Archive for Featured Vehicles

Ford Focus Is World’s Best-Selling Car

PGI Auto / August 31, 2012 / No comments

According to the most recent reports from the Ford Motor Co., the Ford Focus is the best-selling car in the world. The reports show 489,616 units being sold in the first half of the year, beating out the second place car by 27,000 units. There is still another half of the year to be reported on, so it’s not a certain title…yet.

Ford was able to accomplish this feat by revamping the Focus and making it superior to all other cars in it’s class, including the Corolla. They are now selling the Focus in over 100 countries throughout the world, raising sales by 31% for the first six months of 2012 over the same time in 2011.

The new Ford Focus comes in several trims and even has an electric version. The base model starts at $16,200 and has an EPA certified rating of 36 MPG on the highway. The Focus Electric is rated at 110 MPG equivalent for city driving.

For more information about the Focus, or to take a look at any Ford vehicle, contact Sound Ford.

Category: Featured Vehicles, Focus, FORDBLOGGER, Model, News - Events - Specials, Sound Ford / Tags: ,

Ford Enters Heavy Truck Arena

PGI Auto / August 15, 2012 / No comments

A Chinese corporation which is 30% owned by the Ford Motor Co., recently acquired a large heavy truck company, bringing Ford into the world’s largest heavy-truck arena.  Though Ford didn’t release the financial terms of the acquisition, the heavy truck parent company showed a selling price of $42 million.

No other country in the world sells as many heavy trucks as China does.  Last year, almost one million heavy trucks were sold in China, which is more than North America, South America and Europe combined.  Though the sales of heavy trucks seem to be slowing, Ford is certain the Chinese economy will pick back up and the investment will be sound.

“A strong heavy-truck operation like Taiyuan will complement Ford’s existing passenger car and light commercial vehicle operations here in the world’s largest and fastest-growing vehicle market,” Dave Schoch, chairman and CEO of Ford Motor China, told media.

For more information about Ford trucks, or to take a look at any Ford vehicle, contact Sound Ford.

Category: Events and Specials, Featured Vehicles, FORDBLOGGER, News - Events - Specials, Sound Ford, Truck /

Ford Surpasses EcoBoost Goal

PGI Auto / June 30, 2012 / No comments

Ford’s EcoBoost are a revelation in the automotive industry.  An industry that has no mercy on auto manufacturers who cannot come with unique and innovative technology year after year.  With the EcoBoost engine, Ford has not only created a vehicle with superb fuel-efficiency and lower emission ratings, they’ve also delivered on the performance Ford consumers expect.

To help with these numbers are the two most recent additions to the EcoBoost family.  The first is a 2.0-liter 4-cylinder engine made for the Taurus, and the other is a 1.0 liter 3-cylinger engine which we will see in the Focus or Fiesta beginning next year.  By the year 2013, Ford will deliver over 1 and a half million turbocharged EcoBoost engines.  This amount surpasses their goal by 100,000 units, thrilling them beyond compare.

Another big change for Ford is the fact that they are consolidating the vehicle platforms from 22 separate ones, to only 10, making desirable changes to each family by the year 2017.

For more information about Ford EcoBoost, or to take a look at any Ford vehicle, contact Sound Ford.

Category: Events and Specials, Featured Vehicles, Fiesta, Focus, FORDBLOGGER, Model, News - Events - Specials, Taurus / Tags:

Ford F-550 Show Truck Comes to the Rescue

PGI Auto / April 30, 2012 / No comments

In March, a custom-built Ford F-550 Super Duty pickup was making its rounds as a display vehicle in Texas.  The last place is it was seen as “just” a show truck was in Houston during a rodeo.  A week later, multiple tornadoes devastated parts of the Dallas/Ft. Worth area, and firefighters didn’t know where to turn to for the extra super duty help they needed.

When the tornadoes materialized, the Granbury fire department informed the VP of NewScope Marketing, the company who designed the after market truck, that Arlington’s fire department was looking for outside help. Along with an employee, VP Brad Snyder, with no first-responder experience, drove the truck to the Green Oaks Nursing Home and Rehabilitation Center, which had sustained significant damage.  He then followed firefighters to Arlington’s hardest-hit neighborhoods to help with search and rescue.

Powered by a diesel engine, the 37,000-pound truck features two thermal-imaging cameras, Doppler radar and a generator strong enough to power a small house, which can be used while the truck is in motion, Mr. Snyder said.  You can see why the vehicle was of such use during the emergency.

To find out more about the Ford company, or to take a look at any Ford car or truck, contact Sound Ford.

Category: Featured Vehicles, FORDBLOGGER, News - Events - Specials, Sound Ford, Truck, Type /

Most profitable vehicles of the past 20 years

Sound Ford / November 23, 2011 / No comments

At the end of the day, every mass-market automaker is nothing more than a company looking for profits. And while you can have a great-looking vehicle that performs well and draws critical acclaim, but if it doesn’t sell and it doesn’t have decent margins, it doesn’t do the company much good. So when it comes down to pure profit, what automobiles are the biggest cash cows?

That’s what analyst Max Warbuton aimed to find out. With the help of his team at Bernstein Research, Warbuton looked at the automotive population and created this list of the twelve best money-makers since 1990. According to Automotive News, Warbuton said the top twelve cars and trucks all combine “high prices, huge volume and long periods of production that spread development costs over a long period.” While we might quibble that not all of the entries are high in price, the volume side of Warburton’s equation makes a lot of sense, especially considering that the Number One most profitable vehicle of all time is – glance down at the lead image real quick – the Ford F-Series.

F-150 aside, all of the American full-size pickups did particularly well in this study, with the Ram 1500 and General Motors twins (Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra) filling out the second and third place spots. (No surprise, given that body-on-frame vehicles like pickups and SUVs are known to be cash cows). German and Japanese automakers round out the top twelve.

Sound Ford

Most profitable vehicles of the past 20 years

 

Courtesy of Sound Ford, Renton

Category: F-150, Featured Vehicles, News - Events - Specials, Sound Ford, Truck / Tags: , , , , , , ,

Sound Ford-Driving For a Brighter Future!

Sound Ford / November 18, 2011 / No comments

Category: Featured Vehicles /

Ford Launches Women’s Health Initiative Mobile Tour in Northwest as part of Operation Goodwill, Offers Latest Technology in Breast Cancer Imaging

Sound Ford / November 18, 2011 / No comments

• Ford Motor Company Fund is teaming up with Hope Now International to provide free 3D breast ultrasound screening through the Ford Women’s Health Initiative Mobile Breast Imaging Tour

• The mobile testing unit with 3D breast ultrasound screening will travel through the Northwest region starting in October, National Breast Cancer Awareness Month

• This tour is part of Operation Goodwill, an initiative between Ford Fund and Ford and Lincoln area dealers to advance women’s health, teen driving safety, education and community efforts in the Northwest

• Women interested in signing up for the screening should visit www.FordWomensHealth.com or call 855-380-TEST (8378)

SEATTLE, Sept. 2x, 2011 – Ford Motor Company Fund is teaming up with Hope Now International and mobile testing provider HealthFair to offer free advanced mobile breast cancer imaging to women in the Northwest. This tour is the first initiative under Ford Operation Goodwill Northwest, a joint effort with area Ford and Lincoln dealers designed to expand Ford’s engagement with local communities in the region, especially in the areas of women’s health, teen driving safety, education and hunger relief.

“We are committed to helping meet the growing community needs in this region,” said Jim Vella, president, Ford Motor Company Fund and Community Services. “Ford Motor Company has been investing in our communities for decades, and we plan to expand our community engagement efforts in the Northwest.”

The Ford Women’s Health Initiative Mobile Breast Imaging Tour will launch in Seattle in October (National Breast Cancer Awareness Month), and travel throughout the Northwest. The tour will provide women with breast screening using a 40-foot, state-of-the-art mobile coach equipped with the latest technology in 3D breast cancer imaging from HealthFair.

The safe, comfortable ultrasound procedure provides consistent, accurate 3D images, regardless of breast density or implants. More than 40 percent of women have dense breasts, which increases their risk for breast cancer. Working with local health and community organizations, this service will be offered to participating women in need on a free or low-cost basis.

“We’re very pleased to provide this service to our Pacific Northwest community,” said Michael Doherty, chairman of the Northwest Ford Stores group. “Some of our local Ford members have been personally affected by breast cancer, so this effort is important to us.”

According to the Oregon Health Sciences University Knight Cancer Institute, breast cancer is the most common cancer in American women, and – although researchers do not yet know why – the Pacific Northwest has the highest rate of breast cancer in the United States.
While mammograms are instrumental in detecting breast cancer, studies suggest 15.5 million breast cancer cases go undetected or under-diagnosed every year.

 

Ford Motor Company Fund and Community Services works with community partners to advance driving safety, education and American heritage and community life. The Ford Motor Company Fund has operated for more than 60 years with ongoing funding from Ford Motor Company. The award-winning Ford Driving Skills for Life program teaches new drivers through a variety of hands-on and interactive methods. Innovation in education is encouraged through national programs that enhance high school learning and provide college scholarships and university grants. Through the Ford Volunteer Corps, more than 27,000 Ford employees and retirees each year work on projects that better their communities in dozens of countries. For more information, visit http://community.ford.com.

Contact: Ford Motor Company Fund
Jenny Yim-Nordquist
425.939.0960
jenny@directimpactford.com

Category: Featured Vehicles /

Sound Ford / November 17, 2011 / No comments

Media Advisory

For Immediate Release Contact:
November 14, 2011 Candice Schellhase at 425-235-1000
candices@soundford.com

Sound Ford Helps Provide Free Mobile Breast Cancer Imaging Services to Renton, Washington Women
– FREE State-of-the-Art Mobile Testing Offered –

WHO: Sound Ford, Ford Motor Company Fund, Hope Now International and mobile health screening provider, HealthFair

WHAT:

WHEN: Anyone interested in FREE breast cancer detection should visit www.FordWomensHealth.com or call 855-380-TEST (8378).
Appointments are required and space is limited!

Reporters are also invited to participate in the screening.
For a MEDIA imaging appointment, or to schedule an interview, please call Candice Schellhase at 425-235-1000.

Screenings will be available from 9am to 5pm on
Saturday, December 16. APPOINTMENTS ARE REQUIRED.
Media appointments may be scheduled outside those times if available.

WHERE: Sound Collision Center in 750 Rainier Avenue in Renton, WA 98055

DETAILS:
Sound Ford, Ford Motor Company Fund and Hope Now International are teaming up with mobile health screening provider, HealthFair to offer FREE advanced mobile breast detection to women in Renton, Washington.

The Ford Women’s Health Initiative Mobile Breast Imaging Tour launched in in October (National Breast Cancer Awareness Month) and will travel through the Northwest region to offer FREE breast cancer detection services to women in local communities.

The mobile testing unit is a 40-foot, state-of-the-art mobile coach equipped with the latest technology in 3D breast ultrasound. This tour is the first initiative under Ford Operation Goodwill Northwest, a joint effort with area Ford and Lincoln dealers designed to expand Ford’s engagement with local communities
in the region, especially in the areas of women’s health, teen driving safety, education and hunger relief.

Reporters are invited to observe and/or participate in the imaging procedure!
Please see attached press release for more details.

For a MEDIA imaging appointment, or to schedule an interview, please call Candice Schellhase at 425-235-1000.

# # #

Category: Featured Vehicles /

Just What Are Thee Flexi-fuel Logos I Am Seeing On Brand New Cars

Sound Ford / September 23, 2010 / No comments

You may have well noticed logos on new cars and trucks of “Flexifuel” or “Flexi-fuel”.  You may have well wondered what this innovation is.  Is something to increase fuel efficiency?  Is it a means of being able to use regular gasoline instead of high premium test?  The automobile industry has a well deserved record of relaunching and repackaging old products as new and simply applying chrome and simple modifications to previous models and technologies and selling them as new products and innovations.

Flexifuel is new.   A Flexifuel vehicle is a flexible-fuel vehicle (FFV) or a dual-fuel vehicle.   Flexi fuel vehicles may also be called flex-fuel as well.    The Flexi fuel vehicles that you are seeing on American roads are designed to run on ethanol (a type of alcohol), gasoline or any mixture of both.  Cars made previously to 1980 can not tolerate any ethanol at all.  The ethanol played havoc with those cars rubber seals, aluminum and other components of those car models.  Cars made after 1980 onwards could tolerate and run on gasohol – a 10 % mixture of ethanol mixed with 90 % ethanol.

What makes Flexfuel cars different is that they can run on gasoline or ethanol alcohol gasoline percentages up to 85 % ethanol.  That combination of 85 % ethanol with alcohol is commercially sold and referred to as E85 fuel.  No damage of any kind is done to cars certified with the Flexfuel certification when they run ethanol / gasoline combinations or straight gasoline.  Further the owner can switch back and forth without skipping a beat. .

Flexi fuel cars have been used for a number of years in Brazil.  Since the 1980’s and the energy crisis Brazil built up a substantial ethanol industry in tandem with its sugar cane production.  As a result of Flex-fuel automobiles Brazil has substantially reduced its dependence on costly foreign imported oil.  In the United States we take foreign currency for granted.  American dollars a standard in the world.  Everyone wants American dollars.  However I most of the world foreign currency is a country’s most precious commodity.  Without foreign currency – be it dollars , Japanese Yen or The European Union’s Euro a county can not buy essential items to improve their economy and feed their people – whether it be factory tools , tractors, computers or the money to send their students abroad to learn new procedures to improve their society.  As a result of Flexi-fuel gas / ethanol cars Brazil has reduced its dependency on foreign imported oil and saved much precious foreign currencies.

Motorists choose their type and grade of fuel depending on availability or cost or a combination of all the above.   Gasoline can be used by Flex-fuel cars. So can 10 % Gasohol. .  Ethanol / Gasoline fuels can be used all the way up to 85 % ethanol mixed with 15 % gasoline.

There are some disadvantages to Flex-fuel though.  Because the Flexi-fuel engine has to be all things to all kinds of fuel the Flex-fuel vehicle may not be as fuel efficient as a regular gasoline single fuel engine.  Secondly ethanol’s higher volatility means that ethanol mixed with gasoline may actually increase smog which is not a good idea in large urban areas or in areas such as California which rely on a large amount of vehicles with much driving in an automobile culture.

However there are often tax advantages and credits both directly for using ethanol based fuels both for the motorist and the car manufactures in their fleets.

There are currently more than an estimated 4 million flexible-fuel vehicles currently being operated on American roads.  Most of the owner’s of these vehicles have no idea of the capabilities of their engines to accept ethanol based fuels.   In the last number of years many cars had the term Flexi-fuel without even the dealer never mind car owners even knowing what the term meant.  Less expensive ethanol based fuels are not readily available throughout America.   Time and the price and availability of gasoline at the pump for American motorists will change their preferences for Ethanol and Flexi-fuel.

Category: Featured Vehicles / Tags: , , ,

Improve your car’s performance by using dynamometers

Sound Ford / September 23, 2010 / No comments

The dynamometer is a device used to measure mechanical force, power and torque produced by an engine.

Its inventor, Charles Babbage, is also known as the “Father of Computing.

There are basically two types of dynamometers:  the first one is bolted directly to an engine, and it’s called engine dyno, while the second type of dynamometer can measure power and torque without removing the engine from the frame of the vehicle, and it’s known as a chassis dyno.

An engine dynamometer measures power and torque directly from the engine’s crankshaft (or flywheel), when the engine is removed from the vehicle. These dynos don’t take in consideration power losses in the drive train, such as the gearbox, transmission or differential.

A chassis dynamometer measures power from the engine directly through the wheels. The vehicle is parked on rollers and the output is measured. These dynos can be fixed or portable.

The dynamometer works by applying various loads on the engine and by measuring the engine’s ability to move the load. It is connected to a computer which uses mathematics to calculate the output of the engine. The engine is run from idle to its maximum RPM and the output is measured and interpreted on a graphic. Nearly all aspects of engine operation can be measured during a dyno run.

Generally, dynamometers are useful in the development and refinement of modern day engine technology. The concept is to use a dyno to measure and compare power transfer at different points on a vehicle, thus allowing the engine or drive train to be altered, in order to get a more efficient power transfer. For example, if an engine dynamo shows that a particular engine achieves 400 N·m (300 lbf·ft) of torque, and a chassis dynamo shows only 350 N·m (260 lbf·ft), it means that in order to recover the power loss, the drive train should be inspected and improved for maximum efficiency.

Dynamometers are typically expensive pieces of equipment, reserved for certain fields that rely on them for a particular purpose.

They are very handy, as they can diagnose the entire way a car is functioning, but they are sometimes unaffordable.

Category: Featured Vehicles / Tags: , , ,
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