2000 Ford Explorer Xlt Sport Utility 4-door 4.0l on 2040-cars

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2015 Ford Focus Sedan is fresh-faced and ready to defend its Most Popular crown

Ford has made an art of deeper-than-normal midlife updates since the 2010 Fusion, a strategy that has allowed it to keep models looking fresher in showrooms for longer without needing full redesigns. Instead of slight touchups to light fixtures, new paint colors and perhaps new wheel patterns, Ford has been digging deeper, with significant sheetmetal changes and very different front-end looks, along with an increased emphasis on new in-car technologies to keep models vibrant. Other automakers are following this trend, and Ford itself is continuing on the path with this new 2015 Focus Sedan.
There's a handsome new SE Sport Package that includes a firmer touring suspension, modest body kit and 17-inch wheels.
We first saw this sleek Aston Martin-like nose fitted to a Focus at the Geneva Motor Show last month, but Ford only showed the new look on the five-door hatchback - this is the first appearance of the sedan, which will bow at next week's New York Auto Show. The front end treatment is the same, with a new hood, new headlamps incorporating LED accents, a different grille shape and a completely revised lower fascia that does away with the 2014 model's controversial triangle-shaped corners and gaping intakes. The rear gets a new two-piece, laser-brazed trunk lid with new taillamps, but the overall look is quite similar to last year's car. In any case, the refreshed look brings the Focus sedan more in line with the design of Ford's other recently reworked cars, including the Fusion and Fiesta.

Ford's China sales keep falling, down 30% in third quarter

BEIJING — Ford's July-to-September vehicle sales in China fell 30%, as the U.S. automaker continued to lose ground in a prolonged sales decline in its second biggest market. The Dearborn, Michigan-based automaker delivered 131,060 vehicles in China in the third quarter, Ford said in a statement. Ford's sales in China fell 35.8% in the first quarter and by 21.7% in the second quarter. In the third quarter, sales of the automaker's mass-market Ford brand fell 37.7%, while its luxury division Lincoln saw sales drop by 24.1%. It delivered around 421,000 vehicles in the first nine months of the year, according to Reuters calculations. Ford has been struggling to revive sales in China after its business began slumping in late 2017. Sales sank 37 percent in 2018, after a 6 percent decline in 2017. The automaker plans to launch more than 30 new models in China over the next three years, of which more than a third will be electric vehicles. It also said it would localize management teams by hiring more Chinese staff and aimed to improve relationships with joint venture partners. Ford has launched a series of new models in the third quarter in China, including Focus, Edge, and the electric Territory. In China, Ford makes cars through its joint venture with Chongqing Changan Automobile Co and Jiangling Motors. It has said it would partner with Zotye Automobile Co to sell lower-priced cars, but there seems to have been little progress. In a series of moves, Ford named a new president for its main local venture, Changan Ford, in August and said it would enhance its partnership with Changan through research, production and marketing cooperation in September. Ford is also planning to revamp some of its existing manufacturing facilities with Changan to localize production of its premium brand Lincoln. Changan Ford's sales down by around 33.5% in the third quarter, according to Reuters calculations based on Changan's filings. Ford rival General Motors' July-to-September vehicle sales in China fell 17.5%, to 689,531 vehicles. As GM and Ford China sales extend declines, U.S. car companies' market share of total China passenger vehicle sales fell to 9.5% in the first eight months of this year, from 10.7% in the year-ago period, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM). Over the same period, German carmakers' share has risen to 23.8% from 21.6%, and Japanese automakers' share rose to 21.7% from 18.3%.

Ford files trademark application for 'Model E'

In early December, Ford filed an application with the US Patent and Trademark Office for the name "Model E." Historically, Ford never produced a Model E, and while automakers are known to file for trademarks they never use, some have wondered if the application might be used for a concept car.
Based on other recent events, though, it could be a legal move. In 2000 Ford sued an online start-up called Model E over the similarity of that name to Ford's industry-shaping Model T, but the judge dismissed the case citing lack of proper grounds. In August 2013, Tesla applied for trademark registration for Model E, and at the time, Ford said it would review the application. Tesla actually made two applications for Model E, one for automobiles and structural parts therefore, the other for "providing maintenance and repair services for automobiles," and there are plenty of theories about what the name could be applied to.
The Published for Opposition date for Tesla's applications is December 31, 2013, after which anyone who thinks they'd be harmed by Tesla being granted the trademark gets 30 days to register their issues. This is just speculation, but Ford's application - which was filed for automobiles only - might be about protecting what it sees as unwelcome encroachment on the name Model T, protection it wasn't able to enforce before when the stakes were only online and much smaller.