An article on Ford fiesta
Less than six months after announcing the news that it would be producing a Fiesta S2000 rally car, M-Sport has completed the build of the first car absolutely on schedule and has begun an extensive testing programme.
Archive for September, 2009
M-Sport Ford Fiesta S2000 begins testing (Motorsport.com)
Wednesday, September 30th, 2009Mark Fields Decides not to Use Ford’s Corporate Jet
Wednesday, September 30th, 2009An article on Ford field
President of Ford Motor Corporation’s Americas group, Mark Fields recently told employees that he will no longer use the company’s jet for his weekly commute to Florida. It should be noted that Fields has been criticized in recent months when he called out to all Ford employees to sacrifice and added that they will be eliminating more than 40,000 jobs and reduce employee benefits to reduce costs.
He was recently surprised by a local television news reporter outside his home in Delray Beach, Florida, who was asking him to explain how he could reconcile his costly travel expenses with his calls for sacrifice from Ford employees.
Ford spokesman Tom Hoyt has confirmed Field’s decision. He said that according to Fields the whole controversy about him is just a scheme to divert attention away from more important issues like Ford’s efforts to turnaround its North American automobile business.
According to Hoyt, “He doesn’t want this or any other issue to distract the team. This was Mark’s decision. The company supported his commitment to his family.” Hoyt further stressed that the decision was entirely Fields’.
The use of Ford corporate jet for his private travel was not just a personal whim on the part of Fields’ but rather included in the compensation agreement when he was promoted to head of Ford’s Americas group in 2005. In order to fulfill his role at Ford, Fields and his family have had to relocate several times to allow him to give Ford his undivided attention during the week while avoiding disruptions for his wife and children.
In place of the company jet, Fields will be using a commercial carrier to continue his weekly commute from south Florida where his family lives.
About Mark Fields
Mark Fields is President of Ford Motor Corporation’s Americas group and an executive of the FoMoCo manufacturer of quality Ford parts. As head of the Americas division, Fields was tasked to develop Ford’s “The Way Forward” plan a program developed to repair the ailing automaker. He directly reports to Allan Mulally, Ford’s CEO for all matters that concern the company.
Mark Fields was born in Brooklyn, New York but grew up in Paramus, New Jersey. He holds an economic degree from Rutgers University and worked for IBM prior to attaining an MBA at Harvard Graduate School of Business. He was recruited by Ford in 1989 and moved up the ranks becoming the youngest person ever to run a major Japanese company when placed him in charge of Mazda Motor Corporation in 1998.
In the year 2002 Mark Fields became chairman of the Premier Automotive Group, Ford’s luxury units which include Aston Martin, Jaguar, Land Rover and Volvo Cars. By 2005 he returned to the United States to head the Americas division of Ford.
When Mark Field was 45 years old he was named business unit chief of Ford Motor’s operations in Americas. It was in December 14, 2006 when Ford CEO Mulally announced the promotion of Mark Fields as President of Ford Motor Corporation’s Americas group.
McLaren Automotive sets up worldwide distribution for the 600 horsepower MP4-12C
Wednesday, September 30th, 2009
Today McLaren Automotive announced the appointment of regional managers for their worldwide distribution network to sell the all-new MP4-12C.
Their North American headquarters will be based in the New York area and will be run by Anthony Joseph, who has previously worked as a regional manager for Porsche, Ferrari and Maserati.
McLaren Automotive plans to have ten dealers in the United States and Canada.
McLaren MP4-12C is powered by a 3.8-liter twin-turbocharged V8 that delivers around 600 horsepower and 433 lb-ft of torque. Power is sent to rear wheels through two wet clutches and in-house developed 7-speed Seamless Shift dual clutch gearbox (SSG).
Performance figures haven’t been released yet, but expected time from 0-100 km/h (0-62 mph) is in mid three seconds and the top speed should be around 320 km/h (200 mph). The MP4-12C will go on sale in spring 2011 with an expected price of 175 000 Euros ($256,000).
Production is expected to be around 1000 units a year in 2011. By 2015 McLaren Automotive hopes to produce around 4000 cars a year.
Check out the press release below for full details.
Press release:
McLaren Automotive announces Regional Directors for North America and Europe
* McLaren Automotive global network takes shape with appointments of European and North American regional directors
* Anthony Joseph to head up McLaren Automotive North America
* Christian Marti to head up McLaren Automotive Europe
* Joseph and Marti join Ian Gorsuch, Regional Director Middle East and Africa, in McLaren Automotive global networkFollowing the recent unveiling of the new McLaren MP4-12C, the first in the company’s range of high performance sports cars, McLaren Automotive can now confirm two senior appointments within its global operations.
Anthony Joseph joins the company as Regional Director of North America and Christian Marti as Regional Director of Europe. In preparation for the global launch of the 12C in 2011 they are joining the previously appointed Regional Director of Middle East and Africa, Ian Gorsuch, to begin building a global retail network, and sales and marketing teams for each region.
McLaren North America will be based in the New York tri-state area and McLaren Europe will be based within the McLaren Technology Centre, Woking, UK.
Joseph and Marti’s teams will contribute to a global sales, marketing and aftersales network challenged with setting new standards for service in the performance car sector, whilst ensuring that McLaren Automotive’s quality and performance goals are transferred throughout their regions.
Joseph will develop a team to support an initial network of up to 10 dedicated McLaren franchises in the USA and Canada. Marti’s team will initially work with up to 15 retailers in Europe.
With vast experience in the performance car retail and wholesale business, Joseph said of his appointment: “This is such an amazing opportunity to be part of the launch of not just a brand new range of high-tech sports cars, but the launch of a new car company in a region which will be a major market for McLaren Automotive. Utilising our engineering expertise and racing heritage, we will build cars using nothing but McLaren components, in lower numbers, and higher quality than our competitors. This ensures exclusivity, which I’m sure will be a major factor in generating strong demand and ongoing high residual values from 2011.
“We are initially working to locate and establish a select group of retail partners to best serve our customer base and represent McLaren Automotive going forward. There has been significant enthusiasm from a number of existing luxury car retailers throughout North America, and our first challenge is finding those who really buy-in to our evolving business aspirations.”
Marti, who complements Joseph with his experience of launching premium brand automotive organisations in new markets, said of his appointment: “It is a wonderful chance to be a part of a new organisation launching such an exciting and ground-breaking car. With McLaren’s racing pedigree well known and appreciated across Europe, coupled with the passion amongst automotive aficionados for the McLaren F1, I feel that this will ensure a growing demand for the McLaren range in the region.
“Starting a business from scratch is such a unique opportunity, and to have the flexibility to focus our attentions on what is best for the business gives us an immediate competitive advantage. By working to recruit a relatively small retail network I am looking to uphold the McLaren philosophy – ‘everything for a reason’, by ensuring that our customers get the best service possible, and that they get nothing but pure McLaren.”
Both Joseph and Marti will report into Antony Sheriff, Managing Director of McLaren Automotive, based at the company’s global headquarters, the McLaren Technology Centre, Woking, UK.
Sheriff said of the appointments: “I am really pleased that Tony and Christian have joined us. Not only are we driven to launch the best sports cars in the world, but we are passionate about doing that in a new way that focuses attention on the customer. Tony and Christian immediately bought into that ethos and will push forward this attitude through their sales and marketing networks. Their respective skills will add to our global operation and this is a fundamental aspect of how we work – we are a team and want our regional people and our customers to be part of that team.”
Notes to editors
* Anthony Joseph biography: Bachelor Degree in Business from Western Michigan University. Began in the automotive industry with Subaru of America in the mid 90’s as a District Sales Manager. In 1998 he joined Porsche North America as a Regional Manager. In early 2002 Anthony left Porsche to manage a Porsche Dealership in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania providing him with retail experience. In Mid-2003 he moved to New York to join Ferrari – Maserati North America focused on Maserati’s re-establishment in North America. Anthony moved to Ferrari North America and became North America Sales Director when Ferrari and Maserati separated. In June 2009 he joined McLaren and became the North America Regional Director of McLaren Automotive.
* Christian Marti biography: Studied Management Engineering and gained an MBA in International Business Management. Christian began his career in the automotive industry as a Product Manager at BMW in 1993, moving to Renault to become Product Director in 1999. In 2002, Christian left Renault to deliver the merger of Jaguar & Land Rover Austria. Over the next six years Christian held a number of Managing Director positions at Jaguar Land Rover, including recruiting and establishing a team and office in China. In 2008, he became the first CEO of Porsche Cars Canada before joining McLaren Automotive as Head of Europe in 2009.
* The McLaren MP4-12C was launched on Sept 9, 2009. It is the first in a range of high performance sports cars that McLaren Automotive will design, build and sell from spring 2011. The 12C uses revolutionary technology and Formula 1-inspired processes that introduce new levels of performance to the ‘core’ market segment of sports cars between £125,000 and £175,000.
Ferrari 458 Spider confirmed by Luca di Montezemolo
Wednesday, September 30th, 2009
Back in July when Ferrari revealed first details about the 570 horsepower 458 Italia it took just a day for a talented artist Jon Sibal to create a rendering of the Spider version.
Now Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo has confirmed the development of a topless version of the new 458 Italia.
This is not really a surprise as all mid-engine V8 supercars from Ferrari have been available for open top driving. It started with the 348 Spider in early 90s and continued with 355 Spider, 360 Spider and F430 Spider.
458 Spider will get a soft top canvas roof like its predecessors not the retractable hard top like the new Ferrari California.
Sales of the 458 Italia will start in January with a base price of 197,000 euros. 458 Spider is expected to appear in couple of years. In addition to the Spider there will be a Scuderia version as well, which we don’t expect to appear anytime soon.
Ferrari 458 Spider renderings:
Wednesday, September 30th, 2009
An article on Ford taurus
I bought a 2000 ford Taurus at action it had no engine or transmission, and it had no steering rack, I bought it for two thousand dollars. Now with all the problems I am hearing I do not know if I should fix it or sell it for parts.
Movie sequels and remakes: Is Hollywood out of ideas?
Tuesday, September 29th, 2009An article on Ford edge reviews
It was only 1996 when Jeff Goldblum in Independence Day talked about strange outer space signals repeating themselves and recycling until there was no more. With controlled build-up, Goldblum’s David, showing a sort of stoic heroism said Strange thing is, if my calculations are correct, the signal will be gone in seven hours. The signal reduces itself every time it recycles. Eventually it will disappear.’ It’s like a Yoga class breath in (and raise the tension: audience at the edge of their seats), and breath out (here’s comes the gag’). And then what?’ says curly haired chub Harvey Fierstein. Checkmate’ replies Goldblum, as a bumbling Fierstein runs down a list of lives he has to save without the addition of his blood-sucking lawyer.
Despite the clinical, tidy, manipulative filmmaking being a well-worn attribute of most flag-waving American blockbusters, it’s the metaphor in Goldblum’s analysis that’s more important here. Like David Naughton in John Landis’ An American Werewolf In London going on a murderous lycanthropic rampage every full moon – repeating his quest for human meat every time his Wilkinson Sword became as useful as a camp hairdresser on King Kong’s island – today’s Hollywood and its total lack of originality is just repeating and recycling itself in any disguise it sees fit. From the remake and the re-imagining, to the book adaptation, the latest superhero craze and anything it can pimp off East Asian horror directors. Unlike Stephen King’s Pennywise returning to drag children into the sewers of Derry every thirty years (a book which was adapted into a television movie), Hollywood is repeating itself every thirty seconds. With the general consistency of Michael Palin’s stutter in A Fish Called Wanda, the Land of La is hitting us with the same movies over and over and over again.
Yes Hollywood has been doing it for years the literary adaptation is no new fangled idea of course but at least there was still a sense of quality, of characterization, of vitality. Take music for example – The Byrds Tambourine Man’, Jimi Hendrix’s All Along The Watchtower’, Soft Cell’s Tainted Love’ they’re all cover versions of previous songs but in many ways improve upon the originals. In the movie business, Hollywood’s latest output reaches the sorts of heights Ronan Keating’s Fairytale Of New York’ cover climbed – it’s worth very little, it’s purpose nothing more than musical rape. In any case, would anyone deny The Big Sleep any plaudits because it was originally
Unselling Sex And Other Stuff: Buyology
Tuesday, September 29th, 2009An article on Ford edge reviews
I thought we might be in trouble when Wyoming Coach Dave Christensen came out wearing a lei rosary made of maize, walnuts, and pemmican. Could be he be gaining an edge by communing with Coyote Spirit and St Thomas Aquinas? Then I saw a naked Wyoming fan wearing a barrel and a cowboy hat and I was reassured. These people were morons. And baseheads? Apparently the good people of Wyoming do a lot of crystal meth. My sister texted me that “Don’t Do Meth!” kept scrolling across the Wyoming scoreboard. Quality PSA there. They also had a fan kick contest sponsored by the Wyoming Crystal Meth Prevention Initiative.
I remember when the first Armada showed up at the dealership I worked at back in 2004. It was called the Pathfinder Armada and the long time Nissan dealer employees weren’t quite sure what to think about it. Wasn’t the Pathfinder big enough? As anyone who has 3 or more kids will tell you, no, the Pathfinder wasn’t big enough. The Armada offered more seating, more cargo space and more towing capability. It also required substantially more space in the driveway, as it was bigger than anything Nissan had ever offered. Some dealers had to have new hoists installed just to accommodate the beast.
With 25 percent of all search results for the world’s top brands linked to blogs, forums, and tweets, is it any wonder communication is being challenged? But just as fast as social media professionals are chatting about the tools they use on a daily basis, neuroscience is also opening up doors and changing convictions that were long thought to be held true. Sex Doesn’t Sell Sex doesn’t sell, at least not according to research conducted by Martin Lindstrom, whose book, Buyology: Truth and Lies about Why We Buy . Lindstrom’s case is simple enough: it detracts from the intended message and seems to hold true based on brainwaves.
Hyundai Equus Limousine starts at $113,000 in South Korea
Tuesday, September 29th, 2009
Hyundai launches stretch edition of its luxury Equus sedan in its home market. Equus Limousine is 30 cm (12 in) longer than the standard version offering extra leg room for the backseat passengers.
Equus Limousine comes with the choise of 3.8-liter V6 or a ewn 5.0-liter V8 that produces 394 horsepower.
To differentiate it from the sedan, the stretch version is equipped with an exclusive horizontal cross-bar radiator grille with an emblem in the center.
Some of the key comfort features on the Equus Limousine include power-driven footrest, along with Rear Seat Leg Support, Relax Posture Control and Massage System function.
On its home market its main competitors are Lexus LS460L and Mercedes S500L.
The price for the Equus Limousine ranges from 135 million won to 146 million won ($113,000 to US$122,180) in South Korea. Hyundai has not confirmed yet will we see the car in the U.S. and Europe.
Hyundai has also developed a bulletproof version of the long wheelbase Equus. First three cars were donated to the Korean Presidential Residence.
Video: single seater all-electric e-1 by e-Wolf
Tuesday, September 29th, 2009
e-1 is a single seater all-electric sports car that is street legal in Germany. Built on a aluminum/carbon chassis it weighs just 450 kg(922 lbs).
Power comes from a single electric motor on the rear that develops 150 horsepower and 250 Nm of torque.
0-100 km/h (0-62 mph) comes in less than 5 seconds and top speed is limited to 250 km/h (155 mph). Range is 300 km (186 miles) and according to the company batteries will last at least 10 years. Unlike the e-2 which is still in development and will be shown as a prototype in 2011 it will be available already beginning of 2010.
Video: Porsche Cayenne Turbo S vs Volkswagen Transporter
Tuesday, September 29th, 2009
Porsche Cayenne Turbo S is one of the fastest SUVs out there. Volkswagen Transporter on the other hand is known for its good cargo space and reliability.
German tuner TH Automobile put a twin-turbo 3.6-liter flat-six from the 996 GT2 into VW Transporter making it just as fast as the Cayenne Turbo S.
This engine produces 560 horsepower and takes the TH2 Transporter from 0-100 km/h (0-62 mph) in just 4.8 seconds. Top speed is 280 km/h (173 mph). These numbers are same as on the Cayenne Turbo S.
Downside is that it is not much cheaper than the Cayenne Turbo S. TH Automobile will build you one for 113,000 euros. Surely not cheap, but you can be sure you would have one of the fastest VW Transporters in the world.
Source: TH Autmobile via Autoblog