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Ford dominates most-stolen SUV list

The Ford Escape leads the NICB's list with 1,421 examples stolen.
If you drive a recent Ford SUV or crossover, you may want to keep a watchful eye out for thieves - especially if you live in the New York metro area or in Detroit. A new study from the National Insurance Crime Bureau has named three Ford models as the most likely vehicles in their genre to be stolen, with CUVs in general being especially attractive to bandits.

Child cobalt miners: Automakers pledge ethical minerals sourcing for EVs

BERLIN - Leading carmakers including Volkswagen and Toyota pledged on Wednesday to uphold ethical and socially responsible standards in their purchases of minerals for an expected boom in electric vehicle production. Demand for minerals such as cobalt, graphite and lithium is forecast to soar in the coming years as governments crack down on vehicle pollution and carmakers step up their investments in electric models. To cover its plans for more than 80 new models by 2025, Volkswagen alone is looking for partners in China, Europe and North America to provide battery cells and related technology worth more than 50 billion euros ($59 billion). Talks with major cobalt producers, including Glencore, at VW's Wolfsburg headquarters last week ended without a deal. More than half of the world's cobalt comes from the Democratic Republic of Congo, a country racked by political instability and legal opacity, and where child labor is used in mines. On Wednesday, a group of 10 leading passenger-car and truck manufacturers announced an initiative to jointly identify and address ethical, environmental, human and labor rights issues in raw materials sourcing. The partnership dubbed "Drive Sustainability" consists of VW, Toyota Motor Europe, Ford, Daimler, BMW, Honda, Jaguar Land Rover, Volvo Cars and truckmakers Scania and Volvo. The alliance "will assess the risks posed by the top raw materials (such as mica, cobalt, rubber and leather) in the automotive sector," said Stefan Crets of the CSR Europe business network. "This will allow Drive Sustainability to identify the most impactful activities to pursue" to address issues within the supply chain.Reporting by Andreas Cremer.Related Video: Image Credit: Michael Robinson Chavez/The Washington Post via Getty Images Green BMW Ford Honda Jaguar Land Rover Mercedes-Benz Automakers Toyota Volkswagen Volvo Green Automakers Green Culture Electric Scania ethics mining

Ford Focus EV's slow sales trigger massive incentives

The Detroit News reports Ford is having real trouble moving its new Focus Electric. As a result, the automaker is offering substantial incentives in an attempt to lure in more buyers. How substantial? Try $10,750 off of a three-year lease. What's more, the EV can now be had for $37,995 ($2,000 less than its original base price) on top of an additional $2,000 cash discount to buy the EV outright - or you can opt for 1.9-percent financing if you work through Ford Motor Credit. None of which factors in various potential government incentives. Last year, Ford managed to sell a paltry 685 of the 1,627 Focus EV hatchbacks it built.
Ford isn't alone in trying to woo more buyers to its EV effort. Nissan cut the price of its Leaf by a whopping 18 percent for 2013, now down to $28,800 and built in the USA. The move followed the automaker's substantial incentives in 2012.
If you want a Focus Electric, you can now apparently get your hands on one for as little as $285 per month with $930 due at signing for a 36-month lease with 10,500 miles per year.