Automotive Fleet News

ASHEVILLE, NC - Altech-Eco Corporation of Asheville, N.C., has obtained approval from the Department of the Treasury, Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for the first Year-2010 Ford Focus to receive a $4,000 Federal Income Tax Credit designation.

Tags: Altech-Eco, Focus, Ford, natural gas

CLEVELAND - Ford Motor Company said it is investing $155 million and adding 60 jobs at its Cleveland operations to build a new fuel-efficient V-6 engine for the 2011 Mustang, which has expected highway fuel efficiency of 30 miles per gallon on the highway and 305 horsepower.

Tags: Ford

DEARBORN, MI - Drivers hitting the road in a new 2011 Ford, Lincoln, or Mercury vehicles equipped with voice-activated navigation will be able to tap into nearly 2,500 miles of highway and interstate lanes designed to help get them where they need to go quicker and with less hassle.

Tags: Carpool, Ford, HOV, Lincoln, Mercury, Navigation

DEARBORN, MI - For the month of January, Ford sales to fleet customers more than doubled last January's depressed levels (up 154 percent), posting gains in every fleet market.

Tags: Ford, sales revenue

MEMPHIS, TN - With 90 Ford Transit Connects on the road and another 50 on order, ThyssenKrupp Elevator may eventually replace its 1,500 current cargo vans with the Transit Connect models.

Tags: Ford, fuel, ThyssenKrupp Elevator , Transit Connect

AACHEN, GERMANY -- To support the development of advanced active safety systems, a consortium of 29 partners has joined forces in a European research project that got underway Jan. 20 at the Ford European Research Center in Germany.

Tags: active safety systems, collision avoidance, Ford

DETROIT - Ford Motor Co. is investing an additional $450 million in its aggressive electric vehicle plan, paving the way to build a next-generation hybrid and plug-in hybrid vehicle in Michigan beginning in 2012.

Tags: assembly plant, electric car, Ford

DEARBORN, MI --- Ford Motor Co. will launch a two-year test program of electric-powered Focus cars and Transit Connect vans in Germany this week, Bloomberg reported.

Tags: electric car, electric Focus, electric Transit Connect, Ford, Ford electric vehicles, Ford research

DEARBORN, MI --- Ford Motor Co. and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) are embarking on a plan to study driver workload and identify new opportunities to use in-vehicle technologies to improve driver safety by lowering stress.

Tags: driver stress, Ford, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, safety

MILWAUKEE --- Johnson Controls-Saft said Dec. 1 that it has been chosen as the lithium-ion battery supplier for Azure Dynamic's Force Drive integration on the Ford Transit Connect Battery Electric Vehicle (BEV).

Tags: Azure Dynamics, BMW 7-Series ActiveHybrid , electric car, Ford, Ford Transit Connect Battery Electric Vehicle , Johnson Controls-Saft , lithium-ion batteries

DEARBORN, MI - Ford announced a 73-percent increase in U.S. sales of its hybrid models, with hybrid sales totaling 2,361 for the month of November.

Tags: Ford, Fusion Hybrid, hybrid, sales figures

DEARBORN, MI --- The Fusion Hybrid has been honored as one of Car and Driver magazine's "10Best" cars for 2010, just weeks after winning Motor Trend's Car of the Year award.

Tags: Ford, Fusion Hybrid, hybrid

DEARBORN, MI - Ford will produce an all-new, purpose-built Police Interceptor specially designed and engineered to replace the Ford Crown Victoria law enforcement vehicle lineup in 2011.

Tags: Ford, Ford Crown Victoria, police cruisers

IRVINE, CA - According to the latest Kelley Blue Book www.kbb.com Market Intelligence Brand Watch study and Market Watch report, over the past year in-market new-car shoppers have shown increased interest in the Audi, Ford and Hyundai brands.

Tags: Audi, Ford, Hyundai, KBB.com, Kelley Blue Book

DEARBORN, MI --- Dr. Steve Rouhana, senior technical leader for passive safety in Ford Motor Co.'s research and advanced engineering and group leader for biomechanics and occupant protection, likes to joke that he works with a lot of dummies -- crash test dummies. But when it comes to protecting vehicle occupants -- particularly children -- this father of three boys takes his work seriously.

Tags: air bags, crash test, crash test dummies, Ford, safety belts

DEARBORN, MI - Ford Motor Company announced a consortium led by Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co. Ltd. is its preferred bidder in the ongoing discussions concerning the possible sale of Volvo Car Corporation.

Tags: Ford, Geely, Volvo