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Ford Grows Third Quarter Sales in Europe, Driven by Popularity of Focus, Kuga and EcoSport

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Ford Grows Third Quarter Sales in Europe, Driven by Popularity of Focus, Kuga and EcoSport

“Overall Ford vehicle sales and market share grew in the third quarter to their highest levels since 2016. Customers continue to appreciate the versatility and capability of Ford utility vehicles, including Kuga, EcoSport and Edge.”

Roelant de Waard, Vice President, Marketing, Sales and Service, Ford of Europe

About Ford Motor Company

Ford Motor Company is a global company based in Dearborn, Michigan. The company designs, manufactures, markets and services a full line of Ford cars, trucks, SUVs, electrified vehicles and Lincoln luxury vehicles, provides financial services through Ford Motor Credit Company and is pursuing leadership positions in electrification, autonomous vehicles and mobility solutions. Ford employs approximately 194,000 people worldwide. For more information regarding Ford, its products and Ford Motor Credit Company..

Ford generates headlines with proactive EV charging strategy

Ford is currently selling only one plug-in vehicle, the Fusion Plug-in Hybrid (formerly the Fusion Energi). The company’s Focus Electric and C-MAX Energi seem to have been swept away in the recent sedan massacre. However, the company is planning to introduce a “Mustang-inspired electric crossover” in 2020, and is working on an electric pickup truck.… Continue reading Ford generates headlines with proactive EV charging strategy

Ford Pilots Blockchain In PHEVs To Keep Zero-Emission Data Secure

10 Transit Custom/ Tourneo Custom will be tested in Cologne over 12 months. This month, Ford expanded its trial program of the Transit Custom Plug-in Hybrid and Tourneo Custom Plug-in Hybrid to Cologne, Germany (on top of London and Valencia, Spain) where tests will include also a new approach to zero-emission geofencing. The plug-in hybrid is… Continue reading Ford Pilots Blockchain In PHEVs To Keep Zero-Emission Data Secure

Letting Our Customers Lead — How Ford Is Building a Successful, Sustainable, Scalable Self-Driving…

By Jim Farley, President, New Business, Technology and Strategy, Ford Motor Company Six months ago, I took on a brand new role at Ford dedicated entirely to preparing the company for the future and unlocking the unique opportunities we will have to serve customers. As part of this role, I work with the teams focused… Continue reading Letting Our Customers Lead — How Ford Is Building a Successful, Sustainable, Scalable Self-Driving…

Introducing Lidar Larry, The Crash Test Genius

Introducing Lidar Larry, The Crash Test GeniusOctober 21, 2019|In Blog|By Velodyne LiDAR

Original interview courtesy of Landis Communications Inc.

Sean Dowdall recently met Lidar Larry at the second annual World Safety Summit on Autonomous Technology on October 2nd, 2019 held at Levy’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California. Unlike his crash test dummy relatives, Lidar Larry has chosen a smarter path in life, testing autonomous vehicles!

Sean: Lidar Larry, it was nice meeting you at the World Safety Summit. Tell me all about the Summit.

Lidar Larry: The World Safety Summit is all about mobility safety. It is a gathering of experts, influencers and everyone who is interested in making autonomous vehicles commonplace.

Sean: This was your debut? How was it?

Lidar Larry: Wonderful! My short documentary premiered. It’s all about me. You can see it here. My agent at Einstein Entertainment Enterprises E3 (fake name), should promote it for an Academy Award. Lidar Larry with an Oscar!

Sean: So, why are you called the Crash Test Genius?

Lidar Larry: My family owns a crash test business. It is a huge success and it has passed down through a lot of generations of dummies over the last 70 years. As for me, I’m the genius in the family. I’m a true believer in technology and the future. I only crash test autonomous vehicles. I’ve never had an incident and here I am today without a scratch.

Sean: Tell me more about the Summit. Who was there?

Lidar Larry: Oh, everybody who is an anybody in the autonomous vehicle world. There were speakers and panelists from Aurora Innovation, Partners for Automated Vehicle Education (PAVE), Mothers Against Drunk Driving, Cruise, Intel, SAE International, Ford Motor, Zoox, Mothers Against Drunk Driving, AARP, the National Transportation Safety Board, NVIDIA, Princeton Autonomous Vehicle Engineering, CA DMV, Consumer Reports, the Center for Automotive Research. I could go on and on but I’m going to have to figure out how to thank everybody quickly when I give my Oscar acceptance speech.

Sean: What were your favorite moments at the Safety Summit?

Lidar Larry: I have to tell you that I made some new friends. The first is one who really knows how to clean things up. Idriverplus is an autonomous street sweeper – so full of energy and never complains. Another friend knows how to help make our fruits and nuts better. That’s GUSS, an autonomous orchard sprayer that does the job more safely than traditional sprayers.

Sean: Did you have to work?

Lidar Larry: Work? No, I had a great time riding in the demonstration vehicles. Summit attendees, including many area college students, got to ride in vehicles by AutonomouStuff, Dataspeed, Schaeffler-Paravan SpaceDrive and Velodyne.

Sean: Where will we see you next?

Lidar Larry: You never know. I do like to crash parties. Follow Velodyne on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and YouTube to find out where I’ll be next.

Sean: Is there anything else you’d like to say?

Lidar Larry: I’d like to thank Velodyne Lidar and Carlstrom Productions for making my documentary and bringing me to life. And, I’d like to thank in advance, the members of the Academy for voting for me. Go autonomous vehicles!

For Velodyne products click HERE.

The Gaydon Triangle: Inside Jaguar Land Rover’s tech HQ

At the centre’s opening, Speth told Autocar that the base would “orchestrate all global engineering sites of Jaguar and Land Rover across the world – from China, Hungary, India, Ireland, Slovakia to the USA. For the first time,” he declared, “we can co-locate the essential divisions of the comprehensive product creation process with critical manpower… Continue reading The Gaydon Triangle: Inside Jaguar Land Rover’s tech HQ

Tesla is barring customers from buying the same version of the model they returned for 12 months (TSLA)

Tesla customers who return their vehicle will not be able to order an identical vehicle for a year, the electric-car maker said in a recent addition to its return policy. Tesla has also replaced a $2,500 refundable order fee with a nonrefundable $100 one. The changes are significant because Tesla customers have complained about quality… Continue reading Tesla is barring customers from buying the same version of the model they returned for 12 months (TSLA)

Lincoln’s Corsair feels like Navigator luxury in a smaller package

Sponsored Links Lincoln’s goal of filling its lineup with luxury SUVs continues. With the Corsair (starting at $36,940, it’s the newest and tiniest SUV in the automaker’s lineup), Lincoln has entered the small SUV market as a vehicle that cares more about the occupants being comfortable than trying to be sporting. Gallery: 2020 Lincoln Corsair… Continue reading Lincoln’s Corsair feels like Navigator luxury in a smaller package

A Strategic Alliance

Newsroom/Stories/A Strategic Alliance

A Strategic Alliance

alued at Rs 1,925 crore, the new partnership between M&M and Ford Motor Company will drive enhanced competitiveness through greater economies of scale across the automotive value chain, including optimized sourcing, product development, use of relevant technologies and building a global network. The partnership will also allow Ford and Mahindra to offer new products to customers faster and deliver profitable growth to both companies.

On this profitable partnership, Anand Mahindra, Chairman, Mahindra Group, said, “Mahindra and Ford together is a testament of cooperation and mutual respect between the two companies. Our combined strengths – Mahindra’s expertise in value-focused engineering and its successful operating model, and Ford’s technical expertise – global reach and access to future technology – are a potent recipe for success. At its core, the partnership will be driven by shared values of both companies, which are focused on caring for our customers, associates, and our communities.”

Adding to this, Jim Hackett, President and CEO, Ford Motor Company, said, “At Ford, our purpose of 116 years has always been to drive human progress, and that won’t change. To continue to do that, we need to evolve with new and faster ways of not only delighting our customers around the world, but also solve the very different needs. Strong alliances like this, play an important role in assuring we continue to achieve our vision, while at the same time, staying competitive and delivering value to our global stakeholders.”

While, this isn’t the first time that M&M and American multinational automaker, Ford Motor Company have joined hands, (the two auto giants had announced a strategic alliance in September 2017, followed by a declaration regarding powertrain sharing and connected car solutions in October 2018), this new joint venture is expected to achieve enhanced efficiencies to strengthen the Ford brand in India. In addition, this partnership will also be a catalyst for growth for the Ford and Mahindra brands in emerging markets, which are presently growing at double the rate of the global industry. Dr Pawan Goenka, Managing Director, M&M, said, “The joint venture will have a distinct product portfolio with shared platforms and powertrains, the newest technology, high quality and engineering standards from both Mahindra and Ford at optimized costs. This winning combination will enable the JV to successfully position its vehicles in India, as well as unlock the potential of other highly competitive emerging markets.”

With the signing of the new definitive agreement, Ford and M&M have decided on the following –

The two companies will jointly develop, market and distribute Ford branded vehicles in India, as well as distribute both Ford and Mahindra branded vehicles in high-growth emerging markets around the world
Mahindra will own 51% controlling stake, while Ford will own 49% stake
Ford will transfer its India operations under the joint venture to M&M, including their personnel and assembly plants in Chennai and Sanand, Gujarat. However, Ford will retain the Ford engine plant operations in Sanand, as well as their Global Business Services unit, Ford Credit and Ford Smart Mobility
The JV will be operationally managed by Mahindra, and its governance will be equally managed by representatives of both the companies
The partnership will be responsible for growing the Ford brand in India and exporting its products to Ford entities globally
Ford and Mahindra will jointly introduce three new utility vehicles under the Ford brand, beginning with a new mid-size SUV, that will have a common Mahindra product platform and powertrain
Mahindra and Ford will collaborate to develop electric vehicles to support the growth of sustainable mobility across emerging markets
Greater economies of scale will be driven across the automotive value chain, including sourcing, product development and access to relevant technologies
The partnership will use the Ford brand distribution network in emerging markets to extend support for the export of Mahindra products, in addition to Ford branded vehicles
Ford’s newly established International Markets Group (IMG) business unit will play a key role in the process
In addition to Ford Ranger and the US import businesses in IMG, the partnership will add to IMG’s portfolio vehicles specifically tailored for emerging markets
Under the new structure, Ford will continue its support for all Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives

Jim Farley, President, Ford New Businesses, Technology & Strategy, said, “The creation of this JV is a pivotal moment in both our companies’ histories. Strong alliances such as this, will play a crucial role for Ford to profitably compete in the high-volume, affordable vehicle segments which are so popular with our diverse customer base. By combining our respective talents, we will offer more vehicles to customers in more places than ever before, and deliver profitable growth to both Ford and Mahindra.”

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Volvo is paying plug-in hybrid drivers for all the electricity they use

As Volvo sees it, plug-in hybrids are the path toward achieving one of its high-aiming carbon-reduction goals—making fully electric cars half of its sales by 2025. To do so, the automaker plans to nudge its portion of PHEVs in the U.S. over the next 16 months, to 20 percent, up from about 4 percent today.

But it also knows that plug-in hybrids only serve their purpose (including as segue ways to all-electric) when drivers of PHEVs actually plug in. That’s the onus behind an unusual new program announced by Volvo Wednesday.

The gist of it: Volvo will cut owners a check at the end of one year based on how much they’ve been plugging in.

Using the vehicles’ On Call capabilities—no additional subscription required—Volvo will see how many kilowatt-hours of electricity the vehicle has used. The company will simply take that number and multiply it by the national-average price per kilowatt-hour, to arrive at the amount paid back to the owner.

2018 Volvo XC60 T8

Volvo is aware that buyers with cheap electricity are going to make money from the program, while those with particularly expensive residential electricity aren’t going to recoup all of their charging costs. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the national-average price of residential electricity is 13.27 cents per kilowatt-hour. If 8.0 kwh is now usable (the usable capacity in Volvo’s latest XC90 T8 plug-in hybrid), and owners are able to plug in twice a day, that’s potentially about $773 for the year.

The company currently isn’t actually able yet to read cumulative vehicle power used via On Call, but it will be sometime next spring. Starting at that time, and including all the vehicles going back to October 1, new plug-in hybrid models will be included in the program on a rolling basis.

So far the figure Volvo does have is one based on drive time. It’s found that globally customers are using plug-in electricity 41.4 percent of the time.

2018 Volvo XC60 T8 R-Design with Polestar optimization

In studying some of the first buyers of Ford’s Energi plug-in hybrid products, in 2013, Ford found that drivers were covering more than 60 percent of their overall mileage on plug-in electricity. Those were early adopters and particularly eager to plug-in whenever possible, but other studies have suggested that buyers of luxury-brand PHEVs aren’t plugging in as often.

With Volvo incentivizing plugging in, instead of the vehicle itself, it might be able to boost the demand for the vehicles in a way that can help dealerships sell the idea, without going down a slippery slope with high incentives, bruised residuals, and an artificial market.

As Volvo looks toward electric—starting with the 2021 XC40 Recharge—it’s one way it can potentially sell drivers on it, too, and reward them for making a habit of plugging in.