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2015 Ford F-150 begins rolling off line at second factory

Ford needs more F-150s. Yeah, we just told you that a few days ago. The Blue Oval is reporting that its trucks are spending a mere 18 days on dealer lots, following a January that was the truck's best month in over a decade. Considering both of those facts, the timing is perfect for Ford to ramp up production of its all-aluminum truck by bringing its Kansas City, MO factory online. KC Assembly has been building F-150s for decades, and completed a $1.1-billion expansion to accommodate the all-aluminum 2015 truck (as well as for work on the Transit van). Similar to what was done at Ford's Dearborn, MI factory, the Blue Oval spent 13 weeks upgrading the plant's body shop, paint shop and a road-test course. Over 900 jobs were added as part of the update. Combined with the equally upgraded plant in metro Detroit, Ford can build 700,000 trucks per year. "The all-new F-150 has surpassed our expectations – setting new standards for fullsize truck capability, technology and efficiency," Joe Hinrichs, Ford's Americas president said in a statement. "With production starting at Kansas City Assembly, we are better poised to start meeting growing customer demand for our pickup." Scroll down for the official press blast from the Blue Oval. Related Video: KANSAS CITY ASSEMBLY PLANT COMES ON LINE AS SECOND U.S. FACTORY BUILDING ALL-NEW FORD F-150 2015 Ford F-150 starts production at Kansas City Assembly Plant; along with three shifts in operation at Dearborn Truck Plant, Ford is now producing even more units of the toughest, smartest, most capable F-150 ever All-new F-150 is turning more than four times faster than the overall full-size pickup truck segment; In addition to producing all F-150 models and cab configurations, Kansas City exclusively builds specialty F-150s with 8-foot cargo boxes and heavy payload packages to meet the needs of commercial fleet customers Kansas City Assembly Plant facilities transformed with the latest in manufacturing technology to build the first mass-produced truck in its class featuring a high-strength, military-grade, aluminum-alloy body and bed CLAYCOMO, Mo., March 13, 2015 – Ford today marks the official start of production of the all-new 2015 F-150 at Kansas City Assembly Plant, which joins Dearborn Truck Plant in building the toughest, smartest, most capable F-150 ever. This means Ford has expanded production of the first mass-produced light-duty pickup truck with a high-strength, military-grade, aluminum-alloy body.

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.

Ken Block rally cars go blue in the face (and everywhere else)

Well at least we now know why Ken Block "just ain't care" about smashing up his Ford Fiesta rally car recently. It's because he's getting a full brand makeover including a new team name, new paint scheme and even a new headquarters. Formerly known as Monster World Rally Team, Block and his Fiesta will now be competing under the Hoonigan Racing Division name, which is based out of a new 12,000 square foot facility located in Park City, UT.
As you can tell in the image above, Hoonigan Racing will replace the familiar black, white and green paint scheme with a more colorful design featuring plenty of blue, purple and red; the Monster Energy logo retains some of the car's green. The new paint scheme was inspired by Block's love of skateboard graphics from the '80s and early '90s as well as "Miami Vice-era" speedboats.
Block will continue to compete in multiple rally racing series such as Global RallyCross, World Rally Championship and X Games. The new headquarters features office space on one side and a shop for the cars on the other side. The building features plenty of stuff you'd expect from a company designed around Ken Block, including a massive gaming station for racing video games, recycled shipping containers used throughout the facility and a black bear.