1956 Ford Thunderbird on 2040-cars

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Ford Gets The Aluminum F-150 Ready For Prime Time

Russell Barnett, a Ford dealer in Tennessee, is ready for aluminum. Ford is using the metal almost exclusively in body of the 2015 version of its best-selling F-150 pickup, which starts arriving at dealerships next month. Barnett is already answering customers' questions about the truck. And he's updated his repair shop not only for the F-150, but in anticipation that other Ford brands such as the Mustang will eventually make the switch from steel. But, just in case, he ordered some extra steel-bodied 2014 pickups. "There will be some people who won't want to change for a while," says Barnett, who says pickups make up around half of the annual sales at his dealership in rural Winchester. Ford is doubling down on aluminum, which is lighter - and more expensive - than steel but just as tough. The new truck is the company's response to customers' requests for a more fuel-efficient and nimbler pickup. Fordhopes the advantages outweigh customer doubts about the durability of aluminum or potential repair costs for the pricier metal. It's a big risk. So far this year, one out of every three vehicles Ford sold in the U.S. was an F-Series pickup. Morgan Stanley estimates F-Series trucks account for 90 percent of Ford's global automotive profit. On Tuesday, it kicked off production of the new truck at its Dearborn Truck Plant, four miles from the company's headquarters. "Yeah, this is a risk, but it's one well worth taking." said Bill Ford, the company's executive chairman, as he stood alongside the assembly line. "For our customer, this is a big, big leap forward." The trucks have been the best-selling vehicles in the U.S. for 32 straight years; last year, Ford sold nearly 100,000 more full-size pickups than General Motors. Aluminum isn't new to the auto industry, but this is the first time it will cover the entire body of such a high-volume vehicle. Ford made 647,697 F-150 pickups at its two U.S. plants last year; that's one every 49 seconds. If Ford's bet pays off, it could pad its lead in the lucrative truck market. More importantly, aluminum "future proofs" the truck - and the company - in an era of rising fuel economy standards, says Karl Brauer, a senior analyst with Kelley Blue Book. Ford will announce the truck's fuel economy figures later this month. That could determine if it steals customers away from the Silverado or Ram. Truck buyers are among the most loyal in the auto market.

Ford looks to space robots to improve car-to-car communications [w/video]

Ford has partnered with St. Petersburg Polytechnic University for three years to research various kinds of connected vehicle communications. The university tie-up is part of its study of space robots, NASA systems created to enable space-to-Earth communication, and the university's own development of systems that enable communication between the International Space State and Earth.
The objective is for Ford to engineer layers of robust networks and redundancy systems that will allow your car to speak to other cars, to emergency vehicles, to infrastructure like traffic lights and buildings, and to the cloud. Benefits would come in just about every area of transit, from avoiding accidents, to getting medical workers to an accident more quickly, to improving the flow of traffic during rush hour.
Check out the press release below for details on what Ford wants to learn from the JUSTIN Humanoid and NASA Robonaut R2, and a video of technical leader Oleg Gusikhin discussing his interest in the project.

Ford will probably never offer two RS models at the same time

Autocar has some sour news for fans of go-fast Ford products. According to Roelant de Waard, Ford's president of marketing in Europe, the automaker will probably never offer more than one RS performance model for sale at the same time. That statement runs contrary earlier rumblings that suggested Ford would launch its next-generation Focus RS in 2015 and follow the hatch with a spate of other vehicles with an RS badge. But de Waard has made it clear that Ford of Europe is now focused on squarely on the next Mustang, even though there may be more RS models on the way eventually.
"What is clear is that the RS shouldn't be a series, or a car badge that we have in our portfolio all the time. It is an extreme car - something more than ST," he said.
That philosophy makes plenty of sense. We loved the old Focus RS - shown above in RS500 trim - because it was generally bonkers and plenty exclusive. Diluting either aspect is sure to end in disappointment for everyone involved.