Ford Motor Company Global Auto Shows

As early spring winds whipped New York’s Javits Center, the 2008 New York International Auto Show opened to the public on March 21. Running through March 30, New York’s show has all the highlights from the 2007-2008 Auto Show Season. From Lincoln’s MKS, which kicked off the Los Angeles Auto Show, to the Transit Connect Taxi Concept, visitors to the Ford display have a lot to choose from.

The 2009 Ford F-150 and the brand new Ford Work Solutions share space with the Ford Taurus Crash test model, where visitors can see why Taurus was rated Top Safety Pick in its class by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. Crossover fans can see the Ford Edge and check out the “lid” art on the 2009 Flex created by New York artist Tristain Eaton. The Mustang with pink racing stripes shines a spotlight on breast cancer research. Ford announced that it will double its donation to the Susan G. Komen Foundation for the Cure for every “Warriors in Pink” Mustang sold.

Customers curious about concept cars will find the Explorer America Concept, featuring EcoBoost engine technology, and the sleek Transit Connect Taxi Concept. Hybrid and green technology are represented by the Mercury Mariner Hybrid, the Ford Verve Concept, and the Ford Escape Hybrid. The Volvo XC90—a concept car at 2007’s North American International Auto Show—takes center stage at Volvo, and Mazda’s award-winning CX-9 shares the spotlight with the Furai Concept.

Ford’s group vice president for Marketing and Communications, Jim Farley, talked to autoshows.ford.com about the surprise star of the 2008 auto show season: small cars. Between the Verve Concept and Transit Connect, the site’s been buzzing with comments.

“Ford is world class when it comes to making small cars,” says Farley. “And not just cars that are good value. They’ve got great design, they’re fun to drive, they’re premium small cars. We want to leverage and bring this to the United States.” Transit Connect, Verve, and Fiesta are part of this strategy and it’s being well received in the press, the public, and on autoshows.ford.com.

Transit Connect’s engine is also getting a lot of attention, and people are asking: why not diesel? Farley says that though Ford makes world class diesel vehicles in Europe, “the United States emissions standards for diesel are different,” and that challenge might make EcoBoost a better option for Transit Connect than diesel. Farley sees hybrid engines as “a perfect application in Transit Connect,” but the cost—from $5,000-$7,000—can be prohibitive for customers looking for cost and value in commercial vehicles. The Transit Connect that will be available in 2009 gets 19 mpg, but Ford’s looking into hybrid, diesel, and EcoBoost technology for Transit Connect in the future.

Ford is poised to leverage its global presence to introduce proven vehicles to new markets. Premium small cars with an emphasis on design and sustainability are one part of a strategy that people are responding to.

Jim Farley, group vice president of Marketing and Communications for Ford, talked to us about areas where customers “might not be sure” about Ford, but where Ford has proven its expertise. Whether it’s the green strategy behind the EcoBoost engine, the quality behind Ford Edge, the five star safety rating of the Ford Taurus, or the smart technology behind SYNC, Ford’s ready to show its new face to the world.

At the 2008 New York International Auto Show, Ford added to their Transit Connect lineup with a concept car familiar to the New York Cityscape: the taxi. Transit Connect Taxi Concept is “a potential game-changer,” said Mark Fields, president of The Americas. “We’re interested to see how people react.”

With its 2.0-liter, four-cylinder engine and automatic transmission, Transit Connect delivers estimated fuel economy of 19 mpg in the city – a more than 30 percent improvement in fuel economy than many of today’s traditional taxis. With 6.5-inches of ground clearance, passengers step through the sliding doors and into the cab instead of sliding into the back seat. With the flat panel “taxi bubble,” passengers will know which cabs are occupied: green if available, orange if occupied.

The Taxi concept also features an infotainment and navigation system that shows passengers their accumulating cab fare; and a scrolling news, weather, sports score and stock ticker. Using the 13-inch diagonal touch screen, passengers can select video and music channels, follow the taxi’s journey on a map or scroll through a list of points of interest along the route and offers payment options: credit, cash, or debit. For the driver, it features customized versions of Ford Work Solutions and Garmin navigation.

Jim Farley, group vice president of Marketing and Communications for Ford, thinks that this concept is another step forward in Ford’s global strategy. “Transit Connect is designed and sold in Europe, built in Turkey, and will soon be available in the United States. This is the future of Ford: reducing emissions, helping the environment, leveraging our assets as a global company.”

Amid the polished, shined, and pampered vehicles on display at the New York International Auto show is the crumpled Ford Taurus that was deliberately crashed into a 1 million pound wall at 35mph. Ford Taurus has been rated Top Safety Pick by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, and Stephen Kozak, North American chief safety engineer for Ford Motor Company. Ford wants show goers to see that “not all cars are equal when it comes to safety. ” He and Ford want to show “why Taurus is the safest rated large sedan sold in America.”

The crash test was conducted at Ford’s testing facilities in Dearborn, Mich., prior to the show. Ford conducts hundreds of crash tests and thousands more simulated computer tests on a yearly basis for its vehicles.

Jim Farley, group vice president for Marketing and Communications for Ford, says that safety is one of the key messages he wants to get across to consumers. “Taurus is the safest vehicle in its segment—the best in its class,” he says. Farley continued that highlighting safety in this tangible way is part of customers seeing “the new face of Ford.”

Taurus models equipped with optional AdvanceTrac® electronic stability control have earned the highest available rating for rollover resistance from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Taurus earned five-star ratings from NHTSA for both driver and front passenger in a frontal crash test and five stars for both the driver and rear-seat passenger in a side impact crash test.

In March 2008, the Ford Motor Company, which has dedicated more than $95 million in cash and in-kind contributions for breast cancer education and research for 14 years, announced that it is doubling its contribution to Susan G. Komen for the Cure each time it sells a ’Warriors in Pink’ package for the 2009 Ford Mustang.

“Thanks to the tremendous response from our dealers and customers to the 2008 ‘Warriors in Pink’ Mustang, we knew we needed to continue offering the package, and we’re happy to be able to increase our support for the Cure at the same time,” said Connie Fontaine, Ford Experiential Marketing manager.

Produced in a limited edition of 1,000 units, the Mustang with Warriors in Pink package was designed exclusively in support of Susan G. Komen Foundation for the Cure. New upgrades for the 2009 package are featured on the Ford display at the New York International Auto Show.

Available on the Mustang V-6 Premium Coupe and Convertible models, the Warriors in Pink package includes a unique grille and will add a pink ribbon and pony fender badge, pink Mustang rocker tape striping, charcoal leather seats with pink stitching, aluminum-spoke steering wheel with pink stitching and charcoal floormats with pink ribbon and contrast stitching.

Coupes also can be ordered with the all-new glass roof option. Three body colors will be available: Black, Brilliant Silver and Performance White.

Tristan Eaton has found another prominent medium to express his creativity – the ‘Cool Lid’ of the new Ford Flex on display at the New York International Auto Show.

Flex, the new Ford utility, is Eaton’s latest inspiration. The 29-year-old urban artist, known for his street art and as founder of the creative agency and toy brand ThunderDog Studios, is using large sheet-metal stampings of the unique Flex white suede-colored roof as his canvas. Created right in front of showgoers on the Ford stand, the large pieces of ‘urban roof art’ will go on display in Ford’s Flex Studio Gallery. Eaton follows in the footsteps of renowned customizers, Chip Foose and Funkmaster Flex, who have already worked their magic to explore the customizing possibilities for the new vehicle.

“Tristan Eaton’s art is as fresh and provocative as the new Flex,” said Usha Raghavachari, Ford Crossover Utility Vehicle marketing communications manager. Ford’s new Flex starts arriving in dealerships this summer and offer eight two-tone roof options featuring two contrasting light roof colors – White Suede and Brilliant Silver.

Eaton began pursuing street art as a teenager, painting everything from urban billboards to dumpsters.
He designed his first toy for Fisher Price at age 18 and has since become a driving force in the world of designer toys. Eaton founded ThunderDog Studios in 2003. The Queens studio is a prominent player in branding, illustration and fine-art-based urban toy development.

The new four-seater Ford Focus Coupé-Cabriolet debuted at the 2008 Geneva Auto Show in March. The new model joins the three-door, four-door, five-door, wagon and ST models, and in 2009 it will be joined by the all-new Ford Focus RS high performance model. The newly designed Focus Coupé-Cabriolet is a true four-seater that combines a high emotional appeal with the means for everyday use: With the roof closed, new Focus Coupé-Cabriolet offers a best-in-class luggage capacity.

“As with the generic new Ford Focus, with the Focus Coupé-Cabriolet we also felt the importance of aligning this vehicle with our ‘kinetic design’ language as soon as possible,” said Stephen Odell, Vice President Marketing, Sales and Service at Ford of Europe.

The entire front end design of the new Ford Focus was fully adopted for the Coupé-Cabriolet: The new three-dimensional hood design flows into the dual-trapezoidal-grille design, with both the upper and lower grille being equipped with chrome surrounding. The front bumper, lights and front fender designs clearly reflect the latest Focus styling, but are also tailored to perfectly fit the side view of the Coupé-Cabriolet.

“The new Ford Focus Coupé-Cabriolet is a special blend: We felt that the new front end design will perfectly complement the profile and rear end design. The result is a mix of latest level Focus dynamics and the Coupé-Cabriolet design,” said Chris Bird, Design Director at Ford of Europe.

Small cars are having a moment. Ford of Europe unveiled the Ford Fiesta at the 2008 Geneva Auto Show and they’re anticipating a warm reception from a new generation of customers. Designed and developed in Europe, Ford Fiesta will be on sale in Europe, Asia, South Africa, Australia and the Americas between 2008 and 2010. It’s the first major product of Ford’s new global product development process.

Ford calls it “the next chapter of the Fiesta success story.” The popular small car sold more than 12 million units since its introduction in 1976, and the newest model delivers value for money while embodying the “kinetic design” philosophy central to the designs coming out of Ford of Europe. “This new car embodies the very essence of Fiesta – fun, vitality and emotion,” said John Fleming, President and CEO, Ford of Europe.

The new Ford Fiesta is closely related to the Verve Concept vehicle that was at the 2007 Frankfurt Auto Show. The Frankfurt car was one of three Verve Concepts, with the others, both four-door sedans tailored for regional market tastes, shown recently at Guangzhou in China and the North American International Auto Show in Detroit. These concepts paved the way for the company’s new global small car program for the 2008 to 2010 period. The European Fiesta will be the first to go into production, starting in the fall of 2008. By 2010, this new small-car family will be manufactured in Europe, Asia and the Americas.

At the 2008 Geneva Auto Show, Ford showed is European customers greater powertrain and series choices for Ford Mondeo, S-MAX and Galaxy: a new high performance 2.2-litre diesel engine and new versions of the Titanium series.

The new 2.2-litre Duratorq TDCi is the largest displacement and most powerful diesel engine available in Ford of Europe’s passenger cars. It gives a sustained 400 Nm of torque at 1,750rpm and 420 Nm of transient overboost. Maximum power of 175 PS is delivered at just 3,500rpm. The engine has been developed and engineered by Ford and PSA Peugeot Citroën as part of the longstanding cooperation on diesel engines between the two companies. The engine has been calibrated to provide performance, quietness and smoothness of operation in Ford’s large and luxury models – new Mondeo, S-MAX and Galaxy.

“The power and torque available is equivalent to a much larger gasoline engine, but in diesel form gives improved like-for-like fuel economy,” explained Nick FitzGerald, Chief Program Engineer, Large and Luxury Products, Ford of Europe.

The Mondeo and S-MAX ranges have been expanded by the introduction of a new sporty Titanium S model..The Galaxy Ghia model features additional chrome exterior styling, a full-length overhead center console and automatic headlights and windshield wipers. A new Galaxy Titanium series is placed at the same high level as the existing Ghia model in the range. “We believe our customers will appreciate the detail touches made to the interior and exterior of the Titanium S series in our large car range, the availability of the new Galaxy Titanium as well as the performance of the new 2.2-litre Duratorq TDCi 175 PS engine.” Said Steve Adams, Ford of Europe’s Vehicle Line Director for Large and Luxury cars.