Ford Trucks For Sale

The number of new cars considered the safest by the insurance industry nearly tripled in the past year, helped by automakers’ push to make certain safety equipment more widely available.Ford Motor Co. and Honda Motor Co. had the most vehicles on the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety’s annual list of the safest cars for the 2008 model year. Thirty-four vehicles received the top safety pick designation for 2008, compared with 13 from the 2007 model year.

The institute requires new cars and Trucks to have electronic stability control, or ESC, to qualify for the award. Many auto companies are putting the anti-rollover technology into their fleets ahead of a government requirement for the systems by the 2012 model year.

“Vehicles should be designed to provide good occupant protection when crashes occur, but now with ESC, we have the possibility of preventing many crashes altogether,” said Adrian Lund, the institute’s president.

Lund cited studies estimating that as many as 10,000 fatal crashes could be avoided annually if all vehicles had the technology.

Ford was represented on the list by the Ford Taurus and Mercury Sable passenger cars with optional ESC, and the Ford Edge, Ford Taurus X and Lincoln MKX midsize sport utility vehicles. The Volvo S80, C70 midsize convertible and XC90 SUV, part of Ford’s Volvo unit, made the list.

Ford previously has said that it will put stability control on its entire lineup by the end of 2009.

Honda and its Acura unit had seven vehicles on the list: Honda Accord, Odyssey, Pilot, CR-V and Element, and Acura MDX and RDX SUVs. Honda has had stability control on all SUVs, pickups and minivans since the 2007 model year, and the technology is standard on the Accord.

Electronic stability control senses when a driver may lose control of the vehicle and automatically applies brakes to individual wheels to help keep it stable and avoid a rollover. The technology helps motorists avoid skidding across icy or slick roads or keep control of their car when swerving to avoid an unexpected object in the road.

Subaru and Hyundai Motor Co. both had four vehicles on the list: Subaru Legacy and Impreza with optional ESC, Subaru Tribeca and Forester with ESC; the Hyundai Entourage, and Hyundai Santa Fe and Veracruz built after August 2007. Kia, a subsidiary of Hyundai, had the Sedona minivan on the list.

Pickup trucks were eligible to win for the first time this year because the institute conducted side-impact tests on many models. The Toyota Tundra, which has standard stability control and side air bags, was the first pickup truck to receive the designation.

Toyota Motor Co. also had the Highlander SUV on the list, while Volkswagen AG’s Audi subsidiary was represented by the A3, A4 and A6 passenger cars.

Other vehicles to make the list included the Saab 9-3, BMW X3 and X5, Mercedes M Class, and the Saturn Vue built after December 2007.

The institute said the awards help consumers compare vehicles without having to review results from multiple tests.

The GLK will debut as a 2009 model and is expected to be introduced at the Geneva Motor Show in 2008. Power is expected to come from a 3.5-liter V-6 with Mercedes 4Matic all-wheel-drive standard. All versions are expected to have the 7G-Tronic TouchShift automatic transmission. Later on there could be a V-8-powered GLK63 AMG version.

In line with Mercedes’ new development strategy, many of the components used for the upcoming GLK share their design with the parts used in the C-Class. The car’s underpinnings will be based on a revised version of the C-Class platform, meaning the GLK will be powered by the same engine lineup as seen in the new saloon. A brand new four-cylinder Bluetec diesel displacing 2.2L and producing up to 204hp should also make an appearance.

Mercedes-Benz cars for sale at EcarJunction.com

There’s a tragic beauty about the 2008 Dodge Viper that makes it virtually the perfect collector car.

Like Ted Williams in his last time at bat.

Like Marilyn Monroe singing “Happy Birthday, Mr. President.”

Like the last saber-toothed tiger, roaring at its own imminent extinction.

Massively powerful, beautifully styled, the Viper symbolizes the very best and the very worst aspects of America’s relationship to the road: Arrogance for thinking we can guzzle gas by the gallon while the rest of the world measures it in teacups; childish clinging to a bygone era that was truly great while it lasted.

As one reared in the golden years of American motoring, when the rest of the world was still clearing the rubble of war, I share deeply nostalgic feelings for those days when American automakers could afford extravagant means to capture the buyer’s imagination, knowing that gasoline cost just pennies per gallon.

Ignorance was bliss. But we can’t claim that excuse anymore.

When oil started sniffing the $100 per barrel mark and my neighborhood gas prices shot past $3 per gallon again, the reality that we could be facing a permanent transition to high fuel costs became increasingly undeniable.

For someone who can afford an $83,145 roadster, a measly $1,700 gas-guzzler tax and annual fuel cost of $2,812 is no deterrent to ownership. But you need more than money to enjoy this car. You need a strong sense of denial, perhaps even a cultural death wish.

There are people who will truly enjoy the Viper — enthusiasts, collectors, people emotionally connected to amazing machinery. Frankly, there’s nothing like it made in America, though the Chevrolet Corvette provides the closest comparison.

If the Corvette is a true American sports car, the Viper qualifies as an exotic, sitting somewhere between the ‘Vette and a Lamborghini.

While the Corvette can shred the pavement with its 6.2-liter, 430-horsepower V8, the Viper SRT10’s 600-horsepower V10 is even quicker, sending the roadster from 0 to 60 mph in less than 4 seconds and to 100 mph in about 12 seconds.

City driving doesn’t really tell you much about this roadster, except that it has awesomely deep vocal tones and a rather harsh ride. If you enjoy the basso-profundo stylings of Barry White, you’ll love just sitting in this car with the shifter in neutral, running the rumble up the rpm scale.

On surface streets, the Viper is actually well behaved. You don’t have to restrain it from taking off, and in routine situations, the six-speed stick goes from first to third to save fuel. But on a track or closed road, the car runs like 600 pent-up thoroughbreds.

The ideal surface would be a well-maintained oval track, where you could really work the gears on the straightaways. The chassis is so stiff that road bumps create loud noises and jolting sensations.

The personality of the car is conveyed by its deep-cut side scallops, swept-back fenders, crosshair grille and side-mounted exhaust pipes. Red brake calipers show through the 18-inch front and 19-inch back wheels, as do the massive brake discs. The Viper needs less than 100 feet to reach a complete stop from 60 mph.

Inside, the shifter and boot are mounted to the center console with very visible bolts designed to convey an industrial brawniness.

The seats are low to the road, but well designed for the driver and passenger. The 2008 is available with hard or convertible tops. To start the car, you turn the key, push in the clutch and punch a bright red “Start” button on the dash.

To liven things up, Dodge is introducing an interesting palette of new colors: Venom Red, Snakeskin Green, Viper Violet, Viper Orange and Bright Blue.

This is the ninth year that Dodge has offered the Viper as a production model. Another show car released on the streets, the Prowler hot rod, went the way of the dodo bird in 2002. Even the more subdued Chrysler Crossfire is heading into retirement this year.

Built in Detroit’s Conner Avenue Assembly Plant the Viper SRT10 is the flagship of the Street and Racing Technology (SRT) vehicles that follow the mantra: “Race inspired, street legal.” Typically, the SRT team takes a production model and re-tunes it for high performance. Viper SRT10 is all performance. There is no milder version.

Not surprisingly, only 4 percent of Viper buyers are female. The median age of the men who will own the car is 45. They have a household income of $173,000 and 44 percent have college degrees; 62 percent have spouses. They are primarily executives or entrepreneurs.

One can only wonder if their other car is a Mini.

WHAT’S NEW: Five new colors, styling tweaks.

PLUSES: Collector value, performance, styling.

MINUSES: Cost, fuel economy, ride.

BOTTOM LINE: Speed freak.

Ford Motor Co. unveiled its second Verve concept car at the Guangzhou auto show in China this week. The four-door notchback follows a three-door hatchback unveiled in Frankfurt in September and will be followed by a third model, which is slated to be unveiled in Detroit in January. Together, they are designed to show the direction Ford will take with its new global subcompact.

Ford Motor Co. may be struggling to hold onto its share of the U.S. car market, but there is one vehicle segment where the Dearborn automaker is not just holding onto a commanding lead, but expanding it: motor homes.

The Blue Oval doesn’t sell recreational vehicles under its own name, but Ford is the leading manufacturer of motor home chassis in the United States. On Tuesday, Ford hopes to widen its lead by unveiling its biggest, most-capable motor home chassis at the annual RV show in Louisville, Ky.

The new F53 Super Duty Class A chassis, in production in Detroit, is all about weight. There are six models in the lineup. The biggest has a gross vehicle weight rating of 26,000 pounds.

That refers to the amount of weight that can be added to the chassis, and titanic numbers like this are just what RV companies are looking for today, according to Rob Stevens, chief engineer for Ford’s commercial truck division.

“It’s all about knowing our customers,” he said.

Those customers are leading motor home manufacturers Winnebago, Fleetwood, Thor and Four Winds. They assemble the bodies — often with extensive customization to meet the needs of individual customers — and attach them to the chassis. The finished products do not bear the Blue Oval, but do include Ford’s trademarked V-10 badge.

“We spend a lot of time traveling to their factories, working with their engineers and finding out what their needs are,” Stevens said, adding that those usually come down to more weight. “Baby boomers want to take their houses with them.”
Comforts of home on wheels

While automakers like Ford work to shave pounds off their passenger vehicle designs in an effort to eke out another mile per gallon, motor home manufacturers are piling on the pounds in a race to provide customers with more comforts of home. Think marble countertops and plasma television sets.

Increasingly, high-end motor homes feature slide-outs, and lots of them. These are portions of the vehicle that can be extended when parked to create more interior space. One slide-out used to be the acme of luxury; now customers are looking for four on a single vehicle.

For the biggest motor homes, Ford is offering its 6.8-liter Triton V-10, which provides best-in-class performance with 362 horsepower and 457 foot-pounds of torque.

In addition to more hauling power, Ford’s new chassis offer improved ride and handling, quieter operation and wheels capable of turning up to 50 degrees in either direction. That compares with a 42-degree wheel cut on current models and translates into a much tighter turning radius — an important consideration for customers trying to navigate their behemoths in the narrow confines of crowded campgrounds.
Made in Detroit

The F53 is produced at a factory inside a Detroit Renaissance Zone. The 33-acre plant, owned by brothers Mike and Carlton Guthrie, operates as a contract manufacturing facility for Ford, with the automaker’s own staff overseeing production on site.

“We’re not quite an arm’s-length first-tier supplier, nor are we a Ford plant. We’re somewhere in between,” Detroit Chassis Plant CEO Mike Guthrie said. “Our plant is entirely dedicated to Ford Motor Co. They’re our only customer and it’s our only product.”

When the Guthries first approached Ford, the RV chassis were being made in Mexico. With help from the city and the United Auto Workers, who agreed to competitive contract terms, the brothers were able to put together a bid to produce the underbodies in Detroit for less than Ford was paying in Mexico. Their factory opened in 1999.
Borrowing from Super Duty

Ford chassis provide the underbodies for 69 percent of the gasoline-powered Class A motor homes and 34 percent of all Class A RVs sold in this country.

“The commercial truck business is a 500-piece jigsaw puzzle. One of the very big pieces of that puzzle is the motor home industry,” said Joe Castelli, director of marketing for Ford’s commercial truck division. “It’s a good business for Ford.”

Ford does not break out financial results for its motor home business, but Castelli said Ford produces about 30,000 RV chassis of all classes each year, accounting for about 10 percent of its total commercial truck output. And it is consistently profitable.

Ford has not always dominated the segment. Before 1999, rival General Motors Corp. was the industry leader. But GM sold its chassis business to another company, giving Ford the opening it needed to pull ahead.

“We continue to use the Ford engineering team, which is a big benefit to us,” Castelli said.

Ford’s Class A chassis benefit from the engineering done on its Super Duty F-series pickups. They also share about half their components with those vehicles, allowing Ford to create real economies of scale that its competitors cannot match.

“It was grown completely out of the Super Duty platform,” Stevens said.

The biggest models borrow from Ford’s F-650 commercial trucks. Castelli said these titans will not only guarantee Ford stays in the lead, but should expand its share even more — even in the face of $3-a-gallon gasoline.
RV sales buck car, gas trends

RV sales often buck the trends prevailing in the broader automotive marketplace. For example, while car and truck sales plummeted after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, motor home sales increased substantially as more Americans looked for vacation alternatives that did not require air travel.

Motor home buyers do not even seem that concerned about rising gasoline prices. While rising fuel costs are taking a big bite out of pickup and sport utility vehicle sales and overall passenger vehicle sales are well below last year’s totals, RV sales are up for 2007 and are expected to increase even more next year, according to the Recreational Vehicle Industry Association.

“Demographics favor that market. You’ve got a lot of people growing older and, as more baby boomers retire, they are looking to travel. Many of the more wealthy ones are choosing to travel by motor home,” said Erich Merkle, an analyst with IRN Inc. in Grand Rapids. “But gas prices still are a risk.”

It is a risk Ford is willing to take, Castelli said.

“This is one of the hidden gems at Ford,” he said. “It’s got a lot of momentum, and we expect it to keep growing.”

Volvo is launching a new luxury compact car for 2008 called the C30. Already on sale in Europe, the four-seat hatchback will be coming across the Atlantic this fall loaded with safety features. It promises sporty handling and performance with upscale appointments and comfort. The C30 will start at $22,700 for the C30 Version 1.0 and $25,700 for the C30 Version 2.0 (prices do not include destination charges of $695).

The 2008 Volvo C30 should appeal to at least two groups of people: Those who are young and successful, who like the practicality of a hatchback that seats four, but who can afford something a little more upscale; and those with fond memories of the old P1800 ES sport wagon.

The C30 also will appeal to people who buy Volvos for their emphasis on protecting the people inside. The C30 will come with electronic stability control, anti-whiplash head rests, side-impact and side-curtain airbags, and other safety features engineered by the world-renowned expert.

The Volvo C30 shares underpinnings with the S40 sedan and S50 wagon, which share underpinnings with the acclaimed European Ford Focus, an athletic compact that shares only its name with the American Focus.

The exterior design of the C30 was inspired in part by the old P1800 ES and in part by the Volvo Safety Concept Car. The result is a stylish hatchback with a large glass backlight.

The C30 is 8.5 inches shorter than the S40, but slightly wider. It shares the S40’s powertrain (engine, transmission), but will provide spunkier performance, benefiting from its lighter weight (320 pounds lighter than the S40). Volvo reportedly is tuning the suspension on the firm side and 0-60 mph sprint times of less than seven seconds are anticipated. This sounds like a quick car with sporty handling to us.

Both versions of the C30 are powered by a turbocharged T5 5-cylinder engine that produces 227 horsepower. Manual and automatic transmissions will be available.

A concept for the C30 was displayed on the auto show circuit a couple of winters ago with a 260-hp, turbocharged engine, so we know such an engine fits under the hood. We also know several aftermarket tuners are ready with performance and customization parts for the car as soon as it arrives.

The third generation of Volvo’s XC70 crossover utility vehicle arrives in October with a new engine, personalized ride features, a height-adjustable child booster cushion and new dynamic and comfort technologies.

Volvo first introduced its XC70 to the U.S. automotive market in 1997, long before the term “crossover” had been coined. The XC stands for “cross country,” as in a vehicle designed for travel across a variety of surfaces. Or, as Volvo puts it, a vehicle for those whose active lifestyle can range from driving children to school, negotiating city traffic or navigating mountain trails.

Volvo also produces the larger XC90. It seems like the XC70 is the model most often chosen by rock climbers, kayakers, and mountain bikers, while the XC90 is more popular with families.

Like sport utility vehicles, the XC70 offers an elevated driving position and ground clearance necessary for off-pavement exploration.

But it also features a full array of Volvo’s typical safety features, a package enhanced on the 2008 model by the new height-adjustable child booster seat that keeps a youngster in the proper position to have a good view of the environment while also being fully protected by the vehicle’s side-curtain airbag in the event of a collision.

The new 2008 XC70 can be equipped with Volvo’s Four-C active dynamic chassis system and comes with Hill Descent Control that makes driving down steep and slippery surfaces easier and safer.

A 3.2-liter inline six-cylinder engine provides 235 horsepower. That power goes to all four wheels through an all-wheel-drive system that can be supplemented by Volvo’s Four-C active chassis that allows the driver to select among comfort, sport and advanced settings.

Outside, the new XC70 gets a more dressed up design for a more elegant and luxurious appearance that includes a chrome molding at the bottom of the doors, framed side windows and a raised and sculpted rear section that provides the wagon with a more dynamic design.

Inside, the XC70 features ortho-posture supportive seats that can be ventilated for enhanced comfort.

The interior has more room than in the previous generation with more distance between the front and rear seats and thus more legroom for those sitting in the second row. Both front and rear seats can be equipped with built-in heaters. The rear seat is split 40/20/40 to provide various ways to expand the rear cargo floor.

The rear cargo floor has aluminum rails and adjustable anchor points for securing various loads. There also are anchor points in the side panels of the cargo area and various nets, dividers and cargo-management accessories will be available.

The new XC70 also can be equipped with an advanced audio system that features an Alpine amplifier, Dolby Pro Logic II Surround sound and Dynaudio speakers.

Ford Motor Co., the second-biggest U.S. automaker, said it’s offering three-year, no-interest loans on all 2007 Ford, Lincoln and Mercury vehicles to start making room at dealerships for next year’s models.

The financing incentives run from today through July 9, spokeswoman Lydia Cisaruk said in an interview. On some models, customers can take cash rebates of $500 to $2,500 instead. The Dearborn, Michigan-based company also is offering an additional $2,007 rebate on 2007 pickup trucks and sport-utility vehicles.

Ford is getting an early start on lot-clearing efforts after a 12 percent drop in its U.S. sales through May, while the industrywide total fell 1.2 percent. Automakers usually begin such offers closer to August, when many of the new models begin to arrive.

“Sometimes you need that shot in the arm,” said Rebecca Lindland, an analyst at Global Insight Inc. in Lexington, Massachusetts. “You need to get some of that inventory out.”

Ford shares rose 33 cents, or 3.6 percent, to $9.61 at 12:49 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. They have gained 28 percent this year.

The $2,007 rebate for pickups and SUVs doesn’t apply to so- called crossover wagons such as the Edge, Cisaruk said.

Ford’s sales have declined in part because of its plan to sell fewer vehicles to car-rental companies, which get discounts for buying in bulk. Ford in October stopped making the original Taurus sedan, sold almost exclusively for rentals, as it closed a plant in Atlanta. Taurus has since been revived as the new name for the Five Hundred sedan, produced at a Chicago factory.

The company also has been hurt by a 13 percent slide through May in sales of F-Series pickups, which account for about a quarter of Ford’s U.S. total.

GM Offers
General Motors Corp., the largest U.S. automaker, said on June 25 that it would offer no-interest loans of as long as three years, as well as $1,000 discounts on some 2006 and 2007 models. Those offers also run through July 9 and are tied to the July 4 U.S. holiday.

GM had a 3.2 percent U.S. sales decline in the first five months. The Detroit-based automaker reported an unexpected increase of 9.6 percent in car and light-truck sales in May.

GM also is reducing sales to rental-car customers. The automaker had a 2.1 percent increase in sales to individual buyers in the first five months of the year, spokesman John McDonald said in an e-mail. Such sales generally are more profitable than sales to rental-car companies.

Auto maker says it might cease investing in Canada if a free-trade agreement is reached with the Asian country

Ford may redirect future investment away from Canada if Ottawa concludes a free-trade deal with South Korea that doesn’t open up that country to auto imports, the company’s top Canadian executive said yesterday.

“We have to evaluate our competitive position in any jurisdiction where we don’t believe we’ve gotten fair and reasonable policies,” Bill Osborne, Ford Motor Co. of Canada Ltd., said yesterday following a speech to the Toronto Economic Club.

Mr. Osborne added his voice to a chorus of opposition that includes all the Detroit and Japan-based auto makers operating in Canada and the Canadian Auto Workers union, which represents workers at the Detroit Three manufacturing plants in Canada, pointing out that he’s confident federal negotiators understand the industry’s position and are taking it into account.

Any deal Canada makes should not be similar to the agreement reached between American and South Korean negotiators because that deal fell short of including any measures to open a foreign market that imposes heavy non-tariff restrictions on imported vehicles, Mr. Osborne said.

Canada’s negotiations with South Korea are Ottawa’s top trade talks right now. Many had expected deliberations would accelerate after the U.S. reached a free-trade agreement with the Asian country, but talks have bogged down and a deal is not seen as likely this year.

Canada imposes a 6.1-per-cent tariff on cars imported from South Korea - home to the companies that produce Hyundai and Kia cars - and removing it would open this country to a potential flood of small cars from manufacturers that don’t assemble vehicles in this country, Mr. Osborne said.

Ford operates two assembly plants and one engine plant in Canada.

The company, which says it has invested $10-billion in Canada since 1990, has about 13,000 employees here.

The Ford Canada president took a shot at another federal policy - the feebate scheme introduced in the March federal budget, which slaps a levy of up to $4,000 on some gas-guzzling vehicles and incentives of between $1,000 and $2,000 for Canadians who buy fuel sippers.

“The current federal program is not working,” he said, adding that it actually encourages Canadians to hang on to older vehicles that generate more emissions than newer cars and trucks.

His criticism came on the same day that the C.D. Howe Institute issued a study of the plan that described it as flawed.

It suggested, however, the plan can be improved to become a more effective tool to reduce fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.

The program should provide greater incentives for Canadians to switch to more environmentally friendly vehicles, but do so without damaging auto manufacturing in the country, the think tank said in an analysis called Deals on Wheels.

“The feebate structure should apply to more vehicles to ensure that correct incentives are present,” it noted.

The institute said the program, which has been excoriated by all auto makers except Toyota Canada Inc., gives rebates on just 10 models from 2006 and 2007. Toyota’s Yaris model is the highest-selling car to benefit, although Toyota officials have insisted they would support the measure even it didn’t provide $1,000 to buyers of the subcompact.

The program should also be expanded to include levies on pickup trucks, which are exempt, the institute said, adding that the lack of a levy might encourage consumers to buy those vehicles so they can avoid the tax that applies to some full-sized sport utility vehicles and other gas guzzlers.

It said the feebate scheme should be part of a coherent plan.

“It is essential to maintain an incentive for people to travel less,” the organization’s analysis said, proposing such tools as an increase to the fuel tax or a carbon tax or some kind of mileage-based charge.

“Such taxes would also provide an added incentive for drivers to switch to more fuel-efficient cars.”

The head of Ford’s Automotive Components Holdings (ACH) unit, set up to sell off or close the former Visteon parts-making operations, is to retire.

Al Ver, a Ford vice president, and ACH’s CEO and COO, leaves the automaker at the end of the year after 35 years.

He will be replaced by Bill Connelly, newly named chief executive officer for ACH though he retains his CFO responsibilities there.

Connelly will head the Ford-managed, temporary business entity comprised of former Visteon plants and facilities in the US and Mexico, as it continues preparing the operations for sale or closure by the end of 2008, Ford said in a statement.

“Bill has been with ACH from the start and knows the component businesses within the group, as well as the component industry,” Ford Americas president Mark Fields said in the statement.

“We continue to operate in a very challenging environment, and having Bill at the helm is reassuring to me and everyone on the team.”

Connelly, a US Marine captain, joined Ford’s finance staff in 1972 and has since held a variety of positions within finance, including controller of Ford’s North America automotive operations and the customer service division, and director of the investor relations department.

Ford noted that Connelly was instrumental in the negotiations to form ACH in 2005 and, as its CFO, had significantly reduced operating costs and helped to progress the restructuring plans.

Ver joined Ford in 1972 as a manufacturing process engineer at the Mount Clemens, Michigan, paint plant and held a number of engineering and manufacturing positions within Ford and its component operations during his career.

Prior to his ACH post, he was vice president of Ford’s advanced manufacturing engineering organisation.

“Al has consistently contributed to Ford’s engineering and manufacturing organisations throughout his career and most recently has done an outstanding job in leading ACH through its transition,” added Fields. “We wish Al and his family well.”