2012 Ford Focus Se on 2040-cars

Auto blog

2016 Ford Fusion hybrid, plug-in getting $900 price cut

While the overall the green car market in the US suffered a slump in 2014 with a 6.5-percent drop in sales, the demand for electric vehicles and plug-ins actually jumped a healthy 28 percent. The Ford Fusion Energi plug-in was among the winners in the segment with a nearly 90 percent boost to 11,550 examples sold for the year. To keep the ball rolling in the face of low gas prices and updated challengers entering the field, the Blue Oval is slashing $900 off the cost of both the Energi and standard Fusion Hybrid to make them even more attractive to buyers. Ford's Monique Brentley told Autoblog that, the reduction was done, "basically, just to attract more customers and promote sales." The cut affects every trim of both electrically assisted versions of the Fusion for the 2016 model year, according to Cars Direct, and it comes without the removal of standard equipment. On the contrary, the Energi reportedly gets a new EcoSelect driving mode that activates additional regenerative braking and more gentle acceleration. The $900 pricing adjustment is only for these models and not available on the versions with only an internal combustion engine, which makes it clear Ford wants to tantalize green car buyers towards this pair. According to Cars Direct, the models should go on sale in late 2015. The least expensive 2016 Fusion Hybrid S will retail for $25,675, plus $825 destination on all of them, and a 2016 Energi start at $33,900. Autoblog's own pricing pages for them show the same numbers (here and here). Cars Direct also predicts for the Blue Oval to keep most incentives in place even after the adjustment. Assuming these figures don't change before the sedans actually go on sale, the price cut makes a 2016 Energi less expensive than a 2015 Chevrolet Volt starting at $34,345 (plus $825 destination). The cost of the updated 2016 model for the Chevy isn't announced yet.

Ford builds Lightweight Concept with Fusion shell [w/video]

It's a fairly well known fact that removing weight from a car is essentially a panacea for many of the modern automobiles problems. Does it handle like crap? Remove weight. Underpowered? Don't add power; trim the fat. Need to improve fuel economy? It's diet time.
Actually executing a major weight reduction program, though, much like with human beings, is no easy task. Unlike you or I, where motivation is the issue, the prohibitive measure in trimming a car's waistline is money. Lightweight materials are expensive, with carbon fiber and carbon-fiber reinforced plastic still primarily in the domain of higher end vehicles. Even aluminum construction, pioneered on a mass-produced level by Audi and Jaguar, is only now starting to make its way into the mainstream, thanks to the upcoming Ford F-150.
With this concept, though, Ford is attempting to show that a mass-produced, lightweight vehicle isn't too far off. This is the Lightweight Concept, and while it may look like a Fusion, it weighs as much as a Fiesta. For reference, the lightest Fusion available to the public is the 3,323-pound, 2.5-liter model with a manual transmission. A manually equipped, 1.6-liter Fiesta, meanwhile, is just 2,537 pounds.

Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 has a bit of a dyno issue

We're of the mind that each and every dyno should come with Murphy's Law painted in big, visible letters down the side. For every ten successful dyno runs out there, it seems there's one where events to horribly wrong. Take, for example, the video below. The clip shows what happens when a Ford Shelby GT500 and a mobile dyno have a bit of a disagreement at the Performance Expo 24 in Sherbrooke, Quebec. We won't spoil the results for you, but we will say there's some substantial carnage involved.
It's unclear just how much damage ensues from the dust up or whether anyone was harmed in the incident, but from the looks of things, everyone made it out without serious injury. If only we could say the same for the machines involved. Check out the video below.