13 St3 Turbo Ecoboost Lcd Screen Sony System Leather Recaro Heated Seats Hid on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Ford ditching Microsoft in favor of BlackBerry QNX for next-gen Sync?

Ask the average consumer - at least, those who follow the goings-on in the automotive industry - which carmaker they'd most closely associate Microsoft, and the answer you'd most likely get would be Ford. The Blue Oval automaker, after all, was at the forefront of bringing Microsoft technology into cars with its pioneering Sync system, and, though reality didn't turn out as such, Ford's CEO was recently touted as a potential future head of the Redmond-based software giant. But that relationship, according to the latest reports, could be coming to an end.
Alan Mullaly kiboshed the idea of leaving Dearborn for Redmond, but more importantly Ford is tipped to be ditching Microsoft in developing its next-generation Sync system. In its place, Ford is expected to partner with BlackBerry's QNX division.
Now, before you go balking "BlackBerry?! But they're finished!" consider that QNX is (or at least was) an independent entity that Research In Motion (as BlackBerry's Ontario-based parent company was then known) just happened to have bought back in 2010. QNX provides control systems to everything from nuclear power plants and UAVs to automakers like Audi, BMW and Porsche.

Ford Mustang pinball machine has supple wrist, plays by sense of smell [w/video]

Ford didn't have anything major to show off at the 2014 Chicago Auto Show, so it seems it instead opted to have some fun - it brought a row of pinball machines to the show. Yes, pinball machines.
We originally told you about the Stern Pinball Ford Mustang machine a few days ago, and as day two of the Chicago show is a bit of a slow one, we opted to head to the show floor and get some snaps of the bank of new machines. Not surprisingly, there's plenty for the Mustang fan in each of these machines, ranging frond different models, to logos to a full model.
Take a look below for our full gallery of live shots, available up top. Then head below for our original gallery of stock images, along with a video and press release on the new machines.

Ford UK exec says EVs are a good way to lose a fortune

Stateside, Ford execs are quick to point out the automaker's expansion in the plug-in sector. And despite a minimal presence in the pure EV space, the Blue Oval has been promoting its plug-in vehicles as part of an overall effort to boost fleetwide fuel economy. Too bad the company's UK chief didn't get the memo. There's "no point in us getting behind [EVs] and losing a fortune" - Ford's Mark Ovenden Mark Ovenden, speaking rather frankly at the Geneva Motor Show recently, said he didn't have real high hopes for substantial electric-vehicle adoption and said the company's money was better spent on smaller gas- and diesel-powered engines, the UK's Daily Mail says. Ovenden said of EV development that there was "no point in us getting behind it and losing a fortune," adding that his goal was to have variants of Ford's EcoBoost engine in 40 percent of the company's vehicles. Ford has about a 15-percent market share in the UK. The UK doesn't appear to be as kind to the EV as the US. Nissan last year cut the price of its all-electric Leaf there last year by about $4,000, while the company rolled out a promotion for the Leaf late last year, including allowing Leaf drivers to borrow a gas- or diesel-powered Nissan for free for as long as two weeks a year during the first three years of Leaf ownership. In the US, Ford sold just 229 Ford Focus Electrics during the first two months of the year after moving 1,738 units in 2013.