Ford wasn’t too happy over the Super Bowl ad from Chevy that aired last night and was uploaded to Youtube a few days before that. In the ad, which you can watch at the end of this post, the World ends due to the supposed Mayans predictions and the only things that survive are guys who were in their Chevy Silverado trucks.

A bit outlandish, but that’s advertising for you. However, once the main guy drives through the destroyed city, he meets up with other Silverado owners. He asks, “Where’s Dave?” which another guy responds, “Dave didn’t drive the most longest lasting, dependable truck on the road. Dave drove a Ford.”

And that’s the straw that broke the camel’s back.

Via USA Today:

“On Saturday, Ford lawyer Lynne Matuszak sent GM a letter demanding that the ad not air and be removed from all websites and social media outlets. Ford objects to the commercial showing the owner of a Ford F-150 pickup as one who did not make it to a meeting point safely after an apocalyptic event.”

“We stand by our claims in the commercial, that the Silverado is the most dependable, longest-lasting full-size pickup on the road. The ad is a fun way of putting this claim in the context of the apocalypse,” said GM Global Chief Marketing Officer Joel Ewanick.”

While that may possibly be the case, the F-150 is still and has been the best selling truck for decades. Seems that they could have responded a bit better than bringing out the lawyers.

What do you think? Was Chevy taking it a bit far?

Ford Upset Over Chevy Super Bowl Ad, Tried To Get It Removed is a post from: The Inquisitr

Ford pulled back the curtains on the new and improved 2013 Ford Fusion, its flagship sedan, at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit this week, and it’s clear that Ford aimed to pull no punches with the new Fusion.

In fact, Ford says that the 2013 Ford Fusion represents the “new face of Ford”, and it’s admittedly a pleasant face to look at. The Fusion has seen an overhaul in its design, now having a distinct sleek European-style design with a grille that appears to be a mix between a Aston Martin Virage and a One-77, CSM points out.

According to a report by the Associated Press, Ford intends to offer several versions of the 2013 Ford Fusion, including a hybrid, which the company expects will get around 47 miles per gallon in the city, and a plug-in hybrin, dubbed ‘Fusion Energi’. All in all there will be about five different models, with FWD/AWD options and, of course, two transmissions.

“The majority of people near-term are going to hybrids. They’re just so flexible,” said Ford chief executive Alan R. Mulally at a press conference on Monday. Mulally went on explain that Ford intends to offer a wide variety of options, giving the company “greater flexibility” to “meet market demand”.

Ford isn’t talking about pricing just yet, but a representative told AP that the price should be at or around the current Fusion’s, which starts at $20,200.

2013 Ford Fusion unveiled at Detroit auto show is a post from: The Inquisitr

The Ford Ranger has been produced since January, 1982, but sadly, the iconic car won’t see it’s 30th birthday. Ford is stopping production on the small pickup next week on December 22nd.

Canadian Business reports that Ford Ranger sales peaked in the 1990s but have been declining over the last decade. The American company has started to concentrate more on larger pickups like the F-150.

According to the Huffington Post, small pickups once made up 8% of all vehicles sold. In 1994, 1.2 million small trucks were sold, about a quarter of which were Ford Rangers. Small pickup sales have slowly been declining. Only 297,000 were sold this year.

The company said that when production ends on the Ranger, the plant in St. Paul Minnessota will also be closed. The St. Paul plant has made more than 6 million cars and trucks since 1925 when it was opened by company founder Henry Ford. The plant currently employs nearly 800 workers. Ford says that the majority of the workers will be transferred to other facilities.

Ford will continue to sell a new version of the Ford Ranger in international markets. The new Ranger will be built  at plants in Thailand, South Africa and South America.

Here’s an old Ford Ranger commercial.

Were you a fan of the Ford Ranger?

Ford Ranger Discontinued After Nearly 30 Years is a post from: The Inquisitr

If you’ve been driving around in a Ford Fusion or a Mercury Milan and have noticed something not quite right with your wheels, you may want to pay attention to this.

Ford is recalling upwards of 129,000 Ford Fusion and Mercury Milan sedans due to a defect involving the wheel studs on models with 17-inch steel wheels that could cause the studs to fracture and cause wheel vibrations which could result in wheel separation.

“The problems may be caused by steel wheel mounting pads or rear brake discs that have been incorrectly built and cannot properly support the wheel,” Ford said in a statement.

Ford will contact affected owners and is expected to begin the recall on January 24, 2012. If you own one of the two models with wheels made between April 1, 2009 to April 30, 2009 and between December 1, 2009 and November 13, 2010, you’ll be able to take your car to a dealer for inspection. If it’s found to be an affected model, the dealer will replace all lug nuts and inspect the real-wheel disc brakes. Cars with alloy wheels are not affected.

Susan Krusel, a spokeswoman for Ford Motor Company, said in a statement that the vehicles are still considered to be safe to drive. The statement reads: “Affected customers can continue to drive their vehicles. We are not aware of any accidents or injuries.”

Source: Bloomberg

Ford recalling 129,000 Fusions and Mercury Milans due to wheel stud defect is a post from: The Inquisitr

Glitchy touch screens and bad transmissions caused Ford Motors, Inc. to fall 10 spots in Consumer Reports’ annual auto reliability survey down 10 spots from the same period in 2010. Under their new ranking Ford now sits at 20 out of 28 major brands.

The news comes after Ford spent years closing the gap on quality with Japanese automakers however the only U.S. brand to top the lists 15 top brands in 2011 was Chrysler.

Findings for the survey were taken in the spring and based off Consumer Reports magazine subscribers who owned or leased 1.3 million vehicles from 2002 through 2011 model years.

The reporting magazine is considered the number three recommendation source for Americans behind only brand loyalty and recommendations from family and friends.

Among Ford’s problems were issues with the MyFordTouch system and MyLincolnTouch dashboard which users say are prone to freezing while being overly difficult to use. Ford buyers also said the automatic transmission systems used in the Focus compact and Fiesta subcompact vehicles tended to shift awkwardly.

Ford’s group vice president for quality Bennie Fowler says the company takes customer feedback seriously and they are immediately looking into the issues revealed by the Consumer Reports survey.

There was some good news for Ford as its Lincoln luxury brand moved up one spot over last year to 14th.

Leading this years list for a second year in a row was Toyota Scion which was followed by the Toyota Lexus brand and then Honda’s Acura.

For their part Fiat has done a great job since purchasing Chrysler, allowing the company to move form 27th place last year to 15th place in 2011. Chrysler’s Jeep brand rose 7 spots this year to finish in 13th.

Are you surprised to learn that Ford’s quality slipped so far in such a short period of time?

Consumer Reports Shows Ford Slipping 10 Spots For Quality is a post from: The Inquisitr

Workers in Flat Rock, Michigan have turned down a production contract that would have brought money and new jobs to the area. The contract was turned down after similar offers were made in Chicago, IL and Wayne, Mich.

The four-year agreement has been winding down and managed to gain some support before voting. According to reports workers at the main production plant agreed to the contract however the workers at an interior-parts plant in Saline, Mich. rejected the offer. According to an email 59% of production workers and 51% of skilled tradesmen voted against the contract.

Union leaders have been traveling around to Ford plants in an attempt to receive a “yes” vote for the agreement however concessions made in 2009 have slowed progress towards an agreement.

What is known is that the inability for the UAW to reach an agreement could mean trouble for the union as recent surveys have shown a “disenchanted” population in terms of unions support.

The Wall Street Journal spoke with Gary Chaison, a labor professor at Clark University in Worcester, Mass. who said turning down the contract would mean each worker loses a $6,000 signing bonus and $1,500 in payments over the next four years, not a small chunk of change in a weakened economy.

According to Mr. Chaison:

“This is happening at a time when the labor movement is trying to salvage its reputation and prove it’s a job creator not a job loser,” and “By rejecting this agreement the membership at Ford will be showing just the opposite. They will be eliminating jobs for higher pay. The labor movement’s reputation will be severely tarnished.”

The contract requires a majority of votes to be ratified. In the meantime many Ford workers at the plant say the contract lacks real wage increases to fend off inflation for current employees at the company, while providing no increase for pensioners and allows 2009 provisions that workers are against to stay in place in terms of an absentee policy, break time and holidays scheduling

With a walk out possible and union executives unable to suffer the loss of a job creating contract it’s likely some type of compromise will be made that can benefit both sides.

Do you think the United Auto Workers union is destroying jobs in America or helping secure better wages for their workers?

United Auto Workers Turn Down Ford Contract For Flat Rock Plant is a post from: The Inquisitr

Ford Announces C-Max, Company’s First Hybrid-Only Vehicle is a post from: The Inquisitr

Nowadays, when a light flashes on the dashboard of your vehicle, you know it’s time to get oil.

In the future, similar alerts could be an indicator that flashes, “you look hungry.” The series of health and wellness monitoring apps being developed for Ford’s Sync onboard communications interface won’t be available for the next year or two, but customer health is a focus the automaker is emphasizing. Paul Mascarenas, Ford’s chief technology officer, commented:

“People are spending so much time behind the wheel, and that’s expected to increase as we go forward, with increased traffic density and congestion,” he said. “(This is) about seeing the car as more than just a car. It’s now a platform that we can use for development, innovation, and connectivity.”

Among the indicators of health the apps could monitor are blood sugar and allergies. But, Popular Science points out, this could also extend to something like blood alcohol level, which could in turn foray into invasion of privacy. Ford acknowledges the technology is possible, but insists health and wellness is the current focus.

It’s an interesting innovation, to be sure, but would you buy a car that knows so much about you? Could this ostensibly affect insurance rates?

Ford wants to add cars that monitor your health, wellness is a post from: The Inquisitr

MyFord Touch is one of the most interactive car systems to date, unfortunately some technology illiterate customers are so confused about the technology that they have begun taking classes to learn how to use their vehicles.

If you are unfamiliar with MyFord Touch, the system uses color-coded menus, a central touch panel and even a four-way controller on the steering wheel for system navigation, users can also use voice recognition to control their cars systems.

While MyFord Touch is easy enough to figure out for the technology generation, Consumer Reports recently tore the system apart, calling it unnecessarily difficult for first time users.

To help fight off confusion over the new system, various Ford dealers around the United States have begun offering 45 minute one-on-one courses to help explain the new system to confused car owners.

Just a thought, but why in the world would someone buy a vehicle if they were confused with it’s controls before the sale? [via Freep]

MyFord Touch Confusing Some Customers, Dealers Offering Classes is a post from: The Inquisitr

I realize that there are guys out there who love nothing better than to do all kinds of things to their trucks to make the da boss but I think this might be overdoing it just a tad.

Chris Lentz has been wanting to do this since he was a kid. The idea of hooking up a jet engine to a pick-up truck though seems to be a little on the extreme side if you ask me. But then Chris didn’t ask me and as a result he is the proud owner of a Ford F-150 with a Czech built Motorlet M-701 turbojet bolted to its bed.

To install the jet in the truck, Lentz fabricated a sturdy mounting stand, a twenty-gallon kerosene tank, and a control console from aluminum and stainless steel. His decorative touches include a red, white, and blue nose cone and a 2700 HP badge (not divulged is the 516-mph velocity needed to achieve that power level).

To light the burner, the pilot advances a red fuel lever and a blue throttle control while operating a two-stage electric starter. There are snapping sounds as ignitors fire in the combustion chambers followed by a muffled explosion and a whine not unlike a 737 taxiing past the lowered tailgate. Viewing the procedure from the rear of the truck reveals a bright orange ball of flame accompanying the muffled explosion upon ignition. With the jet idling at 3500 rpm and during full-throttle acceleration, there are waves of heat but no external flames.

Source: Automobile Mag :: Jet-Powered 2005 Ford F-150 STX

And just so you don’t think I’m making this up here’s a short video of the truck.

hat tip to Geekologie

And you thought your truck was all the snitz is a post from: The Inquisitr

Yesterday I wrote a post here about a social media experiment being run by Ford to publicize their new Fiesta car launching in 2010. In the post I suggested that this was a rather bold experiment on Ford’s part as they will have no control over the content being publish to the web by the 100 winners of the contest they ran to select the people they will let have a Fiesta for six months.

The one hundred people were selected based on two scores which Ford referred to as a social vibrancy rating which is based on how much the applicant was followed online and across how many platforms. this was combined with and over all grade on creativity, video skills and their ability to hook a viewer within the first five to ten seconds.

Ford has agreed on a hands off approach once the keys are handed over to the selected people. It will have no control of what is being put online. This could be dangerous for Ford should there be any negative opinions about the car but that appears to be a chance they are willing to take.

Allen Stern from CenterNetworks took a little bit of an exception to the experiment being run by Ford likening it to pay-for-post type of marketing. His concerns were addressed in the comments of the post by Scott Monty the gentleman in charge of the Fiesta Movement social media experiment and today Allen posted an interview with Scott that further addressed his concerns. I have embedded the video Allen posted here for you to have a listen to.

A big hat tip to Allen for going one step further and providing us with a good interview with Scott and some additional background about Ford’s move into social media.

A follow-up to Ford’s Social Media experiment [VIDEO] is a post from: The Inquisitr

The American Big Three automobile companies are in big trouble. while they seem to be relying more on government bailout money rather than really innovating Ford is going to be to be entering the social media world in a big way this year.

In advance of their new sub-compact model, the Fiesta, hitting the market Ford is going to be handing a set of keys for the Fiesta to one hundred web savvy drivers. The drivers will be given a Fiesta for six months, along with auto insurance and gas, during which time they can post their impressions about the car to such social media services as YouTube, Flickr and Twitter.

The one hundred people were selected based on two scores which Ford referred to as a social vibrancy rating which is based on how much the applicant was followed online and across how many platforms. this was combined with and over all grade on creativity, video skills and their ability to hook a viewer within the first five to ten seconds.

Ford has agreed on a hands off approach once the keys are handed over to the selected people. It will have no control of what is being put online. This could be dangerous for Ford should there be any negative opinions about the car but that appears to be a chance they are willing to take.

When Ford first tossed around the idea of loaning 100 cars without the ability to control what the drivers might say, Ford’s sales chief emerged as the leading internal skeptic.

"I was like, ‘Nah, go to Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica [Calif.], go to Royal Oak [Mich.] on a hot night with the kids out for ice cream,’" said Jim Farley, Ford’s global vice president for sales and marketing. "Pull up with 10 vehicles, give away free T-shirts, have people do test drives, broadcast the whole thing on the Web."

Mr. Farley said his reluctance softened when a group of sons and daughters recruited from Ford’s largest dealers endorsed the six-month online effort.

"The interest in the Web [campaign] had far exceeded my expectations," he says. "My hunch was pretty traditional."

Source: Wall Street Journal Online

Personally I tip my hat to Ford for this initiative as it really is a pretty gutsy move on their part especially since they expect some negative reports about the car. At this point the 100 people have been selected and the experiment is slated to start later this month. Below is the audition video from Brad Nelson one of the winners

Ford tries the ultimate social media experiment is a post from: The Inquisitr

The criticism from the right blaming autoworkers for the demise of the American auto industry hasn’t always been fair. It isn’t the fault of workers that the big three have produced products people don’t want; management fairly takes a big share of the blame. But then you read these stories you can see partially where the right was coming from.

Reuters reports:

Ford Motor Co expects operating savings of $500 million per year from an agreement with the United Auto Workers that will push hourly wage rates into the “ballpark” of foreign-based rivals, the company said on Wednesday.

The agreement trims average wages and benefits for UAW hourly workers to about $55 per hour this year, while the U.S. operations of foreign-based automakers — or what executives call “transplants” — pay workers on average $48 to $49 per hour, Ford said.

That’s right, $55 per hour. If they work a 36 hour week or longer, that’s $100,000 USD a year, and that’s the reduced pay.

Now I’m all for people getting paid what they deserve, and many of these assembly line jobs could involve a fair bit of technical knowledge. But in a market that in part has been killed by cheap Asian imports, and where many Americans struggle to find jobs, let alone get $10/ hour, workers at Ford have their pay cut to $55/ hour. And a non-American owned company pays workers in the United States $48-$49 per year.

Ford didn’t take a handout from the US Government, but presuming their pay rates are similar to workers at GM and Chrysler, you can safely say that this is part what the auto industry bailout is paying for. Your taxpayer money at work indeed

Ford and Unions negotiate a pay cut…to $55/ hour is a post from: The Inquisitr