Filed under: Car Buying, Crossover, Ford

Here’s the skinny: Ford’s current Escape is heading the way of the dodo bird. In its place will be the Kuga, a much less dowdy looking compact CUV that should compete nicely with the likes of the Toyota RAV4, Honda CR-V and Hyundai Tucson. The European designed 2011 Kuga will be built here in the United States at a Louisville, Kentucky plant. All this we already know and have known for some time now.

What we don’t know is what Ford will call the Kuga when it goes on sale here in 2011. Kuga is obviously one option, but so, apparently, is Escape. According to Wards Auto, Ford’s domestic dealers are pushing for Escape. “I believe the Escape is a great vehicle with a great reputation and that it would be a big mistake to kill the Escape name,” says one San Diego based dealer.

Others point back to Ford’s decision to drop the Taurus name in favor of Five Hundred – part of the brand’s strange decision to make all cars start with the letter “F” (Focus, Fusion, Five Hundred – though the Mustang never became Fustang) and all SUVs and crossovers start with the letter “E” (Edge, Escape, Explorer, Expedition, Excursion). Though, of course, reverting back to Five Hundred was supposed to drum up some long lost brand equity/nostalgia, which is the first thing CEO Alan Mulally did when he changed Five Hundred back to Taurus. Very complicated stuff, no?

So, Kuga or Escape? While there are many good arguments for Escape, here’s one for Kuga – Ford’s One World strategy. Simply put, rather than having one Focus for Europe and one for North America, Ford is working toward offering one global vehicle per a given segment – and that’s it. And naming one car one thing for one market and one car another for another is essentially a monkey wrench in the plan. What should Ford do, and more importantly what will they do? Place your vote in our poll below and leave any further thoughts in Comments.

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[Source: Wards Auto]

Report: Ford dealers say Kuga should be named Escape in U.S. – Do you agree? [w/POLL] originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 30 Dec 2009 15:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Government/Legal, Recalls, Safety, Chrysler, Ford, GM

2009 has seen a bumper crop of automobile recalls. The Detroit Free Press reports that there were 15.2 million units recalled this year – nearly double the 8.6 million vehicles that were called back in all of 2008. And the leader of the recall pack was Toyota, with a knee-wobbling 4.87 million cars and trucks recalled due mostly to the Japanese automaker’s unintended acceleration issue. Toyota had nine major recalls in all in 2009, with the other big issue coming courtesy of rusting Tundra frames. Toyota took the top spot in recalls for the first time ever this year, which tells you as much about how bad 2009 was for Aichi, Japan-based automaker as it does about its history of making high-quality automobiles.

This year’s second biggest offender? Ford Motor Company. The Blue Oval recalled 4.52 million vehicles to land in second place in the recall rankings, due mainly to the company’s ongoing issue with cruise control modules. Without the years-old cruise control issue, Ford would have had posted best year ever. General Motors rounded out the top three, with 2.24 million recalls announced in 2009, thought it is worth noting that the Detroit, MI-based automaker’s 17 total recalls was the most of any automaker. Chrysler actually had a good 2009 – at least when it comes to recalls – with just under 600,000 vehicles affected. Head over to the Detroit Free Press for the complete ranking of 2009 recalls by automaker.

*UPDATE: In related global news, Toyota is recalling 43,000 Chinese-market vehicles including its Highlander and Previa models, along with Lexus’ ES350 and RX350. The culprit? Engine oil leaks.

[Sources: Detroit Free Press; Zachs Investment Research (via Yahoo)

Detroit Free Press: Toyota led all automakers with most recalled vehicles in 2009 *UPDATED originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 30 Dec 2009 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Budget, Sedan, Technology, Hatchback, Ford

It’s fitting that Ford’s first European offering to swim over this way will bring with it another feature that The Continent can take credit for: tap-for-three-blinks turn signal operation. It will appear on the Fiesta this summer, and then migrate to other vehicles in the 2011 line-up, starting with the Super Duty series.

The three-blink feature is not as polarizing as the placement of paddle shifters, but people are known to have their opinions. This writer likes it, preferring a mistaken tap to someone flashing their turn signal eternally. You can read Ford’s release after the jump, and sound off on the new convenience – or not – in the comments.

[Source: Ford]

Continue reading Ford adding three-blink function to turn signals

Ford adding three-blink function to turn signals originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 29 Dec 2009 18:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Podcasts, Hybrid, China, Cadillac, Ford, GM, Toyota, Volvo, Geely

For this week between holidays, Reilly Brennan from AOL Autos stops by our clubhouse to join Chris, Sam, and Dan for Episode #159 of the Autoblog Podcast. While it’s a question-centric podcast this week, we touch on a few news items before hitting a bunch of your emails. An in-depth chat about the Ford Mustang’s new 5.0-liter V8 starts us off, before we turn to an equally pithy chat about Toyota’s hybrid braking system concerns, and we briefly consider what Volvo’s pending sale to Geely might mean. From there on out, it’s listener-interaction central, and we break the two-hour barrier this week as a holiday treat(?) for everyone.

As ever, for exceptional quality ‘casts, our colleagues at Joystiq and Engadget do fine work. Let us know what you think of our podcast by dropping us an email at Podcast at Autoblog dot com, reviewing the show in iTunes, filling out our survey, or even leaving us a voicemail on our Google Voice line 734-288-8POD (734-288-8763). Thanks for listening!

Continue reading Autoblog Podcast #159 – Reilly Brennan from AOL Autos comes by the podcast clubhouse

Autoblog Podcast #159 – Reilly Brennan from AOL Autos comes by the podcast clubhouse originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 29 Dec 2009 16:21:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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