Filed under: Motorsports, Hatchback, Ford

Ford Fiesta X Games Preview – Click above for a high-res image gallery

The first three X Games Rally competitions have been dominated by Subaru, with most of the drivers picking the WRX STi as their vehicle of choice. Ford is determined to change that, and is making its X Games debut with a trio of Fiesta rally cars prepared by Olsberg Motor Sport Evolution, the same team that ran the Fiesta duo at the Pikes Peak Hill Climb earlier this month. Piloting the rally cars will be a stellar lineup of drivers including Tanner Foust, a two-time X games medalist in the rally event, Kenny Brack, winner of the 1999 Indy 500, and X Games Motocross veteran Brian Deegan.

We caught up with the three cars yesterday at the El Toro Marine base in Irvine, CA, where the drivers were doing practice runs up and down the abandoned air strips. Each seemed to be coming to grips with the power of their cars, all shod with grippy BFGoodrich g-Force Rally tires, and even the experienced Foust called the Fiesta Rallycross an “angry little beast.” Still, we have no doubt that they’ll have the cars mastered by Thursday’s practice sessions, and we wouldn’t be surprised to see any of the Fiestas in the final race on Sunday.

Highlights of the X Games Rally can be viewed on ESPN and ESPN 2 starting July 30, and the final will be aired live on ABC on August 2nd from 3:00-6:00 pm EST. You can read more about the Fiesta Rallycross in the press release after the jump, and check out our gallery of yesterday’s practice session below.

Photos copyright (C)2009 Drew Phillips / Weblogs, Inc.

Continue reading Ford Fiestas set to break up Subaru’s party at X Games 15

Ford Fiestas set to break up Subaru’s party at X Games 15 originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 29 Jul 2009 11:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Motorsports, Coupe, Performance, Ford

The rumors are true. The Ford Mustang is is headed to NASCAR, where stickers bearing the Mustang name and front end details will be affixed to stock cars that otherwise bear no resemblance whatsoever to the 2010 Mustang. The NASCAR Nationwide Series “Mustang” will be part of a “limited roll-out” during the 2010 season, which leads us to believe the car will see a full introduction the following year. The idea here is that using the Mustang nameplate in the Nationwide Series will help further differentiate it from the top-tier Sprint Cup. While that may well be the case, after seeing the rendering supplied by Ford above, we have to admit we winced a little. That NASCAR Mustang? Kinda funny-lookin’. So what do you think? Follow the jump to vote in our poll and read the official PR.

[Source: Ford Racing]

Continue reading Ford Mustang is officially NASCAR-bound in the Nationwide Series (w/POLL)

Ford Mustang is officially NASCAR-bound in the Nationwide Series (w/POLL) originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 28 Jul 2009 16:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Truck, Ford

Anyone who actually wants a Ford Explorer Sport Trac had better go out and grab one now because they won’t be around much longer. As production of the the current body-on-frame Explorer winds down in the coming months, the pickup bed version and the rebadged Mercury Mountaineer will breathe their last breath. Sometime in 2010 a new unibody Explorer based on the Flex/Taurus platform will debut and an open bed version will not be part of the lineup.

With total Explorer sales down to just 78,439 in 2008, including the Sport Trac, and those numbers down by half again this year, the number of Sport Tracs sold simply doesn’t justify developing a new one. At its peak when Ford was moving some 400,000 Explorers annually, about 60,000 were Sport Tracs. This year the number is likely to be 10,000 or less.

[Source: Automotive News, sub. req'd]

REPORT: Ford to nix Explorer Sport Trac, Mercury Mountaineer originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 27 Jul 2009 12:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Coupe, Ford, UK

Our time with the Euro-spec Ford Fiesta proved to us that the Oval has one heck of a B-segment hatch on its hands. Since Americans tend to prefer traditional sedans, we’re likely to have three-, four- and five-doors here in the US, but what about a coupe?

Auto Express wondered the same thing, and the UK publication commissioned an artist to craft a two-door rendering of the popular Fiesta. AE’s imaginary Fiesta coupe looks very much like the car presently in production, with a trapezoid grille, unique headlamps that stretch all the way to the front wheel wells, and the Kinetic-design surface treatments that make the Fiesta look wider than it really is. In the land of make-believe, the coupe gets rectangular fog lights that lend it a fancier look than the plain-Jane round lights on the existing Fiesta.

Out back, the theoretical Fiesta coupe adds some visual flair with a swoopy roofline that stretches all the way to the Fiesta’s rear hatch. Chrome trim arounf the side glass that stretches from the A pillar to the C pillar looks a bit like that of the good-looking Mondeo. We’d love to see a slick Fiesta coupe here in the States, and would be more than OK if it looked just like the Auto Express rendering. Throw an EcoBoost 1.6 under the hood, give us the keys and get out of our way, because this little whip’s a looker. Now, if only it were real….

[Source: Auto Express]

Rendered Speculation: Ford Fiesta to get racy coupe variant? originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 26 Jul 2009 10:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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