Ford Market News

[kscarbel2]

Ford says Fusion output will continue at least through 2021

Michael Martinez, Automotive News  /  June 5, 2019

DETROIT -- Ford Motor Co. will discontinue the Fusion Sport trim for the 2020 model year as it focuses on offering more popular versions in the sedan’s final years. But other versions of the sedan will remain in production until at least 2021, Ford said Thursday.

"Our goal in the final production year is to further simplify the offering and focus on maximizing the more popular SE, SEL, and Titanium models," a Ford spokesman said.

Ford will build the Fusion at least into the 2021 calendar year, a spokesman said. The spokesman previously said that production would end in the 2020 calendar year, but on Thursday said that information was incorrect. 

The news of the Sport trim’s death marks the end of what could be considered a failed last-ditch effort to save the vehicle.

Amid declining sales, Ford made the Fusion Sport the centerpiece of its 2016 Detroit auto show display. It used media personality Ryan Seacrest to reveal the new trim -- part of the Fusion's midcycle freshening -- in a callback to its 2012 elaborate celebration in New York's Times Square for the second-generation Fusion.

Ford management hoped the Fusion Sport's flashy performance figures — 325 hp and 380 pound-feet of torque from a 2.7-liter V-6 engine — would help pump up sales and differentiate it in what some considered a bland segment.

It failed to generate much buzz. Spokesman Jiyan Cadiz on Wednesday said the Sport trim accounted for less than 10 percent of total Fusion sales.

Overall Fusion sales in the U.S. topped 300,000 in both 2014 and 2015, although the sedan could not topple Toyota, Honda and Nissan in the competitive midsize sedan segment. U.S. sales of the Fusion dropped 17 percent to 173,600 last year but rose 8.8 percent to 77,578 in the first five months of 2019.

[kscarbel2]

Ford ready to sell Russian plants

Reuters  /  June 7, 2019

ST PETERSBURG -- Ford said it is ready to sell its idle Russian plants and has had interest from potential buyers.

"We are open to discuss potential sales to other companies," Ford of Europe Chairman Steven Armstrong on the sidelines of the International Economic Forum. "We have had interest from a number of different companies."

Ford said in March that its Russian joint venture Ford Sollers would close two assembly plants and an engine factory in Russia, exiting the country's passenger vehicle market.

Ford's passenger-vehicle production in Russia will cease by the end of June following the closure of its car plants in Naberezhnye Chelny and Vsevolozhsk near St. Petersburg and an engine plant in Elabug.

The Vsevolozhsk factory builds the Focus and Mondeo models and Naberezhnye Chelny makes the Fiesta small car and Ecosport crossover.

Ford's vehicle plant in Elabug, which produces Transit light commercial vehicles, will remain open.

[kscarbel2]

Full-size Ford Bronco test mule spotted.

.

[kscarbel2]

Ford's director of global strategic design resigns

Michael Martinez, Automotive News  /  June 9, 2019

DETROIT -- David Woodhouse, Ford Motor Co.'s director of global strategic design who was instrumental in crafting the Lincoln luxury brand's latest styling, has resigned from the company.

It's unclear why he left.

In a Facebook post on Friday, Woodhouse, 50, said it was a "difficult decision," especially considering his personal investment in Lincoln.

"Ending a long-standing relationship with a corporation is just like ending a personal relationship multiplied by the number of wonderful friends and colleagues," he wrote. A Lincoln spokeswoman said Woodhouse "elected to leave the company" but gave no other details.

Woodhouse worked at Ford in a number of roles since joining the Premier Automotive Group, the company's onetime stable of luxury brands that included Lincoln, Volvo, Jaguar and Land Rover, in 1999, according to his LinkedIn profile.

He added the title of director of global strategic design, in addition to duties as director of Lincoln design, in July 2017, shortly after Jim Hackett took over as Ford CEO. As part of the overhaul of Ford's design team at the time, Joel Piaskowski, Ford of Europe's design director, was named global director of Ford design, overseeing cars and crossovers.

Woodhouse, Lincoln's design director since 2013, helped turn around the once-moribund brand with new styling centered around a philosophy the company labels "quiet flight."

Woodhouse previously was chief designer in Ford's strategic design studios in London and California and was part of the team behind the Lincoln C Concept presented at the 2009 North American International Auto Show in Detroit.

The Ford Shelby GR1, Ford Airstream, Ford Reflex, Lincoln Continental Concept, Lincoln Mk9 Coupe and Lincoln Aviator Concept are among the key vehicles Woodhouse had a hand in styling.

According to his LinkedIn profile, he was an assistant chief designer with Cadillac in Europe for less than a year starting in late 1998, where he helped craft the Cadillac Imaj concept.

Woodhouse began his automotive career with BMW.

[kscarbel2]

Ford recalls 1.2 million Explorers for suspension issue

Danielle Szatkowski, Automotive News  /  June 12, 2019

Ford Motor Co. on Wednesday said it is recalling 1.2 million Explorers in North America to fix a problem with the rear suspension that dates to the vehicle's redesign from a traditional SUV into a unibody crossover in 2010.

Ford also issued a recall for 123,000 previous-generation F-150s because transmission calibration software used during a February recall failed to resolve the problem.

Ford, in a regulatory filing, said it expects the Explorer recall to cost about $180 million. It did not give estimated costs for the F-150 recall or two other recalls covering a total of 16,300 vehicles announced Wednesday. One of the smaller recalls is to fix substandard welding in Econoline vans that are often used for school buses and ambulances.

The 2011-17 Explorers being recalled were built at the Chicago Assembly Plant from May 2010 through January 2017. Ford said the vehicles could experience a fracture in the rear suspension toe link that could reduce steering control and increase the risk of a crash.

Ford said one customer reported hitting a curb due to a broken toe link, but it's not aware of any injuries related to the defect.

In addition to the 1.2 million Explorers in the U.S., the recall covers about 28,000 in Canada and Mexico. Ford built about 1.6 million Explorers during the covered time frame.

A separate recall issued Wednesday covers a similar problem with rear suspension toe links on 12,000 vehicles in Canada. Vehicles affected by that recall are the 2009-15 Lincoln MKS, 2009-17 Ford Flex and 2010-17 Ford Taurus and Lincoln MKT. Ford said it's aware of one report of a crash with minor injuries.

The repair for both suspension toe link recalls involves replacing the left and right toe links with a forged toe link and aligning the rear suspension.

The F-150 recall is for certain 2013 models with 5.0-liter and 6.2-liter gasoline engines that had the powertrain control module software reprogrammed in a previous recall fix. Ford said vehicles without the complete recall fix calibration remain at risk for unintended transmission downshift due to intermittent output speed sensor failure. The transmission could downshift to first gear without warning, potentially causing the driver to lose control and crash.

Any F-150s that didn't have the previous recall fix are not affected and will receive updated software under the February recall program.

Ford said it's not aware of any accidents or injuries related to the issue. The recall covers 107,850 F-150s in the U.S. and 15,200 in Canada.

The Econoline recall covers 4,300 vans with 5.4-liter engines from the 2009 through 2016 model years. Ford said a capacitive discharge weld within a coast clutch component in the transmission could fail and possibly immobilize the vehicle. Dealers are being instructed to replace the coast clutch cylinder and the single-engaging coast one-way clutch with a dual-engaging one-way clutch.

[kscarbel2]

Ford suits show ‘fine line' in patent cases

Michael Martinez, Automotive News  /  June 17, 2019

In 1993, on an otherwise drama-free June day in America's heartland, Ford Motor Co.'s future product development and purchasing boss, Hau Thai-Tang, faced a crisis.

He was embedded with the Newman/Haas racing team throughout the IndyCar season and was preparing for a race at Milwaukee Mile in Wisconsin. It was the team's de facto home track, and Newman/Haas expected an easy victory.

But during practice, another driver consistently outperformed the team's stars. Initially flummoxed, Thai-Tang's group eventually discovered the rival car had been outfitted with a part near the front wheels that made it faster by pushing away turbulent air.

Under immense pressure, Thai-Tang and his team quickly mocked up designs for a similar device, faxed them to the team factory outside Chicago, and had the part built, overnighted and bolted onto the car in time for qualifying the next day. Although the rival team secured the pole position, Newman/Haas won the race.

"These guys are obsessed about understanding the competition," Thai-Tang recalled to Ford employees during a 2018 presentation. "They copy with pride; there's no hubris there. If they think somebody else has a better idea, it doesn't last for very long."

That idea — "copy with pride" — may be common in a competitive marketplace. If a rival beats you to market with a useful technology or feature, the thinking goes, it's often easier to swallow your pride and adapt something similar rather than spend millions of dollars to essentially reinvent the wheel.

Greg Reilly, an assistant professor at the Illinois Institute of Technology's Chicago-Kent College of Law, said the U.S. patent system encourages engineers and others to "design around" inventions to improve upon them.

Fraught with risk

But that comes with tremendous legal risk. It's not hard for an effort to "design around" or "copy with pride" to devolve into illegally stealing trade secrets or intellectual property.

"It's an incredibly fine line," Reilly says. "You can be infringing on a patent without even knowing."

Some high-profile lawsuits against Ford illustrate the difficulties automakers face when navigating those thorny issues, especially as vehicles increasingly rely on complex software and technology.

Versata Software Inc., a Texas software developer, sued Ford in 2015, claiming the automaker illegally developed a copycat program of what it used to pay Versata to supply. While such lawsuits are not uncommon, the case continues to dog Ford four years later. Versata has spent tens of millions of dollars pursuing the case, hiring high-profile lawyer Lanny Davis — who was a special counsel to former President Bill Clinton and who represented President Donald Trump's former attorney, Michael Cohen — and Bo Dietl, a New York private detective and former Arby's pitchman. The case is expected to go to trial in November.

This year, three Massachusetts Institute of Technology professors sued the automaker claiming Ford stole their patented dual port- and direct-injection technology to use on the country's top-selling vehicle line, the F series.

Hollywood turned one dispute with Ford into a 2008 film, Flash of Genius, that chronicles the company's protracted legal battle with inventor Robert Kearns during the 1970s and 1980s.

Kearns ultimately won his case against Ford, which was found to have infringed upon his patent for an intermittent windshield- wiper mechanism.

"As a general matter, for a company that is developing new technology to know what's out there and know whether they're violating patent rights is a difficult question," Reilly said. "There's some real tough situations."

Ford declined to comment for this story.

Versata case

Versata and its attorneys argue that the company's case is cut and dried.

It centers around proprietary software, known as Automotive Configuration Manager, that Ford had licensed from Versata to help identify incompatible parts in millions of possible vehicle configurations. Versata accuses Ford of having workers with firsthand knowledge about the Versata product copy it so the automaker could stop paying for it. Versata says Ford even used identical terms and phrases from Versata's manual for the Automotive Configuration Manager software.

Ford, soon after the lawsuit was filed, claimed it began developing replacement software in 2010 and that the technology is different from Versata's. "Ford's invention approaches vehicle configuration very differently, and more efficiently, than" Versata's technology, Ford said in a filing.

Versata is seeking at least $180 million in past damages, and it wants Ford to remove the software, which could potentially affect its manufacturing operations.

Versata, from the outset, has taken its complaints public. Its lawyers held a 2015 press conference with an elaborate display of a cutout of Henry Ford standing by a faux brick wall with a large hole in it, representing the internal divide that Versata says Ford breached by having people with knowledge of Versata's software develop the in-house replacement.

Dietl became involved when Versata hired his investigative firm to find evidence of theft. Ford has accused Dietl's firm of harassing witnesses, a charge he denies. Dietl subsequently took out full-page ads calling on executive Elena Ford, who Dietl says is on a committee that oversees the automaker's software and technology use, to apologize.

"We're going to use whatever resources we need to for justice," said a senior Versata executive who asked not to be named because of the ongoing litigation.

MIT professors

Most intellectual-property disputes, Reilly said, can be difficult to litigate because they involve a lot of he said, she said.

Many cases stem from efforts by an inventor or startup to persuade a large company to adopt a technology. The company may decline the technology but soon brings something similar to market.

That's the situation described in a January lawsuit against Ford by three MIT professors. They claim the automaker stole technologies used in its popular EcoBoost engines.

The suit, filed in federal court in Delaware, says the professors transferred ownership of their creations to MIT, which then granted exclusive patent-licensing rights to a small company the three founded, Ethanol Boosting Systems. EBS offered to license patents for the enhancements to Ford in 2014, but the automaker declined.

The suit alleges that Ford's counsel for global engine intellectual property "indicated that Ford had no plans that he knew of to use that technology in its vehicles." But, the professors argue, Ford has since applied their technology to a number of vehicles, including the F-150 and Mustang.

[kscarbel2]

There's no "fine line" about it.........copying is copying.

[RoadwayR]

Guess Ford didn't learn anything from the Kearns case.  Funny thing about the Ecoboost engines is that I remember hearing all the engineering on those was contracted out to a Bosch subsidiary in India.  Wonder where the idea really came from?

[kscarbel2]

Ford targets Power Wagen with new Super Duty Tremor package

Michael Martinez, Automotive News  /  June 27, 2019

DETROIT — Ford Motor Co. is looking to cash in on the continued popularity of pricey pickups and stave off hard-charging Ram in the sales race with the Super Duty Tremor, an answer to Ram's off-road Power Wagon.

The off-road package, unveiled Thursday, will reach dealerships in the fourth quarter along with other versions of the freshened 2020 Super Duty.

It's available on XLT, Lariat, King Ranch and Platinum trims of the F-250 and F-350 with either the truck's new 7.3-liter V-8 gas or 6.7-liter diesel engine.

The addition to Ford's formidable Super Duty lineup is meant to capture cash that customers would otherwise spend on aftermarket add-ons. Ford says some 70 percent of Super Duty customers accessorize their vehicles, sometimes spending tens of thousands on upgrades, and that roughly 15 percent of buyers upgrade the stock wheels and tires within six months of purchase.

The Tremor package also helps shore up Super Duty's dominant market position, directly confronting a popular niche filled by second-place Ram.

"Tremor balances what customers demand in terms of work with what they need in the great outdoors," Todd Eckert, Ford's truck group marketing manager, said in a statement.

The trucks sit 2 inches higher in the front with a total of 10.8 inches of ground clearance to help slog through mud, water and uneven terrain. Ford says the pickups can navigate up to 33 inches of water, a best-in-class mark.

The package comes with unique tires, wheels, suspension, shocks and dampers. It features trail control, also available on the F-150 Raptor and Ranger, and a unique rock crawl mode.

Officials did not discuss pricing or power figures but said the Super Duty Tremor will have greater towing and payload than the Ram Power Wagon, although the figures will be slightly lower than for the standard Super Duty.

The Tremor name will adorn the shocks and appear on the rear side of the pickup box.

Brian Rathsburg, Ford's Super Duty marketing manager, said the package targets a different buyer than the F-150's Raptor performance variant. He said it represents "an enhanced version" of the company's FX4 off-road package that's available on the Ranger, F-150 and Super Duty.

The FX4 and Tremor packages cannot be combined, and Rathsburg said Ford expects half of Super Duty customers to pick one or the other.

"There's a recreation element to this," Rathsburg said. "We see it more of an evolution of the Super Duty customer as their lifestyle changes."

.

[Rob]

Funny thing, (to me) is they rust out just as quickly and the same as their so called "work truck" series costing 2/3rd less.

I cannot justify the cost of a new pickup myself as the value just isn't there any longer.

[fjh]

So what became of the RAPTOR version of these? Speaking of Hype!

Edited June 27, 2019 by fjh

[Maxidyne]

Rob, I saw some bids for full size work trucks for the state of Oregon recently, and the bids were just under $20k for 2WD and around $24k for 4WD.

fjh, in America the Raptor package is only offered on the F150.

[Rob]

That is about what the work trucks ran for the federal govt. purchase contracts too. Heavier light duty trucks, and options ran a bit more, but everything was power steering and air conditioning at minimums. Hard to get a manual transmission in anything any longer. 

[kscarbel2]

This is the one and only WM300 "Power Wagon". Nothing comparable before......and nothing since.

.

[kscarbel2]

Ford to slash 12,000 jobs in Europe by 2020

Edward Taylor, Reuters - Bloomberg  /  June 27, 2019

FRANKFURT -- Ford Motor Co. said it will have cut 12,000 jobs in Europe -- about 20 percent of its overall workforce there -- by the end of next year to try to return the business to profit, part of a wave of cost reductions in an auto industry facing stagnant demand and record-level investments to build low emission cars.

Ford said it has ceased production at three plants in Russia, is closing plants in France and Wales, and has cut shifts at factories in Valencia, Spain and Saarlouis, Germany. The cuts will reduce its manufacturing footprint in Europe from 24 plants down to 18. 

Approximately 12,000 jobs will be impacted at Ford’s wholly owned facilities and consolidated joint ventures in Europe by the end of 2020, primarily through voluntary separation programs, the automaker said in a statement released on Thursday.

The challenge of investing in electric, hybrid and autonomous vehicles -- while having to overhaul combustion engines to meet new clean-air rules -- has forced Europe's carmakers to slash fixed costs and streamline their model portfolios. 

"We have largely concluded consultations with social partners regarding restructuring actions," Stuart Rowley, president, Ford of Europe told Reuters.

Around 2,000 of the jobs to be cut are salaried positions, which are included among the 7,000 salaried positions Ford is reducing globally, the carmaker said. The rest are workers on hourly contracts or agency workers.

Ford Europe has 51,000 employees in Europe or 65,000 when joint ventures are included.

In January Ford announced a sweeping business review that included the prospect of plant closures and discontinuing loss-making vehicle lines to pursue a 6 percent operating margin in Europe.

Falling demand

Demand for cars in Europe is falling. The European automobile manufacturers' association ACEA on Thursday predicted that European passenger car registrations will shrink by 1 percent in 2019 to 15 million cars, revising its previous forecast of 1 percent growth.

Car sales will stagnate or decline in the next three years, AlixPartners said in a survey of the industry published this week. Manufacturers balancing sales of electric and combustion engined cars will see margins hit particularly hard, the survey said.

Ford said it intended to double the profitability of its commercial vehicle business in Europe in the next five years, supported by a restructured Ford Sollers joint venture in Russia and a strategic alliance with Volkswagen Group.

Earlier this year Ford said it would seek to exit the multivan segment and focus on developing electrified versions of more profitable "crossover" and SUVs.

European passenger vehicle development, including for battery electric vehicles, will be centered in Cologne, the carmaker said.

Ford also said it expected to triple passenger car imports into Europe by 2024 by selling Mustang and Explorer vehicles, including a Mustang-inspired electric car in late 2020. 

[TS7]

Kscarbal you are so right about the real Power Wagon

[kscarbel2]

Dual-clutch gearbox complaints haunt Ford

Michael Martinez, Automotive News  /  July 1, 2019

The Ford Focus and Fiesta are fading away in the U.S., but the headaches caused by the small cars' PowerShift dual-clutch transmissions live on.

Ford Motor Co. never conquered the long-term reliability problems on the gearboxes that thousands of customers complained would shudder, jerk and hesitate.

Although engineers helped solve some early glitches with software updates and redesigned parts, Ford issued more than 20 technical service bulletins related to the transmissions, which were code-named DPS6. In 2014, Ford extended the transmissions' warranty by two years and 40,000 miles.

Litigation over the transmissions remains unresolved. Ford reached a settlement in 2017 for a class-action lawsuit covering 1.9 million owners, but the settlement is being challenged in a federal court in California on the grounds that not enough owners would be compensated. A separate mass-tort case involving thousands of customers is pending in Michigan.

Former Ford CEO Mark Fields has been ordered to testify by July 31 in a series of cases involving customers who opted out of the class-action suit. A Florida judge last month denied Fields' motion to avoid testifying.

Ford also has been forced to pay up around the world; last year it lost a class-action lawsuit in Thailand and separately was fined $10 million by a court in Australia.

"They have a major PR and customer-satisfaction nightmare on their hands," Gabe Shenhar, associate director of the auto test program at Consumer Reports, told Automotive News. "It's still not well sorted out."

Customer complaints

Ford introduced the six-speed PowerShift transmission in 2010, playing up the gearbox's fuel-economy benefits.

But customers soon began complaining about jerkiness and a lack of power, and the transmission — along with the troublesome MyFord Touch infotainment system — contributed to Ford's plunge to No. 20 in Consumer Reports' 2011 reliability survey from 10th the previous year.

Many customers weren't used to the dual-clutch gearbox, incorrectly assuming it would behave like a regular hydraulic automatic transmission.

The PowerShift used two dry clutch packs in place of a normal automatic torque converter, which tended to make buyers think the car wasn't properly accelerating. On the reliability front, the clutches would overheat and often showed signs of premature wear.

Ford made some changes in 2012 that it believed would solve most of the problems, but complaints continued. The company also directed dealers to make fixes that often included replacing clutches and updating the transmission control module.

"They made it marginally more palatable, but each update came with some loss of fuel efficiency and power," Shenhar said. "Customers weren't happy."

The warranty extension Ford eventually offered was a "pretty clear conclusion" it didn't have a permanent fix, Shenhar said.

Angry customers have turned to the courts, arguing that Ford knew about the defects but sold the vehicles anyway and then blamed owners for not driving them properly.

Although Ford reached a settlement in 2017 that would give customers $2,325 if they opt in and meet certain qualifications, that settlement is being challenged by groups that argue the deal would let Ford off the financial hook. The automaker's lawyers argued to keep the settlement in front of three appeals judges in April. An answer is expected by December.
The automaker, in a statement, said it does not comment on pending litigation but is committed to providing top-quality vehicles for its customers.

"We continue to deny the allegations in this lawsuit, but rather than continuing with the litigation, Ford entered into a settlement agreement with lawyers representing these plaintiffs," the statement said.

"That settlement is fair and appropriate and we look forward to final court approval."

Fields testimony

A number of customers opted out of the class-action lawsuit, and their suits have been combined into a federal case in California.

That's where Fields comes in. The former CEO was Ford's president of the Americas when the cars with the dual-clutch transmissions were launched.

"The deposition is critical to investigating and confirming that Ford's executives at the highest level knew of the problems with the transmissions and intentionally concealed that information and sold the Focus and Fiesta to the public anyway," Russell Higgins, an associate attorney at Knight Law Group, which represents a number of individuals in the case, told Automotive News.

Fields, who was replaced by Jim Hackett in May 2017, is a senior adviser at TPG Capital, a global asset management firm.

"Mr. Fields is sort of where the buck stopped in terms of corporate knowledge," Higgins said.

"It's important to have him be able to talk about his actions and what he knew."

[kscarbel2]

2020 Mustang Shelby GT500 to start at $73,995

Michael Martinez, Automotive News  /  July 1, 2019

Ford Motor Co.'s most powerful street-legal vehicle will come with a hefty price tag.

The automaker last week confirmed the 2020 Mustang Shelby GT500 will start at $73,995. That includes a $1,095 shipping fee and a $2,600 gas guzzler tax.

But the car can easily stretch past $90,000 with add-ons.

The carbon fiber track package will cost an additional $18,500, Ford said. A handling package costs $1,500, and a technology package will set buyers back $3,000. Various paint options, such as a black roof or over-the-top stripes, cost $695 each. An optional carbon fiber instrument panel is $1,000.

The vehicle will go on sale this fall. The supercharged 5.2-liter V-8 engine boasts 760 hp and 625 pound-feet of torque, and Ford says it will achieve a 0-to-60-mph time in the mid-3-second range.

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[kscarbel2]

The Ford GT Mk II Is a $1.2 Million Track-Only Monster with 700 HP

Daniel Golson, Car & Driver  /  July 4, 2019

Only 45 units of this racing-inspired track-only supercar will be built and will cost $1.2 million each.

After being teased a few weeks ago, Ford has unveiled the GT Mk II at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in the U.K. As we expected, it's a track-only version of the GT supercar that has been developed using knowledge gained from the GT's soon-to-be-over racing program. The GT road car is limited in design and engineering by global homologation requirements, while the Le Mans–winning race car is bogged down by racing class restrictions and regulations, so the designers and engineers were able to go wild with the Mk II, as it doesn't need to adhere to any set of rules.

Immediately noticeable is the massive rear wing that replaces the regular GT's active rear spoiler. Ford says that the dual-element wing "exceeds" the downforce produced by the race car's wing. Other aerodynamic enhancements include a huge rear diffuser, a new front splitter, louvered front fenders, and dive planes on the front bumper. Ford says the Mk II makes over 400 percent more downforce than the roadgoing GT and that it will pull over 2 g's of lateral grip.

The GT's twin-turbocharged 3.5-liter V-6 EcoBoost engine has been tuned to 700 horsepower, 53 more than the road car and 200 more than the race car. It uses the same seven-speed dual-clutch automatic as the road car, albeit with new tuning, and the Mk II remains rear-wheel drive. A new roof-mounted air intake looks awesome and feeds the auxiliary clutch, engine, and transmission coolers. There's also a new high-capacity air-to-air outboard-mounted charge air cooler that automatically sprays water on the charge air cooler at high temperatures to maintain a consistent high power level.

Ford says the Mk II is more than 200 pounds lighter than the road car thanks to the removal of the adjustable ride height and multiple driving modes. Instead, there are five-way adjustable shocks along with a fixed, lower ride height. The Mk II uses the road car's carbon-ceramic brakes, while new 19-inch wheels are wrapped in Michelin Pilot Sport GT slick racing tires.

The interior has been stripped out, with a dashboard even simpler than that of the road car, a rectangular race-car steering wheel, and a number of new controls. A display mounted on top shows info from a MoTeC data acquisition system as well as the view from the rear camera. The driver sits in a Sparco racing seat that has a six-point harness; a passenger seat is optional.

Ford says that only 45 units of the Mk II will be built at $1.2 million each, which is around $700,000 more expensive than a regular GT, and it will be sold directly to customers by Multimatic, not Ford. The Mk II will start production at the regular Ford GT's plant in Markham, Ontario, before being brought to a "specialist facility" at Multimatic to be finished.

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[Maxidyne]

Another Ford Failure- With the mid engine Corvette coming out in a few days and eclipsing the GT's performance for less than $100k, Ford jacks the GT's price and delays it's execution by a few days. In yet another market GM and the rest of the world is having Ford's lunch...

[gicknordon]

And yet ford will sell everyone of them

[kscarbel2]

Ford kills diesel engine in Transit Connect because of low demand

Michael Martinez, Automotive News  /  July 10, 2019

Ford Motor Co. has canceled plans to add a diesel engine option to its Transit Connect small van, citing lack of demand.

The automaker had made the new 1.5-liter EcoBlue diesel, available on vehicles overseas, a highlight of the freshened 2019 cargo and wagon versions of the Transit Connect. It was to have gone on sale last fall but never materialized.

The engine would have been sourced from the company's Dagenham Engine Plant in Europe, although the location was not a factor in its decision, a spokeswoman said. The plant will still produce those engines for other Ford vehicles.

Ford last year touted the engine's fuel economy, saying it expected to get 30 mpg in highway driving.

A spokeswoman on Wednesday noted the vehicle's 2.0-liter gasoline engine gets best-in-class highway and combined fuel-economy ratings, and the highest overall fuel-economy ratings among small vans in the U.S.

It's rated at 24 mpg city/29 highway/26 combined.

Ford on Wednesday also said it was scrapping the short-wheelbase version of the Transit Connect Wagon.

The news was first reported by Car and Driver.

[kscarbel2]

Bob, they never gave it a chance......and nobody was promoting it.

Look at Ford U.S. now (sarcasm on my part).

[Maxidyne]

Several private customers had orders in for the Transit Connect diesel, but I suspect Ford was really trolling for fleet orders and none were forthcoming. Given that unlike the 3 liter V6 diesel in the F150 the 1.5 wasn't already EPA approved, I suspect Ford decided it wasn't worth it to jump through the hoops of EPA certification for a couple thousand sales a year.

[Red Horse]

3 hours ago, kscarbel2 said:

Bob, they never gave it a chance......and nobody was promoting it.

Look at Ford U.S. now (sarcasm on my part).

Typical Ford move.  Announce something but do little to hype it.  Like the customer is supposed to know about it.  then again looking at the gas MPG vs the diesel's hard to justify it.