Ford Vehicles

For weeks we have been hearing rumors that Mercury is on its last leg and that we could be saying farewell to it. Now more than ever those rumors are being brought to life and we have found some proof that will help us to understand why.

At this time there is no Mercury vehicle that currently exists which isn’t a mild rebadge of a Ford product. While we have had hints of new models wearing the Blue Oval badge, not a peep has been provided regarding future Mercury products.

Ford sent out a mass e-mail to all of their salaried workers on Thursday that stated they would be delaying the merit raises and will be forced to cut a few benefits as well as reducing costs by 15%. Because of this many employees will find themselves being laid off.

Ford stated awhile ago that they would be producing a Fiesta that would be available to consumers in the U.S. The time to produce them is drawing near (or so we hope) and Ford is finally releasing a few details on where it will be produced.

It looks like the Fiesta will be made south of the border. The extremely low cost of labor in Mexico makes building inexpensive economy cars there a no-brainer, and Ford’s Cuatitlan plant already builds the current Euro Fiesta and a Fiesta-based vehicle for the Mexico/Brazil markets.

Ford’s famous F-Series looks as if it might be taking a serious hit as sales for the truck have slowly been declining over the past few weeks. Its competition is the Toyota Camry. Surprised? Many of us were surprised at first – but the fact that the gas prices have been so high is the reason for this situation.

The 2009 Ford F-150 is getting a much needed update to the 5.4 liter V8 engine. Ford will be increasing the horsepower (if only by a little) of the V8 by using the ‘open valve technology’ fuel injection process. You can expect the truck now to punch 320 horsepower instead of 300 and from 365 lb-ft. of torque to 390. 

Ford has sponsored a contest with a goal to modernize the Model T. The Model T a car that began it all. Twenty four year old junior in college Dong Trang came up with an electric crossover. According to Peter Horbury, who is head of design for the Ford company in the Americas , because Henry Ford’s first Model T was high off the ground and had a modular design, capable of hauling people and their stuff at the same time.

When you compare the Ford Focus that is being sold in the U.S. and the Focus ST in the UK it makes you wonder what they did to get so lucky. The Focus ST has a brilliant design and comes equipped with all of the essentials a Ford consumer looks for in a car.

Ford of Europe is making Henry Ford “proud” with the release of the new “Black Magic” special edition. The design teams over at Ford have taken their inspiration from the brand new Ford Focus Coupe-Cabriolet that was shown off in Geneva. The car will only be offered in the color black (staying true to its name).

The F-150 Raptor is something that we have been hearing about for quite some time – but we were wondering if it was just rumor or if the new truck would actually be making it to the market. Ford answered our questions this week when they gave several dealerships the chance to check it out for themselves at the Ford Dealer Show that was being held in Las Vegas. As is to be expected they have shared a few details of what they saw with all of us car aficionadas.

Ford will be showing off many polished Taurus’ at the New York Auto Show – but there will be one that will stick out of the crowd and draw people right to them. They have decided to show consumers what the Taurus looks like after a crash by displaying one of their crash test Taurus cars.

That is why they have chosen to crash test one and then to display it and show off its five star frontal and side crash test ratings that it received from the National Highway Safety Administration.