Archive for Ford

There are now two Ford Verve Concepts, with the latest addition being a 4-door notchback recently unveiled at the 2007 Guangzhou International Auto Show, rather befitting as apparently the Chinese love notchbacks.

This small B-segment sedan could pose a mean fight to the likes of the new Toyota Vios and the upcoming Honda City replacement. while the 3-door Verve goes against the Jazz and the Yaris. They definitely have the looks.

The new Verve Sedan 4-door notchback joins it’s 3-door hatchback sibling unveiled earlier at the 2007 Frankfurt Motor Show and previews what the future Ford Fiesta replacement might look like.

More photos after the jump.

Related Posts:
Ford Verve Concept previews 2009 Ford Fiesta
Mazda 2 Sedan launched in China

Click here to read the rest of Ford Verve Sedan unveiled in China

Click to enlarge

Being in the market for quite some time now, the Ford Escape is a familiar sight with Malaysia road users, and thanks to the various marketing efforts by Ford including tie-ups with radio stations like hitz.fm it is also in mind.

I drove the Ford Escape 3.0 V6, the top of the range model that looks pretty much the same on the outside as the 2.3 liter version, except for a two-tone paint scheme that is exclusive to the 3.0 V6.

Read a test drive report after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of Ford Escape 3.0 V6 Test Drive

Click to enlarge

We’ve already seen the new Ford Escape announced a few months ago with full details on how the exterior and interior looks like, but Ford surprises us with this new concept Ford Escape at the 2007 Tokyo Motor Show called the Ford Escape Adventure Concept.

The front gets a new three-bar grille with silver-accented air intakes and new projector headlamps. The lower fascia air intake is flanked by two silver triangular intakes. The antenna has also been relocated from the right hand fender at the front to the roof. Finally, it is painted with a new colour called Fire red, a combination of a red base with a mix of yellow pearl in the clear coat.

On the rear, the Escape Adventure Concept uses LED tail lights. The lamp cluster takes a new approach to LED lighting for the reverse indicators - instead of multiple white LEDs, just two LEDs are used and this emits light which is carried through a light tube to illuminate the entire tail lamp in a more uniform way.

Check out more live photos of the car at the 2007 Tokyo Motor Show as well as product photos after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of TOKYO 2007 LIVE: Ford Escape Adventure Concept

We might just be getting the next generation CBU Mazda 6 from Thailand instead of Japan, once Mazda and Ford’s second plant in Thailand goes online in 2009.

The US$500 million plant is a 50:50 joint investment between Mazda and Ford and it will build cars from the B and C-D segment. It will be built on the same site as the existing pick-up truck plant, which is currently pushing out 175,000 trucks a year.

Cars from this plant will be sold in Thailand and exported to other countries in Asia, Australasia and Africa. B and C-D segment cars will mean the Mazda 2, Mazda 3, Mazda 6, Ford Focus, and many other cars.

This is the largest foreign investment in Thailand ever since last autumn’s army coup - this shows investors still have much confidence in Thailand.

Source

The new 2008 Ford Focus facelift has been unveiled at the 2007 Tokyo Motorshow, and although still based on the same chassis most of it’s ingredients have been updated significantly for the new model year. The new Focus will come in 3-door and 5-door hatch forms as well as sedan, estate and coupe-cabriolet body styles. All models will be available first in UK showrooms, with the coupe-cabriolet and hot ST performance versions available from spring 2008 onwards.

The Focus has been updated with Ford’s new kinetic design that first made it’s debut on the new Ford Mondeo. The Titanium trim level also receives an interior update which includes a redesigned center console which also incorporates the new kinetic design language. The green backlighting for the meter cluster has been phased out for a more modern and sporty red colour.

The two 2.0 liter Duratorq TDCi turbodiesel versions of the new 2008 Ford Focus will have the option to be equipped with Ford’s new Powershift transmission - a dual-clutch automated transmission developed together with Getrag. Powershift uses two layshafts working in parallel, each with it’s own wet clutch. One carries gears 1, 3 and 5 while the other carries gears 2, 4, and 6. Upshift speeds are increased using pre-selection.

The most frugal 2008 Ford Focus will be the ECOnetic variant which uses a 109 PS 1.6 liter Duratorq TDCi turbodiesel engine that manages to snag the Ford a respectable 65mpg, or 3.6 liters of fuel consumed per 100km travelled. There will also be a Flexifuel version of the 1.8 liter Duratec petrol inline-4 engine that can use E85 bio-ethanol, conventional unleaded petrol, or a mixture of both. The 2.0 liter Duratec will be available in conventional unleaded petrol form, or two other derivatives which use Compressed Natural Gas or Liquid Petroleum Gas.

The Focus is a fantastic drive and this new facelift will certainly make it more desirable as I think it looks so much better now.

More images after the jump.

Related Posts:
Ford Focus 2.0S First Impression Test Drive

Click here to read the rest of 2008 Ford Focus facelift unveiled at Frankfurt

Ford has updated the Ford Everest in Malaysia to the latest generation version based on the new Ranger TDCi. As expected, the Everest carries over the Ford Ranger’s excellent 2.5 liter Duratorq TDCi engines, but the top of the range Everest takes the bar up further with a more powerful 3.0 liter TDCi engine.

Like the Ranger, the Ford Everest equipped with the 5-speed automatic transmission offers Borg Warner’s Shift-on-the-Fly system, allowing the driver to shift from 2H to 4H at driving speeds of up to 100km/h. There are also 4X2 versions available for those who do not need 4X4 capabilities. The Duratorq TDCi engines use a single variable geometry turbocharger. The new 3.0 liter Duratorq TDCi engine makes 154 horsepower at 3,200rpm and 380Nm of torque at 1,800rpm. The 2.5 liter model makes 141 horsepower at 3,500rpm and 330Nm of torque at 1,800rpm.

The Ford Everest is a 7-seater with 3 rows of seats. Every seat row has separate air-conditioning. The third row can be completely removed to increase luggage capacity. Other features include power foldable door mirrors with indicator lights and puddle lamps, offering the front passengers visibility of what is on the ground that they are about to step on at night.

The familiar interior (similiar to the Ranger’s) uses a two-tone colour scheme with a little wood trim used sparingly. The interior offers 5 cupholders and an MP3-capable CD player. Safety features include the usual ABS with EBD and load sensing proportioning valve, as well as dual front airbags and dual passenger side airbags.

Ford Everest 3.0L TDCi 4×4 LTD Automatic - RM172,488
Ford Everest 2.5L TDCi 4×4 XLT Automatic - RM158,288
Ford Everest 2.5L TDCi 4×2 XLT Automatic - RM145,188
Ford Everest 2.5L TDCi 4X4 XLT Manual - RM145,188

All vehicles except for the Everest 2.5L TDCi 4X4 XLT Automatic will be available at all Ford showrooms nationwide from the 12th of September onwards.

The production spawn of the Ford Iosis X concept car from Paris 2006 will make it’s debut at the 2007 Frankfurt Motor Show, but for those who are not able to see it in the metal - like me, here are details and photos.

The Ford Kuga will be on sale in Europe in the first half of 2008. It is available in either front wheel drive or intelligent four wheel drive modes, and the variant to be shown at Frankfurt will be the 136 PS, 320Nm (340Nm overboost) 2.0 liter Duratorq TDCi common rail turbodiesel with Garett variable geometry turbocharger mated to a Durashift 6-speed manual. More details on engine variants will be available closer to the launch date.

The Ford Kuga is not exactly the same as the iosis X concept and we’re not talking about matters of exterior styling and interior. The roof itself has been adjusted to have a slightly higher silhouette to help with passenger headroom.

Since the Kuga is essentially a Focus SUV, expect the new Focus facelift to carry some of the Kuga’s ‘kinetic design’ styling cues.

More photos after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of Ford Kuga to be unveiled at Frankfurt 2007

There are a few cars that one would look forward to getting into in order to experience something because it has a certain reputation surrounding it. You have the BMW 3-Series with the expectations of its fantastic 50:50 weight balance, or the Mercedes Benz S-Class because it is seen as the pinnacle of comfort at under a million ringgit. The Ford Focus is one of those cars that you approach with anticipation.

Read the rest of the write-up after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of Ford Focus 2.0S First Impression Test Drive

Click to enlarge

This is the Ford Verve Concept which will preview the styling of the next generation 2009 Ford Fiesta, Ford’s B-Segment hatchback that shares the Mazda 2’s platform, and likely its Japanese sibling’s fuel efficient powertrains as well.

The Ford Verve Concept will be making it’s international debut next month at the 2007 Frankfurt International Motorshow, and the production Fiesta likely to follow next year.

Click here to read the rest of Ford Verve Concept previews 2009 Ford Fiesta

What we previously called the Ford X-MAX in speculation is now officially named the Ford Kuga, and naturally it is based on the Ford iosis X concept car that we saw at the 2007 Paris Motor Show.

Ford has a sketch of the car here, but the production car will be previewed at the 2007 Frankfurt Motor Show in September. It will go into production early 2008 at Ford’s Saarlouis plant in Germany, and will be launched across Europe in Spring 2008.

Related Posts:
Ford X-MAX: Focus with all-wheel drive?