Archive for Ford

This image of what appears to be a new Ford Ranger Thunder has been snapped in Thailand. Those that remember the Ford Ranger Max concept from late last year will immediately recognise it to be a production version of that concept. It’s not clear at the moment whether this is a some form of special edition of the Ford Ranger with different headlamps, grille, bumper and other aesthetic bits, or a full-fledged facelift. The word “Thunder” was used on a special edition current generation Ranger before in the UK, and perhaps some other places. Malaysia could get this pretty soon as our Ranger now comes from Thailand as a fully imported unit, instead of being locally assembled here as Ford has pulled out its official presence from this country. As usual, the production translation of the concept has been toned down considerably, but modification enthusiasts can use the concept truck as a reference in their own pimpage plans. Look after the jump for a previously featured gallery of the orange Ranger Max concept truck.

Click here to read the rest of Ford Ranger Thunder production truck based on Ford Ranger Max concept

The 2010 Ford Mustang comes with either a 210 horsepower V6 or a 300 horsepower V8 engine, but for power freaks these options look rather anaemic compared to the 422hp 6.2 liter V8 in the new “Bumblebee” Camaro SS, or even the 375hp 3.7 liter HEMI V8 in the Dodge Challenger.

Here comes Ford’s SVT team to the rescue, with the new 2010 Ford Shelby GT500 Mustang that puts out 540 horsepower and 691Nm of torque, thanks to larger 5.4 liter V8 engine coupled with a supercharger and an intercooler. The classic Cobra snake badge has been moved from its traditional position to the other side of the grille in order to configure the cold air intake in its optimum position.

Whatever’s under the hood, it sure looks bloody fierce. Just look at the image above, and picture it coming up in your rear view mirror. Those large gaping air intakes could gobble a little Viva hogging the fast lane up anytime! There will surely be many who will pick this based on looks alone in markets where it’s offered.

There are other technical changes as well. The transmission’s final ratio has been changed from 3.31 to 3.55, and while gears 1 to 4 remain the same, the 5th and 6th gears have been changed from 0.80:1 to 0.74:1 and 0.63:1 to 0.50:1 respectively. This allows better performance in the first four gears thanks to the new final drive, but maintaining proper highway ratios for the last two gears for fuel economy. The gearbox’s twin-disc clutch has also been uprated (larger – 250mm vs 215mm diameter) for better driveability and NVH. Wheels are 19 inch forged aluminium alloys wrapped with 19 inch Goodyear F1 Supercar tyres.

Please look after the jump for a full photo gallery of the new Shelby GT500 Mustang.

Click here to read the rest of 2010 Ford Shelby GT500 Mustang with 540hp

They’ve done it, the Detroit boys have managed to secure federal emergency loans to execute their plans to stay afloat. Initially their request for money was rejected by the US Senate, but the Bush administration has decided to take money from the US$700 billion that was allocated to bail out their failed banks.

The amount to be given to GM and Chrysler (Ford doesn’t need the money apparently as they build cars that people actually want to buy, thanks to their extensive European involvement) totals up to US$17.4 billion. US$4 billion will go to Chrysler this month and GM will get the same this month, with the remaining US$5.4 billion set to fall into their hands next year pending the release of the other half of the US$700 billion by the congress.

George Bush says the bailout was because he and the American people did not want the indigenous auto companies to fail, and he also did no want to hand over the administration over to Barack Obama next year with the auto industry in shambles.

The two companies have until March 31st 2009 to become “financially viable”, otherwise the loan will be recalled and all funds are to be returned to the U.S. Treasury. In this case, financially viable is defined to be “having a positive net value, taking into account all current and future costs, and can fully repay the loan.”

Other terms and conditions include: firms must provide warrants for non-voting stock, firms must accept limits on executive pay and eliminate perks such as corporate jets, debt owned to the government would be placed at higher priority than other debts to the extent permitted by law, firms must allow the government to examine their accounting books and records, firms must report any transaction greater than US$100 million and the government has the power to block any of these transactions greater than US$100 million, firms must comply with Federal fuel efficiency and emissions requirements, and firms must not issue new dividends while in debt with the government.

Ford, the healther of the Detroit 3, is still asking for a US$9 billion government line of credit in case conditions worsen or one of the other Detroit 3 fails. But they do not need any money immediately at the moment, unlike as claimed by GM and Chrysler.

Canada has also extended help to the Canadian arms of GM and Chrysler. The Canadian government will provide C$2.7 billion while the Ontario state government will top up another C$1.3 billion for a total of C$4 billion. Of this total, C$3 billion will go to GM while C$1 billion will go to Chrysler. Canadian production capacity represents 20% of total North American auto production capacity, but this aid amount only represents 16% of all total aid offered by North American governments.

So far the response from the industry have been mixed, but the positive ones so far are only coming from pro-Detroit government officials and GM dealers and other industry-related people who stand to benefit from the loan. Standard and Poor equity analyst Efraim Levy expects GM to quickly blow the billions they are getting and then request another multi-billion dollar loan on March 31st 2009. Jerry Webman, chief economist at Oppenheimer Funds said this bail-out is much like the government infusing the blood in on arm while it’s bleeding out the other arm in attempt to keep them alive.

Ford has unveiled a whole load of new images and even a video of its most powerful Focus variant, the Ford Focus RS. 0 to 100km/h takes only 5.9 seconds, and it goes on to a top speed of 244km/h thanks to it being limited electronically.

The 2.5 liter turbocharged inline-5 (Volvo T5 engine) from the Focus ST is upped to 305 PS and a massive 440Nm of torque, but only sends it to the ground through the front wheels. No fancy 4WD system here, which ordinarily should mean an insane amount of torque steer whenever any form of boost kicks in, but Ford has attempted to tame this via a Quaife automatic torque biasing LSD.

The engine makes the additional power via a new camshaft design, a revised cylinder head and gasket, and a new intake and manifold system.

Other improvements include a wider track, strengthened driveshafts, a front suspension design that they call a “RevoKnuckle”, revised spring, damper and steering rack rates, a new rear anti-roll bar, and uprated discs in 336mm size at the front and 300mm at the rear. Styling is differentiated via its own bonnet, bumper and side skirt design, twin-bladed rear spoiler, and on the inside you have Recaro sports seats for both the front and the rear.

Look after the jump for a huge collection of photos as well as a video of the new Ford Focus RS.

Click here to read the rest of New Ford Focus RS: details, images and video!

Ford is looking to dump its premium brand Volvo, known for its safety, and is currently said to be in talks with two Chinese car manufacturers – Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation (SAIC) and ChangAn Automobile Group.

The SAIC rumour came about last week, reported by publications which were quoting unnamed sources. According to reports, Ford is hoping the Volvo sale can fetch £4 billion, which is less than the £4.4 billion sum it paid for Volvo in 1999. SAIC could do perform some front wheel drive platform sharing magic between MG and Ford.

Ford refused to comment on the talks when contacted by members of the media. “We will not comment on speculation or rumors, nor will we comment on regular business discussions that we have with our partners,” Ford said in a statement. Changan is Ford’s partner in China, and makes some Fords and Mazdas in China under one of its subsidiaries. It also assembles the Volvo S40 in China.

Another Chinese automaker Dongfeng Motor Group is also mildly interested in acquiring any assets the Detroit Three may dump for cheap. You may have noticed Dongfeng trucks in Malaysia. But Dongfeng is only monitoring the situation at best, and it’s too early to say if it would buy any assets.

Related Posts:
Volvo trucks doesn’t want Volvo cars if Ford sells

Malaysian Ford distributors Sime Darby Auto Connexion Sdn Bhd is now bringing in the Ford Ranger from Ford’s plants in Thailand, since Ford’s assembly plant was shut down following the exit of Ford’s official presence in the Malaysian market.

New features include a leather-wrapped steering wheel, MP3 capability for the 6-CD in-dash changer and the addition of 2 side airbags for the front passengers integrated into the seats, making a total of 4 airbags in this pick-up. The engine remains the potent 2.5 liter DuraTorq commonrail turbodiesel engine that can produce 141 horsepower at 3,500rpm and 330Nm of torque at 1,800rpm. Though not as powerful as the lump that’s found in the Navara, it’s still quite powerful and turbo lag is nearly non-existant.

The fully imported Ford Ranger TDCi is priced at RM86,888 OTR without insurance and registration for the Peninsular Malaysia, and RM90,388 in East Malaysia. These prices are for the 5-speed automatic transmission. Those who want a pure workhorse with a manual transmission and don’t need the power that the TDCi engine has can opt for the cheaper Ford Ranger XL that’s priced at RM69,888.

Okay, so the Detroit Three have finally got their money, but exactly the amount they wanted but it’s money. They asked for US$34 billion but only got US$15 billion. Seems now they’re heading north, asking another country for money.

GM, Chrysler and Ford is asking for a collective US$6 billion in loans, of which US$2 billion is a request from Ford and only a “stand-by” line of credit in-case the situation gets worse. Ford seems to be the least affected of all 3, could it be they are actually making cars people want to buy?

GM seems to be the worse off. GM is also asking an additional “immediate” US$800 million from Canada to make it through the end of 2008. U.S. Senator Chris Dodd has suggested that GM CEO Rick Wagoner “move on”, given an almost “impossible to defend” record (according to BusinessWeek) that includes wasting US$1.3 billion on a stake in Subaru which yielded absolutely nothing – no new cars, no technology, nothing, and then proceeded to sell off the stake later, partly to Toyota. He also spent US$2.3 billion to buy a share in Fiat and another US$2 billion to get out of it. Read the BusinessWeek link for more on Wagoner’s track record in GM.

The American taxpayers are probably furious at GM and the silver lining is at least GM knows it, hence this two-page apology letter to the American taxpayer you can read below.

Ford Motor Co has announced that it is considering selling its Volvo Cars marque, but a review of its current options would take several months to complete. Volvo itself is currently undergoing a restructuring plan under its new CEO Stephen Odell.

It was previously speculated that the Swedish government may be interested, but what about Volvo (the industrial group whose businesses include making Volvo trucks) themselves? Volvo sold Volvo Cars to Ford in 1999. But it seems that they’re not interested in revisiting the past. They’ve come out and said that they “absolutely do not want to buy Volvo Cars”, quoted verbatim from their chairman Finn Johnsson in a report from Swedish financial daily Dagens Industri.

However Volvo has stated they would gladly gladly finance joint projects such as sponsor projects or R&D projects, and could consider being part of various consortiums without actually being the main owner.

They’ve also publicly opposed calls for the Swedish government to take over Volvo because according to them, the government knows nothing about the car industry and Volvo needs a owner that has the ability to work on increasing sales and cooperate with suppliers on components and development.

Johnsson suggested Renault as a good potential owner.

Ford says this Ford Ranger Max concept truck that’s being exhibited at the 2008 Thailand International Motor Expo explores future design possibilities for the Ranger, and the underlying meaning could actually be to look forward to a facelifted Ford Ranger that looks like this, which is actually less truck-ish and more Hilux-ish.

Apparently the design theme here is a power tool, think power drills, saws, the whole works. These tools usually have little lettering to label each button and dial and so does this concept. Even the grab handle in the side of the sportsbar has the lettering GRAB on it. The side door is labelled AXCESS, and the fuel inlet is labeled FUEL.

The bed is covered by a remote-controlled powered tonneau cover to protect and hide your cargo. Those large wheels are 18 inchers and have a deep-dish design and are wrapped with 285/60R18 tyres.

Look after the jump for a full photo gallery and a video of the concept.

Click here to read the rest of Ford Ranger Max Concept exhibited at the Thailand Motor Expo 2008

American sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live did a satire skit on the Detroit 3 and their request for a federal bail-out which involved the heads of all three American auto companies on a panel – Rick Wagoner, Robert Nardelli and Allan Mulally.

I found it quite hilarious and I am sure those who are opposed to the Detroit 3 getting a federal bailout or simply anyone that enjoys a good laugh will enjoy this. At least the satirical fictional CEOs did not fly in their private jets to the satirical fictional hearing!

Anyway here’s a note: the video jokes about the U.S. congress asking for a 200 mpg car by 2015, but the number is actually 36 mpg, which is about 6.5 liters per 100km.

Watch the video after the jump.

Related Video:
VIDEO: What would happen if GM collapses?

Click here to read the rest of SNL satire sketch on Detroit 3 bail-out