2011 Ford Explorer Top Safety Pick

All-new 2011 Ford Explorer earns Insurance Institute for Highway Safety Top Safety Pick, adding to Ford's leading number of top safety ratingsThe reinvented Explorer offers a class-leading array of airbags, including industry-exclusive inflatable second-row seat belts, Safety Canopy® side curtains, Trinity front crash architecture and collision warning with brake supportExplorer also features

Ford Raptor F-150 SVT-- Pickup Truck of the Year

The Ford Raptor F-150 SVT 2010 has been honored as Pickup Truck of the Year by the Four Wheeler magazine. The Ford Raptor is an off-road performance truck and has been widely popular since its launch the previous year.The "Ford Raptor" took part in the weeklong 1000-mile competition of vehicles in Southern California. It should be noted that since the launch of the Ford Raptor, clients have

Boss 302 Racer

This limited production vehicle is positioned between the Boss 302 Laguna Seca and the Boss 302R Grand-Am racer.Ford has been unusually un-forthcoming about the new 2102 BOSS302S track version of the BOSS 302. Much akin to the Mustang Challenge FR-500S race cars, the BOSS 302R is a non-street legal bare bones racer that is one step below the Grand-Am spec BOSS 302R.Like the FR-500 series cars,

2012 Ford Focus production in Germany until early 2012

Ford Motor Co. continues the global rollout of the new Ford Focus with production for Europe starting today.The compact car, as a sedan and five-door hatchback, has already begun early production for North America at Ford's Michigan Assembly Plant.Western European markets will source their cars from Ford's Saarlouis Assembly Plant in Germany, which will make the sedan, hatch and wagon. "Saarlouis

Americans Don't Want Small Cars

I'm starting to get annoyed at all of the articles and television news stories criticizing the auto industry about not meeting the demands of consumers. If you listen to them, Americans want small, affordable, gas-sipping micro-machines, not gas-guzzling SUV's and minivans.

I'm all in favor of the law of supply and demand. Simple macroeconomics. Free market economy. If car companies build the cars that Americans want, they deserve the rewards. If car companies build crap that no one wants, let them fail for making bad decisions. If Americans want smaller cars or hybrids, fine, build these cars.

However, the media is insisting that they know what we want. And the only car companies building these small affordable gas-pissing, I mean gas sipping, vehicles are foreign auto makers. But if you look at the facts, you may find something different. Looking at April 2009 sales, here were the top selling vehicles in the country, courtesy of this website.

1) Honda Accord - 29,212

2) Ford F-Series - 28,757

3) Chevy Silverado - 26,437

4) Honda Civic - 26,252

5) Toyota Camry - 25,324

6) Toyota Corolla - 18,534

7) Ford Fusion - 18,321

8) Dodge Ram - 17,903

9) Chevy Impala - 17,532

10) Chevy Malibu - 14,665

Let's see, that's 3 full-sized pickup trucks, 5 mid/large sized cars, and 2 economy cars. 6 domestic automakers, and 4 foreign companies. If Americans wants fuel efficient cars so bad, then why are they not buying them? Is it perhaps that they don't really want small cars? Or are greedy corporations and Republicans twisting consumers' arms into buying these vehicles?

According to http://www.motorintelligence.com/, in May 2009 Americans bought 437,779 light trucks and 488,045 cars. For the domestic auto makers the statistics are very contrasting. Ford sold 94,000 light trucks and 67,197 cars. GM sold 109,872 light trucks and 81,009 cars. Bringing up the rear, Chrysler sold 60,972 light trucks and 18,038 cars.

We all hear that trucks and SUV's are the bread and butter of these companies and according to these sales figures, they are building exactly what they should be building. Why should they refocus on low-profit small cars when current small car sales do not support such a shift?

My argument is that since car sales have fallen year over year, this year one cannot accurately gauge what Americans want to buy. If no one is buying Chryslers, is it because no one wants the vehicles they offer, or is it because no one is buying cars in general?

This pressure comes, not only from the media, but also from the Obama administration. We've heard things like, "There has to a fundamental shift in the way they do business," Why? So they can make less money? Unfortunately for Chrysler and GM, they took bailout money and they are now at the mercy of the socialist Obama administration. Ford, on the other hand, appears to be well-positioned for the economic recovery and will continue to make cars that Americans will buy.

I think that Chrysler needs to be more worried about their partnership with Fiat when they start importing Mitsishitsies and other similar micro-death-traps. Sales could plummet even further. My prediction is that the big SUV sales will never recover to their early 2000 levels(Expedition, Tahoe, Sequioa), and perhaps nor will the sales levels of even the mid-sized SUV's (Explorer, Pathfinder, 4Runner), but Americans will still want a bigger car (Malibu, Camry, Accord) and perhaps smaller SUV's (Excape, CRV, RAV4).

The media's attempt to pressure the auto industry to alter their sales strategy most likely will not work. In the end, free-market economics will win. Americans will buy what they want to buy, not what the media tells us we want. The old saying, "What's good for GM is good for America" no longer applies. America will determine what's good for America. And if one of the auto companies is not on the same page, they can start writing their epitath now.