As staggering as it may seem, the 2008 Ford F-150 pickup can be ordered in billions of different combinations. That's all going to change for 2009. In an effort to reduce complexity and cut spiraling costs in the process, Ford will be slashing the number of possible F-150 configurations by 90 percent. The automaker isn't leaving the rest of the lineup alone either. The Ford Expedition goes from 250,000 combos down to fewer than 10,000. The 2009 Lincoln MKS debuts with about 300 combinations, and the 2010 Ford Focus will offer only about 150, which is 95 percent fewer than the current model. Are you in the market for a 2009 Ford F-150 and worried that you won't be able to get it exactly the way you want? Don't fret, Ford will still offer more than 9 million combinations for next year's model, including a brown one we presume.
We can forget all about the price of gas when we get news like this. Sure, we'll probably never ride in the Concept Ice Vehicle (CIV), but just knowing that folks at Lotus are working on things like this while we sleep... well, it's like finding out that there is a Santa Claus.The CIV was developed to aid research for the Moon Regan TransAntarctic Expedition. The biofuel powered, propeller-driven trike on skids is 4.5 meters long and 4.5 meters wide with an independent suspension all around. It also has an ice penetrating radar to detect crevasses and is light enough for a man to pull it across difficult terrain, which basically makes it an Elise for explorers. It also appears to have a spiked "foot" under the cockpit, perhaps for stopping on icy terrain.The CIV will lead the way for two other, heavier support vehicles as the explorers make their way from one Antarctic coast to the other. If you think the CIV is cool, have a look at the Econoline van, each with six independently-driven 44" tires. These monster vehicles were engineered by those kooky folks in, where else, Iceland.
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It's been a while since we've heard about FoMoCo's development of large rear-wheel-drive vehicles for Ford and Lincoln – no surprise considering the current climate. With fuel prices continuing their upward trajectory and CAFE standards looming on the horizon, Ford is apparently reevaluating the efficacy of offering RWD vehicles in a market starving for fuel efficient whips.
In addition to this morning's story that Ford is considering offering an EcoBoost four-cylinder on its F-150 pickup, Automotive News is reporting that Ford's use of turbocharged, direct-injected engines could expand to beyond 500,000 vehicles annually by 2012.
On the small side of the product front, Ford will likely equip the base Fiesta with a naturally aspirated 1.4-liter four-cylinder that would deliver around 40 mpg when it arrives in the U.S. in 2010. Ford is also considering a 1.0-liter, EcoBoost engine in the Fiesta, which could migrate into the Focus after 2012.
V8 engines will remain the sole source of power in Ford's large truck and SUV lineup until the end of the decade, when the EcoBoost V6 arrives and begins to expand throughout the Ford lineup. The boosted six is expected to produce between 290 and 390 hp, depending on the application, and could spell the end of bent-eights in many of Ford's range-topping products. When the redesigned Mustang arrives in 2010, Ford intends to continue its use of the 4.0-liter V6 and 4.6-liter V8, but both engines will give way to the 3.5-liter V6 and 5.0-liter V8 soon thereafter. Don't ask us why they're not rolled out at launch.
New diesels are also in the cards, including a 6.7-liter V8 (codenamed "Scorpion") currently being developed for Ford's Super Duty trucks and full-sized vans. A 4.4-liter, V8 turbo-diesel is also in the works and will find a home under the hood of the F-150, Expedition and Lincoln Navigator – assuming the two 'utes survive into the next decade.
Do you often wonder why putting your foot down while driving your Ford Expedition or Lincoln Navigator doesn't deliver the response for which you'd hoped? Well, that could be because you're driving an enormous beast of a vehicle saddled with an overburdened 5.4L V8 producing 300 horsepower. Well, Saleen now has the solution for more power that Ford has not been willing to offer.
The SpeeLab division of the American tuning house has announced the availability of its Series VI twin-screw supercharger for the current-model Ford Expedition and Lincoln Navigator. The forced inductor, already on duty in the Saleen S331 Sport Truck, provides an extra 100 horsepower and 100 lb-ft of torque in the SUV. The result? Substantial extra pulling power, for one, while acceleration is said to be vastly improved, dropping the 0-60 run into the sixes while improving 35 - 65 mph passing times by 30 percent, all the while making a negligible impact on fuel consumption.
May was apparently a tough month for Ford's big SUVs. With consumer demand understandably cold for the gargantuan utes and their hard-to-swallow 12 mpg city ratings, Lincoln Navigator sales slid 37 percent while Ford Expedition sales were down 43 percent. As a result, Ford Motor Company has announced that its Wayne, Michigan, plant that assembles these vehicles will close down for nine weeks starting on Monday. While the plant sits idle, Ford will increase production of its passenger cars to better meet market demand for smaller and much more fuel efficient vehicles.
For years, the success of vehicles such as the Ford F-Series pickups and Explorer SUV kept the Blue Oval brand from improving its line of mostly uncompetitive sedans. Automakers like Honda, though, never went the way of body-on-frame trucks and SUVs, preferring instead to continually improve its range of cars and crossover utility vehicles. That strategy is paying dividends in these days of high fuel prices, and Ford has taken notice. Asked whether he would prefer a more car-oriented model-mix, like that of Honda or Toyota, CEO Alan Mullaly recently answered, "Absolutely. We just don't have enough of those small or medium-sized vehicles yet, and that's what we need to concentrate on." Of course, all is not lost. As Automotive News points out, Ford has a new F-150 on the horizon, which is likely to improve its sales somewhat, and the brand as a whole has sold 647,140 vehicles, placing it well above Honda through April. Profitability, on the other hand, is another matter entirely.
