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Ford ready to install GE Wattstations at 60 locations in North America

Upper-level Ford executives are sending mixed messages about the power of plug-in vehicles, but in the companies parking lots across North America, at least, the signal is clear: come on and charge your EV. Today, Ford and GE announced that the Blue Oval will be installing Wattstation chargers at its Dearborn HQ and will then add units at more than 60 locations across the US and Canada, including "offices, product development campuses and manufacturing facilities." If you're a Ford employee, then you get four hours of free charging a day. That should be plenty to top off any of the company's plug-in vehicles, even the Focus Electric, and the time limit encourages drivers to swap cars at lunch, because Ford wants to encourage charging station sharing and get more employees to plug in. Ford doesn't mention the DOE's Workplace Charging Challenge by name in the release (available below), but we suspect these Wattstations are part of that project. Ford was one of the founding members, joining the Workplace Charging Challenge on January 31, 2013. On that date, the Ford Motor Company and Ford dealers had over 1,750 charging stations installed on company/dealer property. Ford, GE WattStation Chargers Support Employee Electric Vehicle Charging Network Ford to install its first employee electric vehicle charging station network in Dearborn, Mich.; facilities across the United States and Canada to follow Ford will work with GE as its network provider and supplier of electric vehicle charging stations; networked stations will help Ford understand charging usage and plan for future installations Ford electrified vehicles have logged an estimated 65 million electric miles over the last 18 months. Ford now offers six electrified vehicles, including Focus Electric, C-MAX Energi and Fusion Energi plug-in hybrids, and C-MAX and Fusion hybrid vehicles Ford Motor Company in conjunction with GE, will supply vehicle charging stations at Ford facilities nationwide, beginning with facilities in and around its headquarters. The announcement continues the innovative cooperation begun more than 100 years ago between Henry Ford and Thomas Edison, co-founder of GE. This month, Ford will begin installing GE WattStation™ charging stations across its North American campuses, developing a workplace charging network at nearly every Ford facility in the United States and Canada.

Ford Shelby GT350R, GT successor, F-150 Raptor and more rumored for Detroit debut

According to a pair of reports from Hearst's car mags, Car and Driver and Road & Track, Ford has a whole mess of good stuff on deck for the Detroit Auto Show in January. And it all sounds awesome. First, expect to see a hotter version of the Shelby GT350 in Detroit, likely called GT350R. Think of this as the already-hot Shelby with even more track-focused bits baked in – brakes, tires, aero, etc. Everything about the GT350 sounds great, so expect this R variant to be something seriously fierce. As R&T suggests, if the GT350 is the company's new Boss 302, the R is the Laguna Seca. But that's not even close to the biggest news. Road & Track believes a proper Ford GT replacement will debut in Detroit – a road-going version of the Le Mans GTE-class car the Blue Oval is working on for 2016. We've heard about this before, but having the street-legal car debut in Detroit would be absolutely huge news. The performance story continues, though, with R&T suggesting that the next-gen Ford F-150 Raptor will bow in Detroit. Details are scarce about what, exactly, the aluminum-bodied desert stormer will hold, but we expect good things. Finally, Ford's hot hatches might make some news in the Motor City, too. Car and Driver seems to think the all-wheel-drive Focus RS will bow in The D, and that an updated version of the Fiesta ST will also show its face. Road & Track, meanwhile, believes the Focus RS showing will be saved for a European auto show – think Geneva – and our gut feeling is to agree with the R&T theory. All of these rumors point to Ford officially announcing its dedicated performance division – like Mercedes-AMG, BMW M, and so on. We've heard reports of a new, global performance brand from the company already, with the name 999 thrown out as a possibility. In any case, if these rumblings prove to be true, there's going to be a ton to drool over from Ford in January. Stay tuned.

Formula Drift kicks off 11th season on Streets of Long Beach

The 2014 Formula Drift series kicked off last weekend in Long Beach, and saw Chris Forsberg, who you'll recall went mad and drifted around a warehouse in an Infiniti M, take the title behind the wheel of his Hankook Tire Nissan 370Z (shown above).
Forsberg really ran away with the first round of competition, outscoring his closest opponent, second-place finisher Kenneth Moen and his Bridges Racing Nissan 240SX, by 20 points. Third place was 2013 championship winner Michael Essa and his Yokohama BMW M3, 30.5 points behind Forsberg.
In the manufacturers' title, Nissan took an early lead with 122 points, which isn't a huge surprise considering five of the top ten drifters were piloting either a Z or a product of the brand's S platform. Ford, which had two drivers (Justin Pawlak and Vaughn Gittin, Jr.) in the top ten, took home second place, while BMW is currently third in the manufacturers' standings.