29 Ford Model A Coup Convertible W/rumble on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Ford names Lincoln chief as North American president following Nair's departure

Ford announced yesterday that its North American president Raj Nair would no longer be working for the company due to "inappropriate behavior." As a result, the company needed fill that gaping vacancy. The new North American president and Ford Group vice president will be Kumar Galhotra, and his term in the new role will start on March 1. Galhotra will remain the group vice president and chief marketing officer for Lincoln through March, meaning he's the head of the luxury brand. He's had this position since 2014. Before that, he was vice president of engineering for all of Ford. With Galhotra's promotion, a number of internal promotions follow. Joy Falotico, current chairman, CEO and group vice president of Ford's credit division will fill Galhotra's position, and Dave McClelland, vice president of marketing for Ford Asia Pacific, will fill her role. Other shuffling at Ford includes Stewart Rawley's promotion to vice president for Ford North America and chief operating officer. He is the current vice president for strategy at Ford. Ford China's chairman and CEO John Lawler will take Rawley's old role, and Cathy O'Callaghan will take over Lawler's job at Ford China, but not until June 1. O'Callaghan is currently vice president, corporate controller and chief financial officer for global markets at Ford. Related Video:

Ford confirms Everest SUV production for China

According to Ford, the Chinese SUV segment grew by 49 percent in 2013, and the Blue Oval held a 4.5 percent market share. At the 2014 Beijing Motor Show, Ford is showing the Everest SUV that, while just a concept for now, will go into production in the near future.
The Everest is a big, brawny seven-seat SUV that mixes solid, chiseled styling and contemporary Ford design cues. Up front there is an angular version of the trapezoidal grille and sharp, wraparound headlights. The beltline rises in the rear to make the back appear higher than the front. The rear seems just as chiseled, with the taillights resting in jagged scallops. There is no doubt that this concept means to look rugged, and ready for rough roads - the whole thing looks pretty great.
The truck was penned by Ford's Asia Pacific design and engineering team in Australia, and it was first shown in Sydney last year. Ford's JMC joint venture will build the truck for the Chinese market, and it will be sold at Ford dealers there. The Blue Oval isn't hinting at what powers the production version yet, but it reportedly shares some components with the foreign-market Ranger.

Lexus gets top brand marks from Consumer Reports; Ford, Jeep hit hard

Consumer Reports has released its 2014 Car Brand Report Cards, with Lexus again reigning at the top and doing so with the same industry-topping score of 79 that it registered in last year's Report Cards. This year, the institute credited its lineup for being "usually quiet, comfortable, and fuel-efficient," noting it's the only brand on the list "to achieve an excellent average overall reliability score." The Car Brand Report Cars list is meant to rank the best all-around vehicles based on CR testing and reliability results tallied by subscribers it surveyed. Each brand included must have sufficient test and reliability data for at least three models, a standard which left out 11 marques including Fiat, Jaguar, Land Rover and Porsche.
This 2014 Brand Report Cars edition is the first of a new format in which sub-brands have been broken out from their parent brands, with Acura using this year to move up the leaderboard into second place with a score of 75 for its "reliable, well-finished and somewhat sporty models." The top three was rounded out by Audi, climbing from eighth to third by scoring a 74 for "well-crafted interiors, nice handling and good gas mileage." Audi scored highest in the road-test portion, its improved reliability aiding its rise. The top nine was completed by Subaru, Toyota, Mazda, Honda, Infiniti and Mercedes-Benz.
Ford and Jeep weighed in at the other end of the rankings, Jeep taking the lowest overall score in the road tests and hampered by "a mix of spotty reliability." Ford was sunk by reliability issues with its MyFord Touch infotainment system which consumers found troublesome enough to negate its cars earning "solid test scores" for being "very nice to drive." Perhaps the rumored switch from Microsoft to Blackberry's QNX for the next generation SYNC will help them out. Cadillac's score also took a hit for infotainment reasons after it was the leading US brand last year, the CUE system in the XTS dragging Cadillac to the bottom of all General Motors brands.