mackinaw

I was in the Detroit area last weekend and saw a 2015 Mustang parked at a restaurant still wearing the camo-pyschedelic paint job.

Maybe it's the new Ranger we've all been wishing for.

Why should I care if an axle is painted or not?

Last fall (?), Paul Eisenstein (The Detroit Bureau) was on Autoline After Hours. While talking about future Lincoln’s, he told the folks on AAH how he interviewed Mulally at some event and “tricked” him to acknowledge that a RWD Lincoln (probably Mustang-based) was approved and in the works. If one was so motivated (I’m not), you could probably find the episode and listen to it.

I agree it's not good, but in less than a week, it will be totally forgotten by the general public. Like recalls, nobody really pays attention to this kind of stuff except people who frequent automotive forums.

For a (maybe) 60,000 annual production run? Ain't ever going to happen.

This can’t be. Marchionne insists that Fiat/Chrysler will increase it’s North American market share by four percentage points over the next five years. Sergio is never wrong.

The Volkswagen Phaeton fiasco argues otherwise. By all accounts, an excellent car, but an absolute failure in the marketplace. Why would anybody spend $85,000 for a VW?

From today's Detroit News: "Dearborn —Previewing an example of materials that could be used in future models, Ford Motor Co. has rebuilt a 2013 Fusion using a combination of high-strength steel, aluminum, magnesium and carbon fiber, mixed with some polycarbonate glazings. The result: A mid-size Fusion that weighs about 2,400 pounds, or 800 pounds less than the lightest Fusion you can currently buy — and nearly the same weight as a subcompact Fiesta. The 800-pound diet equals a 23 percent weight reduction, and coupled with Ford’s 1-liter, three-cylinder EcoBoost engine, translates to about a 15 percent fuel efficiency boost. That would give Fusion a mid-to-upper 40s highway fuel efficiency sticker number, in line with only a handful of currently available subcompacts." From The Detroit News: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20140603/AUTO0102/306030097#ixzz33c4YSdmK

I agree, but boy, can niche vehicles be fun.

And as today's May sales results show, the America public doesn't pay much attention to recalls (witness the 12% increase in sales for GM, despite two months of incredible negative press).

The new 2014 Mazda 6 weighs less than the 2013 model. Ditto with the new CX-5.

Ford did say that their goal was to remove between 250 - 700 pounds per vehicle. This would be in the 2011 to 2018 time-frame. See this from the Derrick Kuzak interview from 2011: http://www.thedetroitbureau.com/2011/04/ford-planning-to-slash-vehicle-weight-up-to-700-lbs/

This will indeed be his biggest challenge. Mulally did the heavy-lifting in restructuring Ford, it’s now up to Fields to take Ford to the next level.

I imagine they set goals for the car prior to the start of design and engineering and it’s hard to believe the Project Manager would be comfortable with such a weight gain. As somebody else mentioned, if this weight gain is true, expect the automotive press to skewer Ford.

Up here in snowland (northern Michigan), I've noticed many Dodge Rams from the Cerberus era starting to rust, and badly.

You need to explain this.

From this week's Automotive News. Very interesting article on how Ford may build the Aluminum F-150. "So if you want a peek at the daunting manufacturing challenge awaiting Ford to assemble F-150s with aluminum bodies, you need to look at rivets -- and many other complex aspects of this assembly plant in England's industrial Midlands. Manufacturing with aluminum is well understood; it's just complicated. Many more steps are jammed into the same amount of time it takes to make a steel body assembly. Ford engineers say they aren't worried, because Ford largely devised the system when it owned Jaguar and Land Rover. "Obviously, we did a lot of the advanced engineering work when Jaguar was part of the fold. And so we have a lot of experience," Raj Nair, Ford's group vice president of product development, toldAutomotive News in January." Full article here: http://www.autonews.com/article/20140428/OEM01/304289997/how-will-ford-build-the-aluminum-f-150

From today's Detroit Free Press, a Tom Walsh column. Interesting read: "If indeed Fields succeeds Mulally this year as expected, and Hinrichs takes the Number Two spot, would Hinrichs be happy to wait 10 years for his shot at the CEO’s chair? Unlikely, for multiple reasons. Unlikely that the Ford board would ante up CEO-level compensation to keep both executives for the long haul. Unlikely that Hinrichs would be ignored by other companies willing to pay top dollar for a guy with serious chops in manufacturing and labor relations, who has run huge Ford operations in both China and North America. Unlikely, because top-tier leaders, be they corporate CEOs, football coaches or university presidents, tend to be itchy for the next big challenge. It’s not in their makeup to cool their heels for a decade until the next big job opens up. Here’s the near-term dilemma. Even if Ford can’t expect to retain all of its top talent for years on end, it’s extremely important — almost imperative — that Fields and Hinrichs click as the team leaders for the first year or two of transition once Mulally’s gone." Article here: http://www.freep.com/article/20140427/COL06/304270047/Tom-Walsh-Ford-Motor-Alan-Mulally-Mark-Fields-Joe-Hinrichs

Sorry you're no longer going to post in this section, you'll be missed. You're one of the few people on this forum who I actually listen to.

Not just at Ford, you can say this about any big company. The bigger the organization, the more office-politics play a role. Fair or not, that’s just the way it is.

No, it is not. According to the press release, the Escort is based on Ford’s “Global C-car platform.”

From today's Automotive News: BEIJING – Ford Motor Co.’s revived Escort compact sedan, developed especially for the China market, has potential to go global and possibly make it Stateside someday, Ford CEO Alan Mulally said. The car, developed by Ford’s Asia-Pacific r&d team for China, is derived from the Focus platform but features more interior space than the Focus and styling that is distinct from the Focus and Fusion. Mulally said the Escort will likely migrate to other markets. In the United States, where Ford already has a lineup of sedans, ranging from the Fiesta and Focus to the Fusion and Taurus, he said an Escort could someday fill a new price point. “We have a really solid small and medium-sized product line in the United States right now,” he said. “But I think over time this will be another enhanced version of the C-size. “It’s just a matter of when,” he said. “We’re going to be able to provide a C-sized vehicle with different price points.” http://www.autonews.com/article/20140420/OEM04/140429997/ford-escort-revived-in-china-could-land-in-u-s-mulally-says

I read the Automotive News article. This is strictly an exterior styling exercise. The concept has no power train or interior.

From today's Detroit News: New York — Ford Motor Co.’s Americas chief Joe Hinrichs said Tuesday that the automaker is working to improve its MyFord Touch infotainment system — the focus of many consumer complaints — and suggested Ford could unveil a system to eventually replace it. “There are software limitations with the the current system that we want to break through so that in the future we can offer more capability,” Hinrichs told reporters at a forum here ahead of the New York International Auto Show. “Like anything with technology, there’s a lot of evolution in capability, speed, memory.” At the forum, Hinrichs suggested the company may take a dramatic step. “We said we’re going to lead in this space,” Hinrichs said. “We’re not standing still. We’ll eventually have something to say on this.” From The Detroit News: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20140415/AUTO0102/304150096#ixzz2yzC1DyUP