BUSINESS
January 12, 2010 | By Jerry Hirsch
Ford Motor Co. unveiled what it boasted was a "world-beating" next-generation Ford Focus at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit on Monday and announced its intentions to sell an all-electric version of the vehicle starting next year. The company said the electric version of the Focus would be built at a factory in Michigan that previously manufactured sport utility vehicles, which Ford President of the Americas Mark Fields observed was an example of how quickly the auto industry and consumer tastes were shifting.
NEWS
January 19, 2000 | RALPH VARTABEDIAN, TIMES STAFF WRITER
Ford Motor Co.'s 3.8-liter V-6 engine has been a modern-day workhorse, used in such popular vehicles as the Ford Taurus and Mercury Sable mid-size sedans, the Ford Windstar minivan and the Lincoln Continental luxury car. But many mechanical experts and consumer advocates say it is troubled by a major defect. Failure of the engine's head gasket is so common that many independent garages are doing a booming business replacing it.
BUSINESS
April 8, 1999 | JOHN O'DELL, TIMES STAFF WRITER
Ford Motor Co. rules the sport-utility and light-truck markets in the United States but has stumbled in the luxury-car arena, letting its Lincoln division suffer with stodgy, outdated cars that appeal mostly to the over-60 crowd. Now, in what it says is the most expensive product launch campaign in its history, the company is taking aim at that profitable luxury market with the Lincoln LS.
BUSINESS
January 8, 2010 | By Alex Pham and Ken Bensinger
Need a billion-dollar corporate turnaround? There's an app for that. Hitching a ride with the fast-paced Internet and consumer electronics industry, Ford Motor Co. on Thursday unveiled new features for its Sync in-car technology designed to turbocharge the company's financial turnaround and create Ford's image as the Apple Inc. of the car industry. At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Ford Chief Executive Alan Mulally showed off how consumers could soon catch up on Twitter, listen to Internet radio, check movie times and get free maps with turn-by-turn directions, using Sync's voice commands or 8-inch color touch-screen in the dashboard, in Ford's spring lineup of cars.
BUSINESS
August 15, 2006 | John O'Dell, Times Staff Writer
Ford Motor Co. wants to reduce its dealership network in the United States, particularly in major metropolitan areas such as Southern California, to allow the survivors to improve profits as the company battles to reverse a decade of slumping sales. The plan, outlined to dealers at a meeting in Las Vegas last week, will be "voluntary and collaborative," Ford spokesman Jim Cain said Monday. Details have not been announced. For Dearborn, Mich.
BUSINESS
August 24, 2006 | John O'Dell
Ford Motor Co. said it would offer no-interest loans of as long as 72 months to help clear its inventory of 2006 model year cars and trucks as next year's models begin to arrive. In a move that could reignite the incentive wars that boosted sales but slashed profits for U.S. automakers last summer, Ford said the interest-free loans would be available on purchases through Sept. 5.
BUSINESS
January 29, 2010 | By Jerry Hirsch
Ford Motor Co. posted a profit of $2.7 billion for 2009, a dramatic turnaround for the company, which weathered one of the worst years in the history of the automotive industry in comparatively good health. Separately, Ford confirmed it had stopped making a limited-production commercial van in China because the vehicle contained gas pedals that were similar in design to the component involved in Toyota Motor Corp.'s massive recall. Under some conditions, the pedal can cause unintended acceleration in a vehicle, according to Toyota.
NEWS
May 3, 2000 | RALPH VARTABEDIAN, TIMES STAFF WRITER
Ford Motor Co., recognizing the extent of consumer outrage over the defective 3.8-liter V-6 engine in a wide range of its vehicles, took another major step last week toward extending warranty coverage to owners saddled with costly blown head gaskets. The world's No. 2 auto maker said it would cover repairs on the engines of 300,000 additional vehicles, going back to 1994 and 1995 model years. The action marks the third time Ford has expanded warranty coverage for the 3.
BUSINESS
December 24, 2009 | By Martin Zimmerman and Ken Bensinger
Ford Motor Co. may pull off a feat its crosstown rival hasn't been able to manage: the successful sale of a Swedish car company. Ford is close to selling its Volvo brand to Chinese automaker Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co., the Dearborn, Mich.-based car maker said Wednesday. The companies have worked out "all substantive commercial terms" related to Volvo, Ford said, and the deal could be completed by the end of the second quarter of 2010. The automakers still need to work out financing and government approvals, however.
BUSINESS
January 24, 2004 | John O'Dell, Times Staff Writer
Japanese giant Toyota Motor Corp. sped past American corporate icon Ford Motor Co. last year to become the world's second-biggest car company, according to sales figures released Friday. The ascension marks a major milestone for Toyota, which began as a small weaving factory in 1918, didn't produce its first vehicle until 1935 and as recently as 1966 sold a mere 20,000 cars and trucks in the crucial U.S. auto market.