Ford’s new 2011 Ford Explorer won’t go on sale until early next year but early signs are “all good” as orders are pouring in!
Ford Motor Co. has about 15,000 orders — about double its projections — for the 2011 Ford Explorer that isn’t slated to hit showrooms until the new year.
The preorders include about 3,000 retail orders, 7,500 dealer orders and more than 4,500 from companies, Ford officials say.
For the 2011 model year, the Explorer goes from its traditional body-on-frame truck roots to a reincarnation atop the underpinnings of the Ford Taurus, making it a more fuel-efficient crossover, compared to an SUV. Ford hopes the remake will spur a sales resurgence for a vehicle that was hugely successful before higher gasoline prices tamped down the demand for SUVs.
Ford Motor Co. may have got off to a late start in China but Mullay and Company aren’t sitting around now! The Blue Oval is adding 100 dealerships this year alone in China with more to come at a brisk pace. This is where the growth is going to come from for the global automakers and the gloves are off to and the bank vaults opened up to grab as many new customers as possible!
From AutoNews.com:
BEIJING — Ford Motor Co. is adding 100 dealers in China this year, mostly in smaller cities in inland provinces where new car demand is surging, the company said today.
The move, more aggressive than a previously announced plan, will bring the number of Ford dealers in China to 340 by the end of the year, up from an original target of 310, said Joe Hinrichs, president of Ford’s Asia and Africa operations.
The company plans to introduce four new models in China over the next few years, including the Ford Edge crossover next month.
Most new cars go on to become used cars and, eventually, high-grade scrap metal, but a few become sought-after collectibles.
The experts at collector car insurer Hagerty Insurance have picked these 10 models as most likely to attract future car collectors based on a handful of merits.
Collectible cars tend not to be those that were extremely popular in their own day. Most new car buyers have fairly mundane, practical needs. They aren’t after design flair, excitement or outrageous performance — the very attributes car collectors crave.
A prime example is the Cadillac CTS-V coupe, the most impractical Caddy on your dealer’s lot. With its radically chiseled body lines and 556-horsepower supercharged V8 this car is all about looks and performance. Your backseat passengers be damned.
The GM you knew last year, at the core of the auto-industry meltdown doesn’t exist anymore. In it’s place is a much more trim and nimble GM that is poised for success. Today, with the help of our friends from the CarInsurance Blog we take a look at GM, before and after its restructuring.
With the upcoming launch of the Fiat 500 we now have the first Fiat television commercial in the U.S. since the early 1980′s. Things have been moving quickly at Fiat/Chrysler for the past 18 months which makes it hard to believe the Fiat 500 is actually ready to hit the ground. DashBoardNews and Bullz-Eye.com had a chance to view the car at the L.A. Auto Show and eagerly await an opportunity to drive the Fiat 500!
In the case of Panamera v. Porsche, purists in the court of the WSJ we hereby rule in favor of the Panamera!
The attorney in mewants to argue both sides of this case. The plaintiff says: The 2011 Porsche Panamera is a crime against the brand, a merely competent luxury sport sedan that—given its bloated-corpse looks, your honor—deserves no leniency. I will not attempt to re-litigate whether any two-ton four-door deserves to be called a real Porsche—c.f., Enthusiasts v. Cayenne (2000). But at a minimum, Porsches need to be thrilling, powerful machines, and this car couldn’t stir a martini.
Look at the evidence: The Panamera S has a 400-horsepower V8. The Panamera Turbo has a 500-hp V8 and hits 60 miles per hour in 4 seconds. That’s just epic.
The just-introduced, entry-level Panamera (and all-wheel-drive Panamera 4), by contrast, is fitted with a paltry 3.6-liter, 300-hp V6, and the new gas-saving stop-start system, which shuts off the engine any time the car is stopped. Clearly, the base-model Panamera is offered only to puff up the company’s fuel-economy numbers and pander to eco-weenies.
11-16-2010 Santa Monica, California
VW presents the EOS
No car launch would be complete without a few beautiful people stomping around. Giuliana Rancic, Karina Smirnoff, and Anna Trebunskaya all dropped by the LA Auto Show’s Volkswagen Eos launch party, dressed in designs from Nicole Miller.
Be sure to look for Volkswagen’s new convertible, the Eos, sometime soon.
The 2011 Chevrolet Volt extended-range electric vehicle has been named Car of the Year by Motor Trend magazine, for General Motors’ second title in four years.
The Volt beat out contenders that include the Ford Fiesta, Hyundai Sonata, Lincoln MKZ hybrid, BMW 5 Series, Jaguar XJ, Infiniti M and Audi A8.
One of the Detroit 3 won the award every year from 1986 to 2002, until the Infiniti G35 broke that trend in 2003. Since then, domestic and foreign automakers’ models have split the award evenly, with the 2010 Ford Fusion midsized sedan winning last year.
The Volt also was named Automobile of the Year today by Ann Arbor-based Automobile Magazine.
Ford Motor CEO Alan Mulally resurrected the Ford Taurus after a brief hiatus. We recently had the chance to test one out. This Taurus is completely different from the ones the world has been driving for the past 25 years and, before we get into the review, we can confidently say that Mr. Mulally made the right call in bringing the Taurus back.
Exterior
When I first took a look at the Ford Taurus Limited, the Konna blue metallic paint job stood out and looked great. First impressions are important and the newer Taurus design, beautiful color, and 19” chrome clad wheels made me want to get inside to check out the interior. This is a big deal for Ford. For years the company did a great job improving the interior but left the exterior bland and boring on too many cars. Not anymore! The Taurus is also surprisingly big, which has its pros and cons. The customer gets a lot of car for their buck but I would still like to see the overall size of the next generation Taurus shrink some and develop a sleeker and lighter design.
Chevrolet has been teasing us with its Camaro Convertible since the 2007 Detroit Auto Show. While we’ve seen plenty of photos of the concept and Neiman Marcus edition, the automaker finally revealed shots of the production model today.
Predictably, the car looks extremely similar to the concept shown nearly four years ago at the 2007 Detroit Auto Show and identical to the Neiman Marcus car save for a few items. The five-spoke wheels featured on the concept that also appeared on the Neiman Marcus convertible have been replaced with the same five-spoke chrome wheels bolted to the Camaro coupe. The silver windshield surround from the 2007 concept and Neiman Marcus Camaro is now body-colored.
Like its hardtop sibling, the Camaro Convertible will be available with your choice of V-6 or V-8 powertrains in LT, LS, RS, or SS trims. The V-6 is GM’s 3.6-liter, direct-injected unit good for 312 horsepower and 278 pound-feet of torque. SS buyers get GM’s 6.2-liter, LS3 V-8 that puts out 426 horsepower and 420 pound-feet of torque. GM hasn’t released full powertrain specifications yet, but expect the choice of a six-speed manual or automatic transmissions with both engines.
