by Jeremy Korzeniewski (RSS feed) on Feb 3rd 2010 at 2:25PM


2009 Ford Focus RS

It's no secret that we openly covet the Ford Focus Rallye Sport. Unfortunately, the Blue Oval never found it in its heart to let the hottest version of its Focus hatchback into the United States... or any version of the European Focus for that matter. As such, we're certainly not expecting to see the rumored Clubsport model that Auto Express claims will be the current car's swan song before the new version is unveiled based on the all-new Focus.

Too bad, as the idea of 350 horsepower from Ford's highly lauded 2.5-liter turbocharged five-cylinder engine sounds just peachy, as do the lightweight racing seats, lowered and stiffened suspension and suitably sticky rubber. If there's any truth to all of this, expect the run to 60 to be dispatched in just about five seconds flat. Don't be too saddened by the news, though.

The next juicy bit of internet rumormongering is that a new version of the RS has been greenlit, based on the new Focus platform that was recently unveiled at the Detroit Auto Show. This model would seemingly have a much better chance of coming Stateside, being that the next Focus will be a true global vehicle.

If you're the type that likes to save fuel while scorching asphalt, you'll like the rumored inclusion of a hybrid powertrain centering on Ford's 2.0-liter Ecoboost four cylinder. That boosted mill would reportedly drive the front wheels while an electric motor would send torque to the rear, resulting in an all-wheel drive arrangement, estimated 0-60 run of (again) five seconds and a top speed of 155 miles per hour.

Interestingly, AE reports that this is the same powertrain Peugeot used in its SR1 concept, and the French automaker is said to have co-developed the hybrid drivetrain with Ford. We won't know whether or not any of this is accurate for quite some time, as the car reportedly won't be ready for another three years, but a 240-horsepower Ecoboost Focus ST may be on the way within the next 18 months. We'll see...

It sounds like something from a science fiction movie.

Partnering with top-ranked national and international universities, the Ford “Atoms to Engines” team challenged skeptics to develop the world’s first virtual materials modeling prediction tool. Come again? It’s a tool that allows the team to simulate the microstructures of a material before the first prototype is built.

In other words… the Atoms to Engines team blends engineering and science to develop physics-based computer models that predict how properties and materials will behave and change during the manufacturing process. Building these computer models integrates the study of product performance, manufacturing and materials; in some cases it requires analyzing metals down to their atomistic level.

The result? Components are more durable and efficiently constructed, which saves the company considerable development time and money. In fact, the process is estimated to save Ford between $2 and $5 million a year in reducing test requirements and product development time.

Computational materials engineering also has been used on the recently released 3.5-liter EcoBoost™ block and head and the soon-to-be-released 6.7-liter Power Stroke® diesel, where the technology enabled the use of aluminum cylinder heads, for a 160-pound weight savings.

Learn more about Ford’s Atoms to Engines team and its work in computational materials engineering.

Quote
“Computational materials engineering is about blending engineering and science. Why is it worth it? Reduction of test time. Higher-quality parts. In other words, you’re getting the highest possible quality at the lowest possible cost.”
– John Allison, Senior Technical Leader, Ford Research and Advanced Engineering

nice car check it out with a "walk around"
with chief Engineer Jum Hughes

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DjmyTw0J ... re=channel

Great little video on the upcoming product from the chief Engineer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rp21DBYu ... r_embedded

.BRENTWOOD, Essex, 29 January 2010 – After Ford boosted its UK car fleet market leadership in 2009, the Ford Mondeo has now become "Britain’s most popular fleet car", according to FleetDirectory.co.uk readers.

In a poll conducted by industry website FleetDirectory.co.uk, Ford Mondeo took 20 per cent of the vote – six percentage points ahead of its nearest rival. FleetDirectory.co.uk cites qualities such as class-leading safety, practicality, low running and whole-life costs as key to the Mondeo’s success.

“The Ford Mondeo is popular and long-established, so fleets and fleet managers trust its solid manufacture,” said Richard Lawton of FleetDirectory.co.uk. “Add to this smart innovations, including low-carbon ECOnetic technology, and the Mondeo is an understandable winner. Its lead in our poll speaks volumes for Ford’s leadership in fleet.”


This leadership was strengthened in 2009, when Ford increased its share of the UK car fleet market by 3.1 per cent, compared with 2008. It ended 2009 with 20.0 per cent of all car fleet sales in Britain, outpacing its closest rival by more than four percentage points.

Market share improvement was achieved in a year notable for its tough trading environment. Ford of Britain director of fleet operations, Kevin Griffin said: “It was a very challenging year but we have nonetheless made gains by growing our business cost-effectively – by launching products which customers desire, and at a lower cost than before thanks to increased manufacturing efficiencies and reductions in product complexity. To have increased our market share in such a difficult market is a remarkable feat.”

Commenting on the FleetDirectory award Kevin Griffin said: “This is a great tribute to the Ford Mondeo as this award is actually decided by fleet managers and company car drivers themselves. This is the latest in a long line of accolades for Mondeo and Ford Fleet, which we welcome warmly.”

In 2009 Ford celebrated one of the company’s best years for awards. Fleet News declared Ford to be Fleet Manufacturer of the Year for the third time in succession, and Ford earned the Van Manufacturer of the Year title in both the Fleet World Awards and the Fleet Van Awards.

Ford models were also successful: Fiesta was declared What Car? Car of the Year and Best Supermini, as well as What Diesel Car of the Year and the Best Supermini in the Fleet News Awards, and Car of the Year and Best Supermini in the Auto Express Awards.

Fiesta Van was voted City Van of the Year in the Fleet Van Awards, as well as Best Small Van in the What Van? Awards. Transit received accolades from What Van?: Best Panel Van Security for the sixth successive year and Best Minibus for the fourth successive year. Transit Connect won, for the seventh year in a row, the Fleet Light Van of the Year title in the ACFO Awards and was also voted Best Small Van in the Fleet World Honours.

01/29/2010, 2:52 PMBy Mark Kleis
Ken Block will be strapping on his new Ford/Monster helmet for the first time for the Sno*Drift Rally America Series race today, but yesterday Block strapped some cameras onto his new Fiesta rally car and took to the Michigan snow for a little practice. Block managed to get the Fiesta well over 100 mph with stud-less tires during practice – let’s only hope he can do the same when it counts.


We don’t doubt Block is a nervous wreck with the pressure of his first official race looming, but that didn’t stop Block from providing some (mildly) entertaining footage for your enjoyment

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-K37p0vw ... r_embedded

Click on the link below I think you will like it!

http://www.at.ford.com/news/multimedia/ ... amp;id=327

There are also additional videos there to review if you like.

DTE Energy of southeastern Michigan, one of Ford Motor Company’s utility partners conducting real world testing of the plug-in hybrid electric Ford Escape, invited PHEV-curious consumers into its “Smart Garage” at the North American International Auto Show. There, DTE demonstrated how electric vehicle users will use smart meter technology to recharge their vehicle using renewable energy sources such as solar panels.

In this video, DTE Energy manager Hawk Asgeirsson talks about the potential for electric vehicles and smart garages.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0N5fc1e0 ... r_embedded

2011 Ford Modeo facelift spy photos
By Zack Newmark


New spy photos of the 2011 Ford Mondeo facelift have surfaced six weeks before its introduction in Geneva. The car was spied during cold weather testing along European route E45, a road that runs from the northern Sweden/Finland border down to the southern tip of Sicily, Italy.

The new pictures show a car, powered by the TDCi engine, that has faced at least one challenge: the car looks to be scratched and dented at the bottom of the rear passenger-side door.

Under Ford's Kinetic Design scheme, engineers included a new front bumper with other changes expected on the facelifted model. The prototypes are still sporting black tape covering up details here, which may include LEDs. A new grille is also expected here. Test vehicles also seem to indicate that the next model will have new side mirrors, as well as rear LED clusters. Changes to the rear bumper are also possible, and interior upgrades are anticipated.

Look for the 2011 model year Mondeo to get the Galaxy facelift's 200-horsepower 2.0-liter Ecoboost engine mated to a six-speed dual-clutch transmission, and the 2.0-liter Duratorq TDCi diesel. The diesel will be available with either 113, 138, or 160 horsepower.

Eventually, a four-cylinder 1.6-liter Ecoboost producing up to 180 hp may also be offered.

Look for the 2011 Ford Mondeo facelift to be introduced at the Geneva Motor Show in March.

While rumors that Ford is developing a totally self-driving car are exaggerated to say the least, the automaker will double the availability of its Adaptive Cruise Control and Collision Warning with Brake Support system in 2010 – two technologies that help drivers stay aware of hazards ahead. The advanced, radar-based driver aid and crash avoidance technologies will be added to the next-generation Ford Explorer, Ford Edge and Lincoln MKX.

In 2009, Ford began offering Adaptive Cruise Control and Collision Warning with Brake Support on the Ford Taurus, Lincoln MKS and Lincoln MKT. One in four owners of those vehicles opted for these state-of-the-art driver awareness features.

In 2010, the newly enhanced system will allow up to two drivers to program personal settings for both features, including their preferred lead vehicle distance warning times, and a more user-friendly graphical interface.

The radar advantage

More than 70 percent of vehicle accidents occur between two or more moving vehicles, with rear-end accidents accounting for nearly a third of all accidents documented. Most rear-end collisions are due to driver inattention and insufficient driver braking, both of which are addressed by the enhanced brake functionality offered within Ford’s Adaptive Cruise Control and Collision Warning with Brake Support system.

When activated, Adaptive Cruise Control operates just like normal cruise control, with one important exception. If its radar sensor detects slower moving vehicles immediately ahead, the system will reduce the cruising speed as appropriate. When its sensors detect traffic has cleared, the user’s vehicle resumes the set speed. The radar sensor can detect vehicles up to 150 yards away, track their status 20 times per second, and detect speed changes of as little as 1/4 mph.

For 2011, Adaptive Cruise Control will be pictorially represented on a high-tech LCD vehicle instrument display when activated, alongside other driver information such as the fuel gauge and speedometer. The appearance of the information will be similar to the 2010 Ford Fusion’s SmartGauge™ cluster, which uses animation of a growing vine to track fuel efficiency. Likewise, Adaptive Cruise Control will be represented by a “bird’s-eye view” of two car icons with distance bars in the gap between them. The distance between the icons is determined by driver-programmable preference.

Also for 2011, Collision Warning with Brake Support, which is packaged with Adaptive Cruise Control as an integrated system, provides the driver with a “heads-up” display of red LEDs that flash on the windshield, and provides an audible alert when its radar senses a reduction in traffic speed in vehicles ahead.

Collision Warning with Brake Support uses the same radar capability as Adaptive Cruise Control and can sense changes in the traffic flow, as low as 1/4 mph. If the driver’s response is delayed, the system will pre-charge the brakes to prepare the vehicle for more aggressive braking to help avoid rear-end accidents. If the driver lifts quickly off of the accelerator indicating a desire to slow down, the system will apply the brakes to a nominal level to begin decelerating the vehicle faster than the driver can move their foot to the brake pedal.

If the driver hits the brakes rapidly, the system will ensure that they are using the full braking capability of the vehicle to avoid or mitigate the potential threat. The feature can detect a change in traffic conditions within 250 milliseconds and provide a warning as quickly as 100 milliseconds later. The system’s activation sensitivity is determined by the driver’s programmable preference.

Learn more about Ford’s radar-enabled vehicle systems.

Quotes

“We’ve taken a great set of driver awareness features and made them more effective through the use of a more user-friendly interface that’s designed to provide an enhanced driver experience.”
– Steve Kozak, Ford’s Chief Engineer for Safety Systems.

“We’ve designed the chime and visual alerts to be effective at improving the reaction time from the driver when they’re not paying attention, to get them on to the task at hand, which is applying the brakes if needed.”
– Aaron Mills, Ford Senior Engineer of Advanced Driver Assistance Systems.

“These radar-based systems build on Ford’s leading safety heritage. Many years of research and engineering work, leveraging experience gained in aerospace and other non-automotive applications, have enabled Ford to offer these crash avoidance and driver awareness systems on a growing number of vehicles. As a result, vehicle occupants may be better protected than ever before.”
– Jeff Rupp, Manager, Active Safety, Research and Advanced Engineering at Ford’s Research and Innovation Center

Here is a nice video link of the upcoming Focus, take a peek!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRJx0Iap ... r_embedded

I guess it's a no brainer. A wagon version of the Focus has always been available in Europe.

We might even get the next one over here...

01/22/2010, 8:46 PM By Drew Johnson
Thanks to the addition of two new powertrains, the 2011 Ford Mustang promises to be one of the most formative sports coupes on the market. However, despite the Mustang’s new found performance and fuel economy, many still point out the car’s solid rear axle as a glaring weakness. While the drawbacks of a live axle are still up for debate, Ford will eliminate any such arguments with the next-generation Mustang.

2014 is an important milestone for the Ford Mustang, marking the iconic pony car’s 50th anniversary. And, to appropriately celebrate such an important birthday, Ford is hard at work developing an all-new Mustang to celebrate the nameplate’s first half-century.

The 2014 Mustang was set to share a platform with the Australia market Ford Falcon — and possibly a new flagship Lincoln model — but Ford has put its global rear-wheel drive plans on hold as sales of the Falcon have been collapsing over the last several months. Ford sold just 30,000 examples of the Falcon last year.

With the next-generation of the Falcon and the new Lincoln model all but cancelled, Ford will soldier on with a unique platform for the Mustang, according to Motor Trend. However, Ford needs a global scale to make any vehicle platform profitable these days, so look for the next Mustang to be sold in Europe and Asia.

But, more importantly, the 2014 will feature and independent rear suspension, matching rivals like the Chevrolet Camaro and Dodge Challenger. In addition to the IRS setup, expect the next Mustang to shrink in size—think Fox body size — aiding in both fuel economy and performance.

Although the Mustang’s IRS is a go, Ford engineers are still undecided on what powertrains to use in the 2014 model. The GT’s new 5.0L will undoubtedly soldier on, but Ford is reportedly considering more advanced drivetrains such as a turbocharged V6, especially for markets like Europe.

Ford is also unclear of the styling direction it will take with the next-generation Mustang, but look for Mustang to abandon the retro styling that was launched in 2005.

01/22/2010, 4:13 PM By Drew Johnson
Take a good look at the pickup in the spy photo. It might appear to be a Ford Harley-Davidson F-150 test truck out for a shakedown run, but it’s not. Our spies have caught a half-dressed engineering mule of what’s believed to be the 2011 Ford F-150 Lariat Limited.

The last time we saw the F-150 Lariat Limited was in 2008, when the special edition trim package debuted for the final year of production of the 2004-2008 F-150. Only 5,000 units were built.

The 2008 Lariat Limited shared several key trim pieces with the 2007 Harley-Davidson, including the lower front air dam, wheels and grille. But it’s the styling cues the Lariat Limited didn’t share with the Harley F-150 (past and present) that helped narrow down the identity of the truck in these pictures. They include body color skull caps on the mirrors, body color door handle bezels with chrome pulls and fixed running boards. The 2010 Harley-Davidson F-150 comes with color-matched mirrors and door handles and auto-retracting running boards.

By the time we see the production version of the 2011 Lariat Limited, we expect the lower front air dam will be body color. The wheels may change to a different style or they’ll be painted with body color accents. The diamond mesh grille is likely to stay the same as shown, to differentiate it from the Harley F-150. It’s identical to the 2010 Ford F-150 Lariat’s grille.

What else is the Lariat Limited package likely to come with? Though the pictures show a single awkward looking exhaust tip, the side view shows it’s really two pipes merged into one. Based on that and the loud exhaust note, we expect the Lariat Limited will feature Ford’s all-new 6.2-liter premium V-8 engine, as Ford rolls that engine out to high-end F-150 models. The 6.2-liter is rated at 411-hp and 434 lbs.-ft. of torque in the 2010 Ford F-150 SVT Raptor.

by Drew Phillips on Jan 23rd, 2010 at 9:13PM


2011 Ford Mustang Daytona 500 Pace Car

The 2011 Mustang was just introduced a few weeks ago in Detroit, and already one lucky buyer will be able to get his hands on the very first modern 5.0 Mustang available for sale. That particular Mustang also happens to be the pace car for the upcoming Daytona 500 next month, making it all the more special. It's the first time a Ford has set the pace for the Great American Racing in forty years. Yes, Ford announced that they will be 50 replicas of the car, but this is the real deal.

There are quite a few other benefits that come with this particular car. Both Mark Fields and Carl Edwards were on stage with the car, and between the two of them they threw in a trip to the Daytona 500, VIP access to the Ford hospitality center, a tour of the pits, and a lap of the track in the passenger seat with Edwards. Not bad at all. Did we mention that proceeds from the sale will benefit the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation? With all those incentives, the final price of $330,000 made it the most expensive car of the auction so far.