Archive for Ford

Another one of the big 3 is dumping their stocks in other car brands in order to stay afloat. This time it’s Ford will be reducing their 33.4% stake in Mazda to just slightly over 13%. Part of the stake will be bought back by Mazda and the rest by a group of Mazda’s business partners at a price of 184 yen per share. The “business partners” have not been named but some of them are rumoured to be Sumitomo, Itochu, Tokio Marine Holdings and Denso.

“The sale of Mazda shares by our partner, Ford, will not result in any change in Mazda’s strategic direction and we will continue to accelerate our product-led brand improvement and cost innovation initiatives. We will continue our strategic relationship through our ongoing joint ventures with Ford, as well as the sharing of platforms and powertrains,” says Mazda’s Chairman, President and CEO, Hisakazu Imaki.

What that means is that the Mazda 3 will continue to share platforms and engines with the Ford Focus, the Mazda 2 with the Fiesta, Duratec and MZR will be still be one and the same, and so on.

Hisakazu Imaki will cease to be the President and CEO, with the vacant posts to be taken up by Takashi Yamanouchi who previously held the post of Executive Vice President and Assistant to President in charge of corporate liaison, purchases, HR, admin, secretariat and auditing. David E. Friedman who is currently CFO will be replaced by Kiyoshi Ozaki.

There are also a few other Western names like Daniel Morris, David Stickel and Anthony Pastor who will step down as a result of the reduced Ford shareholding.

Related Posts:
Ford wants to sell Mazda to… Mazda?

This is probably arguably the most advanced C-segment car in Thailand, priced at just over the 1,000,000 Thai baht mark - the facelifted new Ford Focus TDCi with a 6-speed Powershift twin clutch transmission.

For a special launch price of 1,099,000 Thai bahts (approximately RM113,500), Thai customers will be able to enjoy a torquey and efficient 2.0 liter TDCi turbodiesel engine that produces 134 horsepower and 320Nm of torque at only 1,800rpm, with the ability to overboost to 340Nm briefly whenever the engine management decides its needed.

The 6-speed Powershift transmission out-cogs all of its competitiors, with the Civic having a 5-speed slush-box and the Altis having only a 4-speed auto.

It’s also more advanced, being a twin wet clutch transmission co-developed together with transmission company Getrag. It also has a slow creep function that helps with really slow traffic, parking maneuvers and those who just expect an auto to creep along slowly without you having to touch the accelerator pedal. Alot of twin clutch transmissions do not do this.

What else? It comes with 16 inch alloy wheels, a 6-way power adjustable driver’s seat, dual zone automatic air conditioning, and those who have driven the pre-facelift Focus will also know that its quite a fun drive, thanks to its sharp chassis and Control Blade multi-link rear suspension. Safety features include ABS, ESP stability control, and airbags.

While its just fairly rapid at 9.6 seconds to 100km/h (the Civic 2.0 does it in 9.2 seconds), Ford claims a potential fuel economy of just 5.8 liters of diesel (B5 biodiesel capable) every 100km, which could definitely be achievable thanks to a large amount of torque kicking in so early and the 6-speed twin clutch shifting quick and having plenty of ratios to keep the engine in its most economical operating range.

Both the 4-door sedan and 5-door hatch have the same introductory pricing but the hatch has a few extra equipment over the sedan such as wider alloys (16×7 instead of 16×6.5), a sports suspension and blackened headlamp surrounds.

Them Thai folks are lucky to be getting this car. The Powershift transmission might make its way onto our local shores but It’s unlikely that Sime Darby Auto Connexxion will launch the diesel version here thanks to our low Malaysian diesel quality.

Watch a video promo of the facelifted new Ford Focus after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of New Ford Focus TDCi with 6-speed twin clutch Powershift launched in Thailand

I just caught the latest installment in the James Bond universe - the Quantum of Solace over the weekend. I’m abit disappointed that the sexy Aston Martin DBS did not get much screentime other than an initial heated car chase scene.

Instead, Bond goes on to drive a few SUVs from the Ford group of marques, though the makers did try to “balance” them out with a fuel efficient small car.

Let’s have a look at the cars of the Quantum Solace.

Click here to read the rest of Cars used in the Bond movie Quantum of Solace

Ford has spiced up the Ford Focus Zetec for the UK market with a single alphabet suffix that means a few things, namely a full bodykit, 17 inch alloy wheels, aluminium-look foot pedals, and an S badge on the front cover. This new equipment level is called the Ford Focus Zetec S and is available for both 3-door and 5-door bodies.

The Zetec engine range (125 PS 1.8L, 145 PS 2.0L, 115 PS 1.8L TDCi, 136 PS 2.0L TDCi) is maintained, with the addition of the 115 PS 1.6 liter Ti-VCT engine. Ti-VCT stands for Twin Independent Variable Cam Timing, which uses variable valve timing on both the intake and exhaust valves of the engine. It’s got a pretty punchy torque curve, as although peak torque of 155Nm is achieved at 4,200rpm, Ford claims that alot of that is already there from 2,000rpm onwards, though a percentage is not stated.

Each Zetec S model costs approximately £750 above the equivalent Zetec model, while Ford says the Zetec S accessories such as the bodykit and wheels would typically cost over £1,600 if purchased separately.

As usual, more images after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of New Ford Focus Zetec S for the UK market

Ford Motor Co is in need of cash and is looking to selling some of its 33.4% stake in Mazda to raise some money, but does not want rival automakers to buy the shares, so what does it do? It approaches non-automotive manufacturer companies to see if they are interested in buying the stakes.

According to Reuters, here are a couple of companies that Ford has apparently approached so far - Denso, Tokio Marine Holdings, Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Group Holdings, Sompo Japan Insurance, Nipponkoa Insurance, Aioi Insurance, and trading houses Sumitomo and Itochu. Even Mazda has been approached to buy back some of its own shares from Ford.

Each company has been approached to buy about 1% of Mazda, which is valued at US$40 million. Ford wants to try to raise about US1 billion from this deal.

Source

Click for hi-res image

Ford is adding the 200 PS 2.5 liter turbocharged inline-5 engine from the Volvo T5 cars and the Ford Focus ST to its Ford Kuga SUV. The inline-5 engine producs 200 PS at 6,000rpm and 320Nm of torque between 1,600 to 4,000rpm, which can take the car to a top speed of 208km/h.

The new engine will be displayed at Paris 2008 in a special Ford Kuga Individual which demonstrates Ford’s new Individual styling program. It adds 20 inch wheels wrapped with 255/35ZR20 tyres, a new larger rear spoiler, new bumpers and skirts which extend lower by approximately 50mm for a lower look, body-coloured wheel arches, and the rear twin exhaust pipes integrate nicely into the rear bumper styling.

The Kuga also retains its Haldex generation 4 intelligent all-wheel drive and is mated to a 6-speed manual as standard, though a 5-speed Durashift 5-Tronic automatic sourced from Aisin is available as an option.

A hi-res gallery is available after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of Ford Kuga gets 200 PS 2.5L inline-5 engine

Sime Darby Auto Connexion Sdn Bhd has launched a new variant of the Ford Ranger called the Ford Ranger XL. Compared to the TDCi-powered XLT, the XL loses some equipment such as the lack of airbags and a less powerful engine.

Under the hood of the Ranger XL lies a less sophisticated 2.5 liter 12 valve SOHC indirect injection turbodiesel engine producing 109 PS at 3,500rpm and 257Nm of torque at 2,000rpm, compared to the TDCi’s 2.5 liter 16 valve DOHC direct injection turbodiesel with a VGT turbocharger producing 143 PS. The Ranger XL is also only available with a 5-speed manual, but the good news is the 4X4 system remains.

The Ranger XL has a different, less chunkier steering wheel. It has 16 inch alloys, fog lamps, an MP3-capable CD player, electronically controllable side mirrors and a tilt adjustable steering wheel. For a limited introductory period, customers will get a free bed liner and sport bar.

It comes with a 3 year or 100,000km warranty finished in 6 colours - Black Mica, Arizona Gold, Silver Metallic, Titanium Gray, Ranger Red and Solid White. It is priced at RM69,888 in Peninsular Malaysia nad RM73,388 in East Malaysia.

Look after the jump for photos of the interior, and promotional bed liner and sport bar.

Click here to read the rest of Ford Ranger XL 4X4 launched in Malaysia

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Ford Europe has released initial information and a set of 3 photos of the new Ford Ka. This latest generation Ford Ka is built on the Fiat 500’s platform and also shares the 500’s 1.2 liter petrol and 1.3 liter Multijet diesel platform.

An official debut will be at the 2008 Paris Motor Show, where more information on the car will be revealed, but for now enjoy the three photos.

Click here to read the rest of Ford Ka: badge engineered Fiat 500 initial photos

Saleen’s new SuperShaker intake system combines a shaker hood with its twin screw series VI supercharger, thus the use of the word super from supercharger and shaker as in the shaker hood. The shaker hood feeds the engine cold air from the outside.

The SuperShaker ram hood scoop is designed for everyday driving and isolates water and debris from the intake air by angling the air filter forward so that the water and dirt can be deflected away from the intake and filter.

The effects of such a device are debatable as the air is intercooled and the ram air effect is not needed when there is a supercharger in use and only has an effect at high speeds, but you have to admit the concept sounds appealing - there’s just something cool about having a functional hood scoop.

There are two complete kits (shaker hood and supercharger) ranging from US$6,949.99 to US$7,499.99 and two upgrade kits that only feature the shaker hood that cost between US$1,249.99 to US$1,649.99.

For the moment the top of the line new Ford Fiesta hatch in Europe will be the Ford Fiesta Zetec S while we wait for Ford to whip up the new Fiesta ST. Under the hood is a choice of either a 1.6 liter Duractec Ti-VCT petrol engine producing 120 PS, or a 1.6 liter Duratorq TDCi engine producing 90 PS.

The Zetec S badge also adds a lowered sports suspension as well as a bodykit consisting of a deeper front bumper, side skirts and rear spoiler. 16 inch alloys and projector headlamps complete the exterior equipment list.

One more rear shot after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of Ford Fiesta Zetec S: petrol or diesel!