The crew at Translogic took the time to stop by and see the the team at ALTe Powertrain Technologies recently. Founded by a group of former Tesla Motors executives, the company focuses on building plug-in hybrid conversions for fleet vehicles. From creations like a Ford F-150 with a 2.0-liter gasoline engine and two 60-kilowatt electric motors to full-size delivery trucks, buses and vans, the company is focused on reducing fuel consumption on some of the largest and hardest-working machinery out there. ALTe says the F-150 conversion supplies up to 465 pound-feet of torque, which is more than the old 4.6-liter V8.

Most of the truck conversions come with 22-kWh lithium-ion battery packs, which yield 25-40 miles of all-electric range. From there, the four-cylinder kicks in to keep the batteries charged and the motors spinning.

ALTe says the company has focused on Ford conversions first, since the F-Series is the largest-selling pickup in the country. While E-Series and Panther-based creations are also on the docket, ALTe is also focusing on partnering with OEMs in China. Scroll down to check out the video for yourself.

Continue reading Translogic examines the power of plug-in hybrids for commercial fleets

Translogic examines the power of plug-in hybrids for commercial fleets originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 17 May 2012 16:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Ford dealers have started taking orders for the 2013 Ford C-Max Hybrid, the company announced today.

The gas-electric hybrid will arrive later this year with a starting price of $25,995, undercutting its most direct competitor, the Toyota Prius V hybrid, which has a base price of $26,550.

“C-Max Hybrid offers better fuel economy, performance, technology and functionality than Prius V – and C-Max Hybrid customers will pay less at the dealership and at the pump,” said Ken Czubay, vice president, U.S. Marketing, Sales and Service, in a press release.

More importantly, Ford will provide some stiffer competition for Toyota, which has ruled the hybrid market, selling 77 percent of all hybrids in the U.S. this April. The C-Max will only be offered in the U.S. as a hybrid, similar to Toyota’s Prius strategy. There will also be an all-electric version, known as the C-Max Energi, that arrives this fall.

Ford sells the C-Max, which is built on Ford’s compact car platform, in Europe as a gas powered model. Since introducing this utility vehicle in 2010, Ford has sold more than 150,000 C-Max vehicles in Europe.

Continue reading Ford C-Max pricing to undercut Toyota Prius V

Ford C-Max pricing to undercut Toyota Prius V originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 17 May 2012 14:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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When you’ve got the most powerful factory V8 in the world, even the best driver can struggle with getting that power to the pavement. The 662 horsepower and 631 pound-feet of torque the 2013 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 is packing can easily turn its rear tires into expensive clouds of smoke. That’s why the 2013 Ford Shelby GT500 is the first Shelby Mustang to be factory-equipped with launch control. “With so much more power and torque on tap from the new 5.8-liter V8,” says SVT senior engineer John Pfeiffer, “launch control makes it easier for drivers to take advantage of the performance.” What’s different about the Shelby GT500s launch control is that drivers can engage it by just pressing a single button, and it’s also capable of being fine-tuned for the best reesults.

Launch control is by now a familiar technology, with systems operating by holding engine RPM at a set point to help facilitate clean, repeatable launches. “Launch control is essentially a special mode of the traction control system that integrates the brake and engine management systems to keep the tires balanced on the peak of the mu-slip curve,” explains SVT’s Pfeiffer. In plain English, it’s designed to send as much torque to the tires as they can handle. What’s different about the system in the 2013 GT500 is its flexibility. “Most of our competitors’ launch control systems have a fixed engine launch speed,” says SVT Engineering supervisor Eddie Khan, but since “not every driver has the same style, and surface, tire, and climate conditions vary,” he points out, “we’ve given Shelby GT500 drivers the ability to adjust the engine speed to achieve the best and most consistent performance.”

Drivers can use TrackApps through the instrument cluster or tap a switch to the left of the instrument panel to enable the system. Through TrackApps, the engine launch rpm can be adjusted between 3,000 to 4,500 rpm with steps of 100 rpm. There are other tricks up the GT500s sleeve, too. Extinguish the traction control while using launch control and you’ll get an rpm-only mode that keeps the brakes out of the picture to avoid sacrificing any possible speed. Launch control also works with the different stability control modes to allow some wheelspin when that’s the fastest way out of the hole. “It’s not as intrusive as some TC systems have been in the past,” said SVTs Khan. “We’e given our drivers the ability to exert control over all the power and torque this Mustang can produce.”

Continue reading 2013 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 features clever variable-RPM launch control

2013 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 features clever variable-RPM launch control originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 17 May 2012 11:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Frenemies Ford and General Motors have taken to cyberspace for a little verbal sparing, trading snarky shots this week over which company is more likeable on Facebook.

GM set itself up Tuesday after news broke that the carmaker decided not to spend $10 million on Facebook advertising the same week the social media juggernaut prepares for its initial public offering expected to raise $100 billion dollars.

Ford used the opportunity to tweak its crosstown rival, tweeting: “It’s all about the execution. Our Facebook ads are effective when strategically combined with engaging content & innovation.”

GM couldn’t leave that alone, going onto its Facebook page, “Just wanted to let our millions of Facebook fans know, we’re still here, and we ‘like’ you back!”

Both carmakers will continue to use Facebook, where both have millions of followers of their brands and vehicles. And, really, they are both right.

Ford has done an extremely good job incorporating Facebook into its marketing strategy. When it came time to launch the new Ford Explorer, it did it through Facebook reaching millions of people.

GM has determined its money will be better spent in other areas. A recent Associated Press-CNBC poll showing more than half of all Facebook users never click on sponsored ads and only 12 percent said they felt comfortable to buy anything over Facebook. Google, The Wall Street Journal points out, is much more effective.

Ford and GM in Twitterfight over Facebook advertising? originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 17 May 2012 10:35:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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When we asked Volkswagen last year why it was building a factory in the U.S., after having missed the irrationally volcanic era of car sales, we were told that even a 12-million-per-annum market was still too big to ignore. A report in Reuters paints Ford’s situation in China somewhat the same way: Ford is only now attacking the Chinese market, building plants and increasing local capacity there, after numerous other players have established their positions.

Nevertheless, there’s still much to play for. Whereas our market is expected to hang around in the 12- to 15-million-unit range, China’s market is predicted to hit 30 million cars per year by 2020. Said one analyst, “People are saying the Asia Pacific auto industry by 2020 is half the world’s industry.” A little piece of China’s colossal market will, anywhere else, still be considered a pretty big piece of pie.

After years of false starts and missteps in The Middle Kingdom, Ford sells six cars in China now, but they weren’t developed for the Chinese market and haven’t taken off with buyers there. Over the next three years Ford intends to introduce 15 more cars, many of them SUVs, and 20 engines to the Chinese market that can make better impressions on the locals.

That won’t put it anywhere close to market leaders General Motors – which already sells 35 cars there and is lining up 60 more models, and has the preeminient Buick brand – or Volkswagen. But even the 3.1 percent share that one analyst predicted was in Ford’s reach by 2020, up from 2.8 percent now, will be enough to turn Ford’s currently desultory Chinese-market profits into something like a $700-million spigot once its production and offerings are stabilized.

Ford is investing $600 million and $760 million in two projects with its JV partner Changan Ford Mazda Automobile to expand capacity to 1.5 million autos per year. At the moment, The Blue Oval has no plans to take Lincoln across the Pacific.

Ford finally takes serious aim at the Chinese market originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 16 May 2012 08:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Before financial Stargate opened in September of 2008 and transported us to an entirely new economic dimension, it was oh so common to read about domestic automakers hammering Tier One suppliers to lower their prices. Of course, suppliers are still asked to find efficiencies, but pre-2008, it seemed a point of honor to hold a supplier’s feet to the fire. No more: in the latest Working Relations Index survey of suppliers by Detroit firm Planning Perspectives Inc., General Motors and Chrysler rocketed up the charts to bring the bunch much closer together.

Admittedly, the two companies are still in last place, with GM just ahead of Chrysler and Toyota and Honda still up top. But perspective and improvement is the issue here: in 2005, Toyota scored 415 and GM scored 114. In this year’s survey, Toyota scored 296 and Chrysler scored 248. It is the first time in the 12 years of the survey that the six automakers covered have been separated by less than 50 points. Chrysler’s jump was led by the efforts of the the late Dan Knott, whle GM’s improvement has been led by Bob Socia.

And yes, this is also a matter of the perennial leaders, Toyota and Honda, suffering a dip: in 2010 Toyota scored 327 and Honda 309, two years later, Toyota has dropped 31 points. Every automaker, however, from top to bottom acknowledged that they still have work to do with supplier relations. The benefits of good feelings are that suppliers tend to present their newest tech to, and make better parts for, the automakers with whom they have the best relationships. Naturally, it has been found that the reverse is true as well.

Nissan and Ford make up the middle two spots, where they’ve been for years. BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen and Hyundai aren’t on the list yet; PPI feels it doesn’t have enough data on the Germans to yet to officially include them, and it doesn’t have enough data on Hyundai to rank it at all. If the data gathered on the Germans was included, though, they would sandwich the rest of the field: BMW and Mercedes at the top, Volkswagen at the bottom a point shy of Chrysler.

Toyota, Honda top supplier survey with lower results, GM and Chrysler improve originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 15 May 2012 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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By and large, the machines created for the SEMA show in Las Vegas are built for lounging around under convention center lights and not much else. All those go-fast parts we see bolted on do little more than collect lustful stares from from the crowd. But Creations n’ Chrome set out to discover just what their bolt on additions to its Ford Mustang were good for. Under the outrageous 3dCarbon bodykit sits a Vortech supercharged 5.0-liter V8 good for around 580 horsepower at 8 psi of boost on stock internals. KW served up a set of Variant 3 coilovers, and Hotchkis took care of front and rear sway bars.

The crew rolled the blown Mustang out the to the Mojave Mile for a top speed run. The machine racked up a final velocity of 182.4 mph, though the final seconds of the run looked anything but stable (we hear there was a 20 mph crosswind). Still, we’re impressed at the machine’s performance. For perspective, the Boss 302 is only good for 155 mph. Check out the video for yourself below.

Continue reading This SEMA show car goes 182.4 mph

This SEMA show car goes 182.4 mph originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 15 May 2012 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Ford Motor Company and the automotive industry as a whole are mourning the loss today of Harold “Red” Poling, who passed away on May 12 in Pacific Grove, California, at the age of 86.

A Michigan native, Poling was a navy veteran and a graduate of Monmouth College and Indiana University, where he received his MBA. He started working for Ford as an intern at the Rouge steel mill way back in 1950, rising up the corporate ladder over the years as a financial expert.

In March of 1980, after running Ford’s North American and European operations, Poling was named president and CEO of the entire company, and ten years later was elected its chairman.

An inductee to the Automotive Hall of Fame and an active member of his community, Poling lead Ford through lean times and into profitability, ushering an enormous quantity of vehicles into production over his many years of leadership. Scroll down for an official statement from his successor Bill Ford.

Continue reading Former Ford chairman, CEO Red Poling dead at 86

Former Ford chairman, CEO Red Poling dead at 86 originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 15 May 2012 16:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Mark Heidaker’s Hennessey Ford GT is back to work snagging records. Sean Kennedy once again took to the wheel of the machine at the Houston Half Mile Shootout, and just as before, the duo didn’t disappoint. Kennedy was able to pilot the wicked GT to an astonishing 212.9 miles per hour in a mere half mile, successfully snagging the world record in the process. Not too shabby.

As you may recall, this same team walked away with the standing mile world record back in March. At that time, Kennedy shot the GT to 257.7 mph in the allotted distance. We have to wonder what these guys have up their sleeves for the next stunt. Click Scroll down to check out the understandably quick half mile video for yourself.

Continue reading Hennessey Ford GT hits 212.9 mph in the standing half-mile

Hennessey Ford GT hits 212.9 mph in the standing half-mile originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 15 May 2012 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Ford has made a Performance Package available for the the 2013 Taurus SHO, promising “uncompromised response, road-holding and durability.” There’s no extra horsepower added to proceedings, but parts like the firmer suspension springs and dampers, upgraded cooling system, high-performance brake pads and stability control that can be turned completely off are meant to help you make the most of its 365 horses.

Have a look at the diagram in the gallery above for the details, and check out the video by scrolling below to watch the SHO doing laps and hear its story.

Continue reading Ford Taurus SHO Performance Package adds track day bite

Ford Taurus SHO Performance Package adds track day bite originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 15 May 2012 11:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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