said.

Ford Launches Cheap Micro-Car For India

In the coming decades, India will emerge as a huge car market due to its population and rapid economic growth. Already China surpassed America in the number of cars sold last year, and both markets represent opportunities for American car companies. GM has a firm foothold in China, and Ford seems to be turning their eye towards India for expansion.

In a bid to boost their Indian market share, Ford introduced a car tailor-made for India back in September; the Figo, Italian for “cool”. That car is now officially on sale, aimed at the average Indian who wants something more upscale than a Tata Nano.

The Figo is a neat car, designed to be tough, reliable, and easy to repair. It is a B-platform car, which underpins the upcoming American Fiesta as well as other, more obscure Ford vehicles like the Euro-only Ka and Brazil-only EcoSport mini-SUV. With a starting price of 349,000 Rupees, or about $7,700, it is cheap enough for many Indians to be able to afford, and is available with upscale options like Bluetooth and keyless entry. The Figo was designed with durability in mind and features extra cooling equipment for those hot Indian days where the constant traffic hardly seems to move.

As a micro-car, it is meant more for inter-city commuting than highway driving. It takes over 16 seconds to reach 62 mph. It gets pretty decent gas mileage from the 1.2 liter petrol engine, with 25 mpg in the city and about 36 on the highway. The 1.4 liter optional diesel does even better, getting 36 in the city and about 44 mpg on the highway. Not exactly a speed racing or ultra-efficient car, yet it is very price conscious and not all that bad looking either (though the word “bland” comes to mind).

Tiny cars make up most of the market in India as their tight, crowded streets make larger American cars difficult to maneuver (just like in much of Europe). Ford is pursuing a global platform strategy, and the Figo might one day — in some form or fashion — find its way to America. I’m not saying it will happen tomorrow, but as gas mileage goals climb higher, cars like the Figo are going to make more and more sense for automakers. It would also be nice to be able to buy an American car for under $10,000, a market that has mostly been ignored by American automakers (the Aveo was a half-hearted attempt at best)

Ford, Nissan to Invest $3B in UK Green Car Projects

A heaping pile of pounds will be injected into Britain’s green car industry over the coming years, with automakers and the government both throwing cash into a major buildout of manufacturing capacity for lithium-ion batteries, fuel-efficient engines and other parts for lower-emission vehicles.

Japanese automaker Nissan announced today that it plans to invest 420 million pounds (about $642 million) into expanding its plant in Sunderland, UK, to produce the upcoming LEAF electric sedan as well as lithium-ion batteries for vehicles from both it and alliance partner Renault.

Also today, Ford Motor said its European division will pour 1.5 billion pounds into lower-emission vehicle technologies at its four UK facilities over the next five years. The Detroit automaker will also receive a 360 million-pound loan guarantee from the UK government.

Today’s announcements come at a time when the level of investment and capacity planned for lithium-ion batteries over the next few years has some analysts forecasting a looming glut. Given the number of companies planning to break ground this year on new lithium-ion battery manufacturing facilities (see our map of the U.S. green car battery buildout), or expand existing facilities, John Gartner of Pike Research has told us that he expects we could start to see excess capacity starting in 2012. “How much of this capacity is actually used, that’s an open question,” he said in a recent interview, but supply could outpace demand by 2012 as well.

While the Renault-Nissan Alliance is moving aggressively to carve out an early lead in the nascent electric vehicle market, Ford has outlined a more conservative strategy — focusing more of its efforts for the near term on fuel-saving tech for conventional vehicles and hybrids than on all-electric cars.

Ford’s investment announced today for the UK and the British loan guarantee are slated to support work on tech for more fuel-efficient diesel and gas engines, as well as some of the technologies that Ford has grouped under its “Econetic” brand (e.g. low rolling-resistance tires and real-time MPG gauges).

“Our technology is such that we’re on our second, third, fourth generation of hybrid vehicles already,” Ford CEO Alan Mulally explained at an event in San Francisco last summer. Plug-in hybrids are next up, he said, although “the really compelling vision is, of course, the all-electric vehicle,” including the planned electric Ford Focus. “Considerably further out,” Ford still expects its investments in hydrogen vehicle technology to pay off.

For Nissan’s Sunderland project, a portion of the 420 million total investment will come from the UK government, through a 20.7 million-pound grant and a proposed finance package for up to 197.3 million pounds.

Both automakers have also won major government backing for similar projects stateside. In June, the Department of Energy announced a $1.6 billion loan award to help Nissan North America retool its Smyrna, Tenn. factory to build electric cars and batteries, and a whopping $5.9 billion in loans toward Ford’s retooling of factories in five states to produce 13 “more fuel-efficient models.”

Nissan’s plan calls for production of the LEAF to begin in Oppama, Japan, this year, and for the Smyrna plant to come online in 2012. The automaker says today that the LEAF model will start rolling off the Sunderland assembly lines in 2013, with initial production capacity of some 50,000 units per year, while battery production at the Sunderland facility will come online in 2012 and have an annual production capacity of 60,000 units. Nissan expects to launch U.S. sales of the LEAF in late 2010 and UK sales in early 2011.

2011 Ford Fiesta with dual clutch transmission

In the never-ending pursuit of efficiency, performance and smooth power delivery, the next step forward for many automakers is the adoption of the dual clutch transmission.

Once the province of high-end performance cars, dual clutch transmissions have been finding their way into everyday vehicles from Volkswagen, Volvo, Audi and more for years. Ford has now announced that it has started production of its own dual clutch transmission and the first car in the Blue Oval’s fleet to receive the fuel saving device will be the humble 2011 Ford Fiesta.

The corporate technology behind the new transmission is dubbed PowerShift, and Volvo has already been using it for the past year. The particular unit being produced by Ford is a six-speed fully automatic dual clutch transmission that will eventually appear across most of the automaker’s product portfolio.

Offering better fuel economy than a conventional manual transmission, the new PowerShift unit’s characteristics are particularly well-suited to smaller car applications, making the transmission a perfect fit for Fiesta and the upcoming 2012 Ford Focus.


According to Ford, the PowerShift dual clutch transmission will help the 1.6-liter Fiesta deliver an expected best-in-class fuel economy rating of at least 40 mpg on the highway.

Ford is building the PowerShift dual clutch transmission with its technology partner GETRAG at a plant in Irapuato, Mexico. The unit itself features a ‘dry’ dual clutch design that manages to eliminate the additional weight and complexity of a torque converter, planetary gears and the fluid pumps employed in conventional automatics. Its key characteristic is the seamless flow of torque and virtually instant shift times.

Ford and Microsoft Team Up on Electric Vehicle Smart Charging

Ford is turning to Microsoft’s home energy management tool Hohm to enable smart charging for its electric vehicles. Ford CEO Alan Mulally and Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer announced this morning at the New York International Auto Show that the automaker will deploy Hohm in its upcoming electric vehicles — starting with the Ford Focus next year — to manage battery charging.

According to Mulally, the two companies are “automating and optimizing the process of when and where and how to charge your electric vehicle” and the partnership will be able to “help utilities better understand” the new demands on the electric grid that plug-in vehicles will bring. (Ford’s Product & Business Development Manager, Connected Services, Ed Pleet will be speaking at our Green:Net Conference on April 29).

“Without Hohm, there would be a proverbial traffic jam on the grid,” Microsoft’s Troy Batterberry said this morning at NYIAS. With the Hohm tool, battery charging will be managed based on factors including energy pricing and a consumer’s schedule, enabling drivers to get a full charge in the time they need (between 10pm and 7am, for example) at the lowest cost. (Batterberry will also be speaking at our Green:Net conference on April 29 in San Francisco).

Batteryberry said the Hohm tool will provide drivers with “remote and automated control,” and Ford announced that it’s working on an iPhone app to allow remote monitoring of a battery’s charge status, and charging controls — similar to the apps that General Motors and Nissan (NSANY) have unveiled for their upcoming Chevy Volt and LEAF models. (For more on this, see Green Cars Are the Platform, Now Come the Applications).

How Hohm Works:

Here’s how Hohm’s basic service works: A consumer logs into the Hohm site, entering as little information as their Windows Live ID and their zip code. Taking this simple location information, Hohm uses algorithms licensed from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the Department of Energy to start predicting the consumer’s home energy consumption. For the most accurate predictions possible, the consumer can answer up to 180 questions, ranging in topic from home size to water heater brand. Hohm will incorporate smart meter data as such tools are installed and used

Linking up with third party device makers represents “phase 2″ for Hohm (phase 1 was launching the consumer-facing web portal and connecting the site with utility data), Batterberry told us. Microsoft has strategic partnerships with smart meter makers Itron and Landis +Gyr, and Hohm has announced partnerships with several utilities. But as Mulally said this morning, “Ford is the first automaker to use Hohm for electric vehicles.”

But getting involved with electric vehicle smart charging could be one of the most interesting applications for Hohm in the future. Batterberry has told us that he thinks “electric vehicles are the killer app for the smart grid,” and because the cars will consume so much electricity and will need so much intelligence to manage, they will help usher in important intelligence services for the smart grid. And by linking up with an automaker like Ford, with its on-board communication system SYNC (developed by Microsoft), there’s potential to closely integrate the vehicle with home energy use (GigaOM Pro, subscription required).

Ford’s Derrick Kuzak described a platform this morning to enable drivers to get an alert in their car that electricity prices have spiked, and they could save money by turning off large appliances like a clothes drier. Then they’d have the option to shut down those appliances until energy prices drop. “We’re not there yet,” he said. But with today’s partnership with Microsoft Hohm, “We’re not far off.”

Microsoft Hohm Unveiled at the 2010 New York Auto Show

Car manufacturers use the New York auto show to unveil their latest models and concept cars to American users. Computer applications have been included with cars for many years. The first such integration involved global positioning system devices. Microsoft’s Sync soon followed later.

When plugged into an outlet, an electric or hybrid car will become the single largest consumer of energy in a person’s home. Microsoft’s new utility to come with the electric Ford Focus will help owners of the car reduce the electricity costs by determining the best times of day to charge the vehicle. The maker of Microsoft Hohm hope it will also reduce the strain on power grids by letting the cars charge only when the demands for electricity are low.

Electric Cars Not Common Yet

The technology for electric cars has existed since the days of Thomas Edison, but the range has made fully electric cars somewhat impractical in the United States. The internal combustion engine allowed a car to go further and more cheaply than a pure electric car. Even hybrids, which can run on gas and electric power, only have an electric range of about 50 miles when running on electricity alone. Electric cars may become more common, but they do not dominate the market yet.

Ford meets goal of doubling flex-fuel cars

Ford Motor Co. said Tuesday it will meet its goal of doubling the number of flexible-fuel vehicles it makes this year.

In 2006, Ford made 185,000 vehicles that could run on E-85 ethanol and gasoline and pledged to double that number by 2010.

The company won't say exactly how many flex-fuel vehicles it will make this year, but it will meet its goal, spokeswoman Jennifer Moore said.

Ford also said it plans to make half its vehicles flexible fuel-capable by the 2012 model year as long as incentives continue to encourage the manufacturing and distribution of renewable fuels and the production of flex-fuel vehicles.

Sue Cischke, Ford's group vice president of sustainability, environment and safety engineering, made the announcements at a biotechnology conference in Chicago.

Ford late last month reported a net income of $2.1 billion in the first quarter, its fourth profitable quarter in a row.