1996 Ford F-150 on 2040-cars

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Ford Mustang 50th anniversary edition brings in $170k

Just the other day, we reported on the first Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat selling for a whopping $825,000 at auction. But impressive as that sum was, the Challenger wasn't the only sought-after modern muscle car to cross the Barrett-Jackson auction block in Las Vegas this past weekend. So did this rare Ford Mustang.
The last of 1,964 special-edition 50 Years Limited Edition pony cars sold for a princely $170,000, with proceeds benefiting the Edith and Benson Ford Heart & Vascular Institute, a branch of the Henry Ford Health System.
The pony car in question is based on the 2015 Ford Mustang GT and upgrades with a performance package and nearly every option on the book, along with a unique appearance package to set it apart in celebration of the Mustang's 50th anniversary. It's available in two exclusive shades - Wimbledon white or Kona blue - with either a manual or automatic transmission. Only 1,964 highly symbolic examples were to be built, and this was the last of them.

Here's what it's like to drive the very first Ford Mustang cop car

As we recently discovered, there's something different about driving a police car. That's true whether you're talking about a modern Dodge Charger Pursuit or, yes, the legendary Ford Mustang SSP. Former Autoblog staffer and current Road and Track web editor Zach Bowman discovered this when he shanghaied a 2015 Mustang GT and made the trip to Nashville, TN to drive the very first Mustang SSP police car. The two-tone, V8-powered prototype was delivered into the welcoming arms of the California Highway Patrol back in 1981 for evaluation. Bowman chatted up cop-car aficionado Mike Strinich, the prototype's current owner, and managed to score some seat time in the car, which provided a unique interesting contrast to the SSP's 435-horsepower junior. Head over to R&T for the complete read.

Ford to ramp up Lincoln rollout in China in bid to catch rivals

DETROIT/BEIJING — Ford Motor Co's premium Lincoln brand plans to build as many as five new vehicles in China by 2022, according to two U.S. sources, in a move to expand sales in the world's largest vehicle market that would also blunt the impact of trade U.S.-China trade spats. Ford has said it plans to build an all-new sport utility vehicle in China by the end of 2019, however the company has not detailed future production plans for the Lincoln brand in China beyond that. "Our localization plans to support the China market are on track and will serve to further drive Lincoln's growth in China," Lincoln spokeswoman Angie Kozleski said. "Beyond that, it would be premature to discuss our future product and production plans or timing." Sources familiar with Ford's production plans told Reuters the automaker now expects to begin building the new Lincoln Aviator in China in late 2019 or early 2020, along with replacements for the MKC compact crossover and the MKZ midsize sedan, followed in 2021 by the all-new Nautilus, which replaces the Lincoln MKX crossover. A fifth model, a small coupe-like crossover, is tentatively slated for production in China in 2022, the sources said. Ford has much to lose if the war of words over trade between China and U.S. President Donald Trump escalates into a full-blown tariff war. Last year, it shipped about 80,000 vehicles to China from North America, more than half of them Lincolns to support the brand's growth. All Lincoln vehicles that Ford now sells in China are brought in from North America. Even if China does reduce its 25 percent tariff on imported vehicles - as Chinese President Xi Jinping promised on Tuesday - it is not clear that would mean a big, long-term increase in Fords and Lincolns made in U.S. factories heading to Chinese showrooms. Ford is pursuing long-range plans to build more vehicles in China to serve a market that is now roughly 60 percent larger than the U.S. market, and projected to keep growing. But it is playing catch up to hometown rival General Motors Co and German luxury brands including Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz, which have invested heavily in Chinese production in recent years as a form of insurance against trade, political and currency gyrations and to lower price points for their premium cars.