Courtesy of Sound Ford, Renton
Ford and ABC’s “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” are looking for the ultimate community hero. The deadline is May 31. Under the “Heroes F-150 Campaign,” Ford will award a 2009 Ford F-150 and $250,000 to “makeover” a portion of his or her community. The makeover project will be announced in late summer.
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FORD AND ABC’S “EXTREME MAKEOVER: HOME EDITION” SEARCH FOR COMMUNITY HEROES
The latest news and information from Ford courtesy of Sound Ford!
When it comes to summer travel plans, “Many drivers will be wasting fuel—and money—if their tires are under-inflated,” according to David Rohweder, Ford’s tire and wheel expert. “Properly inflated tires play an essential role in enabling vehicles to achieve their best fuel economy.”
In fact, Ford says that keeping tires correctly inflated can reduce fuel costs by 3 to 4 percent, which adds up quickly with today’s high fuel prices. And properly inflated tires are vital to vehicle safety, too, which is another reason to follow the automaker’s recently released tips on the topic.
It all starts with one notable reminder: Even though today’s vehicles are equipped with a tire pressure monitoring system (TPMS), Rohweder points out that watching for a warning light can’t replace proper tire maintenance. So Ford recommends checking all of a vehicle’s tires—including the spare—at least once a month, using a digital tire-inflation gauge that is accurate to .5 pounds per square inch (PSI). In addition:
And remember, for more information on taking care of your tires, be sure to check your vehicle’s owner’s guide.
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DEARBORN, Mich., Nov. 5, 2010 – The rant continues. And so does Ford’s truck leadership. Since introducing the pull-no-punches advertising campaign two years ago, F-Series pickups have continued to lead the segment in capability, durability, fuel economy – and sales.
F-Series is the industry’s first vehicle to top sales of 400,000 units for the year with nearly 434,920 trucks sold.
Now comes the new F-150’s television and print advertising campaign for the 2011 F-150 with an updated version of a highly successful style.
“The 2011 Ford F-150 is the ‘truck of the future’ with four new powertrains – each delivering an unmatched combination of power, performance and fuel economy – and we have a breakthrough marketing campaign that continues to resonate with truck buyers and separates us from the competition,” said Doug Scott, Ford Truck Group Marketing manager.
In researching the effectiveness of automotive advertising campaigns, Nielsen IAG found that in the past two years the F-150 brand has become more recognizable as a result of the “rant” ads – 72 percent vs. the industry average of 63 percent.
“The consistent use of the rant campaign since 2008 has allowed television viewers to closely associate these ads with Ford brand trucks,” said Eric Swanson, vice president, Nielsen Automotive. “These same viewers have told us they feel the ads are clever, unique and informative. In a television advertising environment that is full of clutter it’s critical to stand out from the crowd. Ford’s truck ads definitely do that.”
The new 30-second television spots – which begin airing Nov. 6 – are an evolution of the tell-it-like-is style that Ford introduced with the 2009 F-150 and continued with 2011 Super Duty. The style since has been imitated by other companies.
An excerpt from one of the ads follows:
Hey, here’s a little good news. If you want decent mileage in a pick-up, you don’t have to order your engine off the kiddie menu anymore. Say hello to variable cam timing, direct injection and piston cooling jets. Yeah. The engineers at Ford have been busy. They’ve got four – count ‘em four – all new truck engines for the 2011 F-150 to give you the most power, the most towing AND the best fuel economy. Now that’s tasty. This is the future. This is the new F-150.
“It starts with great product that the advertising supports,” said Eric Peterson, Ford advertising manager. “Ford continues to take the lead in innovation – bringing out new products and solutions – and we are evolving our campaign to ensure that message is received.”
The ads focus on the “no compromise” theme: with the 2011 F-150 and its four new powertrain options, the customer doesn’t have to choose between capability and fuel economy. Now, the customer can have both.
Print ads echoing the message in the television spots began running this week in high circulation publications such as Sports Illustrated, Road & Track, Field & Stream and Popular Mechanics.
Featured is the 2011 Ford F-150 with EcoBoost™, Ford’s first truck application of its award-winning EcoBoost engine, specially tuned and calibrated for the F-150. It employs turbocharging and direct fuel injection to produce power seen in larger, naturally aspirated engines with the fuel economy seen in smaller engines. Current EcoBoost engines deliver fuel economy gains of up to 20 percent compared with larger engines with similar power.
In a separate, but related, EcoBoost truck marketing campaign, Ford is presenting a series of online documentaries called “Torture Test” to prove out the new truck engine.
The series begins with a randomly selected engine from the Cleveland Engine Plant going through a variety of extreme laboratory and on-road tests. Among the tests the EcoBoost-powered truck performs: hauling tons of timber in the Northwest, towing an 11,000 lb. trailer at top speeds at the Homestead-Miami Speedway and competing head-to-head with competitive trucks towing 9,000 lbs. on steep grades at Davis Dam, Nevada.
The” Torture Test” series ends with the engine being pulled from the F-150 and installed in an off-road racing truck to compete in the Baja 1000 on Nov. 18. The episodes can be viewed as they are completed atwww.fordvehicles.com/trucks.
Ford also continues another unique marketing approach it introduced with the launch of the 2010 Transit Connect: taking the vehicle directly to the customer. A fleet of F-150 EcoBoost trucks will begin a tour of 50 cities in mid-November and run through February. Consumers can sign-up for a drive when the tour comes to their city by registering at www.drivef150ecoboost.com.
Ford reaches out to truck customers via social media as well. The Ford Truck Facebook page has some 100,000 fans. Go to www.facebook.com/fordtrucks.
In October, Ford truck sales totaled 49,041, up 24 percent over a year ago. Ford has the largest share of the light- and heavy-duty truck market in North America – 39 percent, which is up 3.5 percentage points over last year.
F-Series has been the best-selling truck in America for 33 straight years and the best-selling vehicle for 28 years. The new 2011 Ford F-150 goes on sale later this year.
This week it’s time for something different. Unless you’ve spent time on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, anyway, in which case the Ford Transit Connect will likely be familiar. The Transit Connect is Ford’s entry in the European small van class, and the first such vehicle to make it to the U.S.
It’s being marketed as a small commercial vehicle, a solution to the needs of businesses or entrepreneurs for whom the current alternatives, a minivan, an SUV, or a small pickup with a shell, don’t quite work. Small package delivery, pet grooming, florist delivery or plant maintenance, cleaning service, mobile bicycle shop, taxi… if a (now not-so) minivan is too dedicated to passenger use, as almost all are, and ditto for SUVs and especially crossovers, and a pickup with a shell
is inconvenient, the Transit Connect is in a class of one. In the U.S., anyway.
Two slightly different versions of the Transit Connect are offered, van and wagon. The difference? The van has seating for two only, with a longer, flat, load floor behind. Its dual sliding doors are windowless, for better cargo security, with windows optional. The wagon has a two- or three-place rear seat, a consequently shorter load floor, and windows in the sliding doors. Both have the same low, less than two-foot, floor load height for easy loading, and the same high double rear doors, which open 180 degrees in standard form or optionally can fold back 255 degrees for easy access.
While the Transit Connect is primarily a commercial vehicle, it can also fit personal-use needs. I’m thinking of the “active lifestyle” people that marketing types target for SUVs or crossovers, but who are more likely to spend their money on their avocation than on a vehicle filled with frills and features. And who are likely to get the inside of the vehicle dirty on a regular basis, a problem with upscale leather and carpeting. A Transit Connect can hold a lot of camping or climbing or rafting or fishing gear. The wagon version that was my test vehicle was marginally short for bicycles (I tried) unless the front wheel is removed. The van’s six-foot load length wins out there, although that’s still too short for motorcycles, except maybe small-displacement vintage bikes.
Trim levels for both the van and wagon are XL and XLT, basic and less so. The major difference in equipment between the van and wagon is that the wagon has Ford’s AdvanceTrac® with RSC® electronic stability control system.
Drivetrain choice is easy — a 2.0-liter, 136-horsepower four-cylinder matched to a four-speed automatic, driving the front wheels. If that sounds anemic for a 3500-pound vehicle, it’s not. Acceleration is no problem, and the EPA mileage estimates — 22/25 — appear to be accurate.
The Transit Connect available here is the same one that is sold in the rest of the world, built in the same factory in Kocaeli, Turkey. The XLT wagon with which I’ve spent the past week was as comfortable as any typical compact or subcompact sedan, but with far more room. Performance and fuel economy were comparable to any small crossover, but none of those compare for interior space and access. Options available from Ford include a sonar backup sensor and in-dash computer, both fitted to my test vehicle, and tool-tracking software available in the van. With its excellent space utilization and good fuel efficiency and the multitude of possible interior configurations, the Ford Transit Connect is a vehicle of many uses. And more are to come, with battery-electric and natural gas powered variants planned for 2011.
APPEARANCE: Form follows function, and the Transit Connect is pure function. If it looks like a small version of the Mercedes-Benz/Freightliner/Dodge Sprinter, blame convergent evolution driven by space efficiency and aerodynamics. Short, narrow, and high is the way to interior space in crowded European and Asian cities. Clean aerodynamics not only contribute to fuel efficiency, but also to stability in strong winds. I encountered some of that during my driving, and was pleasantly surprised to find that the Transit Connect was less affected than many sedans.
COMFORT: This is an honest working-class utility vehicle
, so the interior is plain and functional. There is less (weight-adding, so performance- and mileage-decreasing) soundproofing than in even a low-budget subcompact, with most of the shell bare inside, but road, engine, and wind noise levels are comparable to a small sedan’s. All models get a six-way manually-adjustable driver’s and four-way front passenger seats, with firm European-spec padding for good comfort. Interior materials are plastic, with synthetic cloth upholstery. XLTs get power windows, mirrors, and locks with a remote fob. There are key locks for the hood and gas cap. In most vehicles, “overhead console” means a small storage space for sunglasses. Here it means a large tray above the windshield, with a net to keep objects in place. The instrument panel presents all necessary information well, including miles to empty, and the center console is basic, with two cupholders and some open storage. Headroom is absolutely not a concern. Nor is legroom, even in the rear, which in the XLT wagon is a 60/40 flip and fold bench. Access via the large sliding doors is easy. They should also help to position cargo loaded from the rear. With 78 cubic feet of cargo volume, the wagon is surpassed only by the van’s 135. Maximum payload is 1600 lbs.
SAFETY: The 2010 Ford Transit Connect has front and front-seat side airbags, four-wheel antilock brakes (disc/drum), and a tire-pressure monitoring system. XLT wagons have the AdvanceTrac® with RSC® (Roll stability Control) electronic stability control system.
RIDE AND HANDLING: It’s a commercial vehicle, but that doesn’t prevent the Transit Connect from having the driving qualities of a comparably-sized car. While the MacPherson strut front, leaf-sprung solid axle rear suspension is meant for cargo hauling, the ride quality is more “car” than “pickup truck”, with good compliance and no jarring. Moderately-weighted power steering and a tight 39-foot turning circle and short overall length mean that the Transit Connect is easy to maneuver in tight urban parking situations, and can go where larger vans can’t.
PERFORMANCE: One might expect that a 136 horsepower engine in a 3500-pound vehicle would be the formula for “slow”. One would be wrong. No, it’s not a Ford GT when called upon to merge into traffic, but the Transit Connect holds its own. It cruises happily at 65-70 on the highway, and doesn’t impede traffic getting there. The venerable “Duratec” alloy twincam four-cylinder engine makes its 136 horsepower at 6300 rpm, with 128 lb-ft of torque at 4750, but there is ample torque at lower revs. With five-speed transmissions common in cars, the four-speed automatic may seem lacking. On paper, maybe. It works just fine. A wide spread of gear ratios, with a low low and overdrive fourth, and a 4.20:1 final drive ratio mean competent acceleration and good highway mileage. In a week with more highway driving than usual, I averaged 24 mpg – and most of those highway miles were at 70 mph — life in the slow lane on I5… I’d love to see a small turbodiesel under the bonnet, er, hood.
CONCLUSIONS: Ford explores new market space with the Transit Connect.
Pickups are the automotive landscape for bragging rights, best-in-class superlatives, and sales volume. The Ford F-150 has often enjoyed bragging rights and is generally the single best-selling vehicle nameplate in the world.
Completely redesigned, the new 2009 Ford F-150 lineup aims to keep it that way.
The 2009 Ford F-150 lineup offers a plethora of models for virtually every occasion or occupation, starting at just more than $20,000 and climbing well beyond double that. The F-150 line offers something on the order of 65 permutations, more than many car companies’ entire lineups. All are capable of work or play, even those models with luxurious interiors.
Three V8 engines of two sizes are offered, including a flex-fuel unit that will run on E85 (ethanol). All models use an automatic transmission of four or six speeds, and the majority are available with rear- or four-wheel drive. One exception: The FX off-road package is available only with 4WD V8 models.
The F-150 lineup runs the gamut from wash-off vinyl flooring and a two-door Regular Cab to leather-lined premium four-door models with as much rear seat legroom as the front of most luxury sedans: Within those extremes lies something for everyone. Yet even the least-expensive F-150 isn’t boring; it leaves room for customization, does the work required and keeps overhead down.
2009 marks the introduction of the Platinum model, a further step up in fancy from the Lariat or King Ranch choices and bringing the total variety count to seven. Although that makes the total number of builds and choices mind-boggling, believe it or not it has been simplified.
With one of the deepest beds in the half-ton pickup segment, the F-150 has generous cargo volume out back and a maximum payload rating of 3,030 pounds. A properly equipped Regular Cab F-150 is rated to tow up to 11,300 pounds; other models max out in the 9000-pound range.
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