Archive for Ford

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?

It’s not often that you see a beauty such as this in Malaysia. Whether you hate pick-ups or not, there’s just something about it’s tough looks and tons of chrome everywhere that makes you wish like you had one. This Ford F150 Harley-Davidson Edition was spotted in Ford’s Jalan Tun Razak showroom.

More after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of Ford F150 Harley-Davidson in Malaysia

The latest company rumoured to be interested in buying Volvo and Land Rover from Ford is Magna. Well, not exactly the two brands, but they’re more interested in the plants that belong to the two brands.

Auto Motor und Sport reports that Magna wants to use the plants of the two marques to build models from other companies, which will help achieve full capacity. All that unused plant capacity lying around is a wasted investment anyway. Magna does contract assembly – it’s subsidiary Magna Steyr manufactures the current generation BMW X3 in Austria but lost the job to assemble the next gen X3.

While Ford has hired Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and HSBC to evaluate the future of it’s Jaguar and Land Rover brands, effectively putting them on the table for possible sale, it hasn’t said anything about possibly selling Volvo. Volvo seems to be doing well recently, reporting that it is heading for a record amount of cars sold globally, despite a slowdown in major markets like Germany and the US. Sales are expected to surpass the previous 456,000 unit record in 2004.

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Ford is developing a new range of inline-4, V6 and V8 engines that employ what it calls Twin-Force technology, a term it has trademarked but basically means an engine that uses twin-turbocharging as well as direct injection. The first Twin-Force engine to go to production will be a 3.5 liter V6 that’s set to debut in the upcoming Lincoln MKS.

A DSG-style self-shifting manual gearbox from GetRag called Power Shift is also in the works to go with the Twin-Force engines, a combination that Ford says will deliver diesel-like fuel economy from petrol engines.

The prototype Twin-Force engine in the Lincoln MKR Concept shown earlier this year made 415 horsepower and 542Nm of torque, giving an idea of what kind of power the production engines will be putting out.

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This is what the next Ford Focus might look like. The current Ford Focus being sold on our local shores was first introduced in 2004, and it’s about time for a mid-life facelift now instead of an all-new model change, but this might be one HUGE facelift as Auto Express says the car will be restyled to have Ford’s latest look that first made it’s debut on the new Mondeo, but somewhat evolved to look more aggressive, very similiar to the cues Volvo took with it’s Volvo XC60 Concept.

Underneath the completely new styling would most likely be the same chassis and engines though, not that that is bad – the Ford Focus with it’s Control Blade rear suspension is one of the best handling cars I’ve ever driven.

Two more shots after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of New Ford Focus Artist’s Impression

The latest whispers being passed around dinner tables in the automotive industry are that Jaguar and Land Rover are currently on the table, and potential buyers are Fiat. It seems that talks started in February this year but ended last month, with no resolution. Sources say the talks were dropped because Fiat was concerned on how the Jaguar would affect Fiat’s credit rating. Fiat would have benefited from Jaguar’s rear wheel drive platforms if the sale had gone through.

With rumours of BMW being interested in Volvo, and most of Aston Martin shares recently being sold, it seems Ford Motor Co is looking to offload all of it’s Premier Automotive Group (PAG) brands.

PAG lost US$327 million before taxes last year, it’s third loss in a row for three years. Jaguar has lost the most money apparently, a total of between US$500 million to US$1 billion since 2001. Land Rover has gained traction recently though, pardon the pun

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Ford’s X-MAX is Ford’s latest 4X4 SUV, based on the Ford Focus platform. It is aimed at the likes of the Toyota RAV4 and the Honda CR-V – somewhat like the Ford Escape. It’s design cues are mostly based on the Ford Iosis X concept car which was shown at the Paris Motor Show in 2006.

The Ford X-MAX will be available in both two wheel drive and four wheel drive drivetrains. The 4WD version will use the Volvo V50 AWD’s transmission system, which operates in front wheel drive mode most of the time until traction is required at the rear. This positions the X-MAX most likely as a mid-range C-segment SUV, as if it is more upmarket Ford would have used the more complex 4WD system found in the Land Rover Freelander 2.

Engine variants would most likely be the same as the Focus, and the top of the range will use Ford and Volvo’s 222 horsepower 2.5 liter inline-5 turbocharged engine.

Ford created this Driving Skills For Life program in the US to help reduce teen driver accidents. The program teaches then how to handle most situations where the car is in a dangerous position – during accidental skids, accident avoidance, and etc. Now Ford has provided 9 different driving tip videos on their website, and I’ve decided to put them up hosting on my own server for faster loading. Do watch all of them if you have time, it doesn’t harm trying to learn something new. I hope you find them useful.

Click here to read the rest of Ford’s Driver Education Videos

This is the successor to the Ford Escape currently being sold in our market, but it hasn’t been introduced here yet of course. Still, it would be interesting to look at what new SUVs in the 130 to 160k price ranges might come here, since we have no new SUV models here save for the 2007 Honda CR-V. The X-Trail has just been facelifted again so the replacement second generation X-Trail is nowhere in sight.

Anyway, on to the 2008 Ford Escape after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of All-new 2008 Ford Escape – first details!

Ford topped the Reader’s Digest European Trusted Brands survey in the car brand category, which covers 15 countries and assesses over 24,000 replies. Considering the general demographics of Reader’s Digest subscribers, this could mean Ford is the UK’s most trusted car brand.