08 Ford Edge Limited, Comfortable Leather Seats, Panoramic Roof, We Finance! on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Ford to add more than 2,000 jobs in Kansas City

Continued high demand for the Ford F-150, along with the addition of the all-new Transit series of commercial vehicles, has led Ford to announce that it will add over 2,000 jobs at its Kansas City Assembly Plant. At the time of the announcement, the plant boasts 2,450 hourly employees working on two shifts. All told, Ford will invest $1.1 billion in the Kansas City plant to expand truck production and begin producing the Transit series.
According to the automaker, fullsize truck sales are up 19 percent through April of 2013, leading to an additional 900 workers and a third shift of production for the F-150. Production of the Transit series will begin in the fourth quarter of this year, requiring an additional 1,100 workers. In addition, Ford estimates that a total of 18,000 jobs will be created by suppliers to its Kansas City plant to support the additional vehicle production.
Want to know more? Scroll down for the complete press release.

Ford Edge Concept previews new look, can park itself remotely

It turns out the image we saw back in February did, in fact, reveal the next-generation Ford Edge - at least in concept form. We still have to wait to see what the design will look like in production guise, but until then, Ford is giving us a good idea thanks to the Edge Concept being introduced at the LA Auto Show.
The new styling is an evolution of the current crossover's face with narrow headlights and a prominently slatted grille, while the rest of the design adds a more dynamic appearance with interesting body creases and horizontal taillights. We haven't gotten a look inside the Edge Concept just yet, but Ford is promising a suite of advanced driver-assist technologies including a new self-park system that allows activation from inside or outside the vehicle along with obstacle avoidance and an adaptive electric power steering system.
Ford will continue to offer an EcoBoost engine option in the upcoming Edge, and it will get active grille shutters to help maximize fuel efficiency. No word yet on when we'll be seeing the next-gen Edge in production form, but as we reported recently, it will become a global model in markets including Europe, China and South America. Ford's press release is posted below, but we'll have more information and images up later today.

Ford rethinking vehicle launch strategy

With a new boss at the helm, Ford is looking at new ways to improve its vehicle launches in North America to prevent recent issues that have popped up with models like the Lincoln MKZ, Ford Escape and Ford Fusion. Speaking with Automotive News, Ford's new president of the Americas, Joe Hinrichs, revealed a few ways the automaker plans to avoid early build issues such as the engine fires on certain 2013 Escape and Fusion models and months-long delays for customers to receive their MKZs.
It sounds like the root of the problems may have been Ford's relationship with suppliers compounded by the fact that the product surge came on the heels of the recent industry-crippling recession, and in the AN article, Hinrichs says improvements are being made to reduce problems during the launch of new or redesigned models. Three such improvements that were implemented during the first quarter of this year including more rigorous quality comparisons, better use of computer technology to catch major problems sooner and hiring engineers to work closer with suppliers.