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Social media star Scott Monty leaves Ford

It seems weird to think that an automaker could have a social media star, but Ford does. Or at least it did. Scott Monty, its Global Digital Communications Manager, led the company's team for almost six years and forged a reputation as being one of the most talented people in corporate social media. But the guru recently announced that he would be leaving the automaker for an undisclosed job elsewhere.
"I just decided the time was right. I am going to take a little time with my family, and I am going to start on a new adventure pretty soon," said Monty in an interview with AdWeek. He also explained a little about his theory of how companies should use social media. In his opinion, it should be a chance to go beyond standard marketing and build a relationship with people. Businesses need to have a broad focus for its online message, and using just one service isn't enough to be successful.
Under his guidance, Ford expanded its Facebook presence significantly. According to AdWeek, it launched the 2010 Explorer on the popular site. Also, when the company wanted to investigate selling electric models, it initially gauged the public's reaction on Facebook and then advertised them there first. Monty has been a major supporter of Twitter as well to broaden the company's communication with the public.

Yearly auto recall record demolished in 6 months

With nearly 40 million vehicles under repair campaigns and counting, 2014 will almost certainly go down as the year of the automotive recall. At just past the halfway mark, we are already at record levels, and there aren't any signs that the epidemic is slowing. General Motors' latest 8.4 million vehicle recall in the US puts the industry over the top for the title of the most cars with fixes pending from automakers ever. That's a prize no one ever wants to receive. According to TheDetroitBureau.com, the US recall total has hit 39.85-million vehicles to surpass the previous record of 33.01 million in 2004. Perhaps more surprising, with over 26 million repairs pending, it's still quite possibly that GM could recall more vehicles by the end of the year than the 27.96-million unit total of the entire US auto industry last year. With over 40 campaigns under its belt in 2014, the roughly one million cars it would take would hardly come as a surprise at this point, especially with increased government scrutiny into the Detroit automaker's processes. The pace of recalls started off relatively normal this year, with just a smattering of campaigns. The most surprising early on was Aston Martin calling in about 75 percent of its output since 2007 due to counterfeit plastic, but with just a few thousand cars, it was relatively tiny in pure numbers. GM really kicked things off soon after, but we didn't know it at the time. It issued its first bulletin for 778,000 Cobalt compacts in early February. Things only ballooned from there as more models were added to its growing ignition switch problem. The onslaught of announcements from every major automaker hasn't abated since then. Some industry executives are trying to put a positive spin on the situation. "With what's transpired (in recent months), there's a higher level of scrutiny," said Joe Hinrichs, Ford president of the Americas, to TheDetroitBureau.com. He believes that automakers are looking at data much more thoroughly than before, and it means better customer safety. Still, many consumers probably wish these problems had been found before their car went on sale.

Ford begins testing right-hand-drive Mustang

Ford has officially kicked off testing of the right-hand-drive variant of its sixth-generation, 2015 Mustang, according to a statement issued by the company, which came with the above photo.
According to Ford, this will mark the first time a right-hand-drive 'Stang has traveled down the company's assembly line alongside its LHD brethren. It is far from the first of the legendary pony cars to feature its wheel on the wrong side, though, as converters in RHD markets across the globe have been making swaps for years.
Ford is planning on using the white, droptop Mustang for RHD development ahead of the car's arrival in the UK, Australia and South Africa, among other markets. Scroll down for the official press blast.