Monday, June 2nd, 2008
Ford Motor Co. said Wednesday it plans to greatly increase the use of more fuel-efficient six-speed automatic transmissions, doubling their number by the end of next year and putting them in 98 percent of its North American vehicles by 2012.
Ford said the six-speed automatic transmissions offer 4 percent to 6 percent better fuel economy than four- and five-speed automatics.
The Dearborn-based automaker says its 6F35 six-speed transmissions will debut in the 2009-model Ford Escape and Mercury Mariner crossover vehicles, which now have four-speed automatic transmissions. They also will go into the 2009 Mazda Tribute and two other vehicles early next year, Ford said.
“These technologies are all about fuel economy,” said Craig Renneker, Ford’s chief engineer for new automatic transmissions.
Ford Vice President Barb Samardzich, head of the company’s North American transmission operations, said the new transmissions are key to Ford’s planned 30-percent cut in vehicle greenhouse gas emissions by 2020.
“They also deliver improved acceleration and smoother shifting, all at a great value for consumers,” she said in a statement.
Congress passed a law last year that requires new cars and trucks to meet a fleet average of 35 mpg by 2020, a 40 percent increase from the current average requirement of 25 mpg.
Ford said its Sterling Heights transmission plant will make 1.3 million 6F35 transmissions a year. A $658 million investment announced last year at transmission plants in Sterling Heights and Livonia, Mich., and Sharonville, Ohio, was primarily for making these transmissions, Ford said.
General Motors Corp. last month unveiled a six-speed automatic transmission combined with a four-cylinder engine in the popular 2008 Chevy Malibu.
GM said the new powertrain would debut immediately in the high-end Malibu LTZ and next year in two lower-priced Malibu models.
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Monday, June 2nd, 2008
Reflecting changed priorities as rising fuel prices bite, Ford is transforming a Mexican large truck plant to make the European-designed Fiesta small car for North America from early 2010.
Ford also said it would sell a hatchback version alongside the popular sedan and add diesel engine production and a gearbox joint venture in Mexico.
Beginning this year, the Cuautitlan facility near Mexico City will be converted from current production of F-Series pickups for Mexico - future supplies will be imported from the US - to small cars for all North America.
The Chihuahua engine plant, which builds I4 engines, also will assemble diesels for light- and medium-duty trucks in a variety of global markets.
In addition, through a joint venture with Getrag (GFT), Ford will establish a new transmission plant in Guanajuato to supply various vehicle lines.
Ford said the multi-plant development project is a US$3bn investment, including the support of local suppliers, as well as Mexico’s largest ever automotive investment, expected to create approximately 4,500 direct jobs. Together with indirect employment at suppliers, the moves affects 30,000 jobs in Mexico.
“Ford is absolutely committed to leveraging our global assets to accelerate the shift to more fuel-efficient small cars and powertrain technologies that people really want and value,” said Ford president and CEO Alan Mulally.
“Our investments in these facilities in Mexico are part of our plan to further realign our manufacturing capacity in line with the introduction of more small cars and crossovers.”
“Customers responded very positively after seeing both the sedan and hatchback versions of the Verve small car concept [at motor shows],” noted Mark Fields, Ford’s president of The Americas. “We know the market is headed toward more small cars and crossovers. With our product and manufacturing flexibility, we will be able to offer both models and add production capacity.”
Momentum in small-car sales is outpacing overall industry growth worldwide, the automaker said. Globally, small car sales have grown from 23m in 2002 to an estimated 38m in 2012.
Driving the growth in the North American market is a group of young people aged 13 to 28 years - dubbed ‘millennials’. Today, this group stands 1.7bn strong worldwide and will represent 28% of the total US population by 2010.
The new investment is expected to increase Ford of Mexico’s annual production to almost 500,000 vehicles and 330,000 engines by 2012, with about 80% of the vehicles and most engines headed for the North American market.
Ford also has stamping and assembly plants in Hermosillo, Sonora, where the Fusion, Mercury Milan and Lincoln MKZ sedans are built. These mid-size cars are sold throughout North America as well as Venezuela and Brazil.
The Associated Press (AP) said Ford’s move was a blow to the United Auto Workers union, which last year approved a contract that granted concessions to the automaker.
Earlier this year, according to AP, UAW president Ron Gettelfinger said the union would try to convince Ford that its US plants were competitive enough that the automaker could make money building its smallest cars in the US. Currently, all subcompacts sold in the US were built overseas, he said at the time.
AP noted that Ford has sold 12m Fiestas since the vehicle was introduced in 1976. Although a familiar name to customers in Europe, Asia and South America, it was only sold in the US - from 1978 to 1980.
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Monday, June 2nd, 2008
The Ford Motor Company has been plagued by different problems in recent months. Last year, they have lost the most money in their storied and lengthy history. They have even used the company’s plants as collateral for a loan they needed badly.
And it seems that Ford is not out of the woods yet. Recently, the company announced that they are recalling diesel engined 2008 model Super Duty trucks. The recall is the result of reports of tailpipe fires on diesel variants of the 2008 model of the heavy duty pickup trucks. The culprit of these fires was discovered to be leaking oil or fuel ignited when it came in contact with the diesel particulate filter located near the tailpipe of the trucks.
As of today, FoMoCo received three reports of tailpipe fires. It can be remembered that Ford proudly announced the development of the particulate filter and its ability to reduce greenhouse gas emissions of the diesel engines. In one reported case, it was said that the truck’s hot tailpipe ignited the grass beneath it. Fortunately though, the grass fire was extinguished immediately and that no one was hurt neither in the incident nor in the other two cases of tailpipe fires.
The recall, according to Dan Jarvis, spokesman for Ford, “is an important product for us and an important customer base, and we want to move swiftly to make sure this does not become a safety issue for our customers.”The recall will be a big blow to the company’s reputation and it might as well negatively affect the sale of the Super Duty trucks. The truck is one of Ford’s most profitable vehicles and the company rally needs to address the situation as soon as possible. That is why Ford will be sending out recall notices to their customers in early April. But before that, their dealers can warn them of the possible risk of tailpipe fires.
The recall is the second problem that FoMoCo encountered with the Ford Super Duty Truck. It can be remembered that in late February, Ford’s engine supplier Navistar International Corp. halted deliveries of the PowerStroke engines due to contract disputes. The supply of the engines to Ford’s assembly plants is as abrupt as a vehicle stopped in its tracks by brake components from EBC Active Brakes Direct.The recall will affect the first 8,400 diesel Super Duty trucks for the 2008 model year. These vehicles will undergo software upgrades that according to Jarvis will only take less than ten minutes per vehicle. The new software upgrade will shutdown the vehicle once it detects abnormally hot temperature on the particulate filter. This will give drivers of the Ford Super Duty trucks to pull safely to the side of the road to let the particulate filter cool down before running the vehicle again.
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