There were 23 vehicles that showed some improvement in the U.S. But eventually only one was worthy of being crowned the 2010 Car of the Year by Motor Trend. And the lucky car that came out of it all was the new and improved Ford Fusion. Just in case you didn’t know yet, the Ford Fusion practically has one model to suit the motorist’s taste. This includes being an entry level car, hybrid vehicle or a luxury sports car. In short, the flexibility of the Ford Fusion is what makes it perhaps an ideal vehicle to consider buying. So if you want to be safe, take it from the experts. The Ford Fusion is the car to have regardless of what you are looking for in one.

(Source) Market Wire

Tags: car of the year, flexibility, Ford, ford fusion, hybrid vehicle, luxury sports car, motor trend, source market

Ford has recently announced that it plans to build a Police Interceptor. It will arrive in 2011, and will be based on the rear-drive Australian-market Ford Falcon that you see here. Full specs of the vehicle will be disclosed in 2010, but it was quite a surprise that it was announced in the first place.

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For the people who are collecting vintage cars, here is one you should check out. A 1964 Ford Mustang convertible has been spotted at eBay and is up for auction. Considered an icon since it broke into the automotive scene, this is believed to be one of the very first Mustangs produced and sold to the public 45 years ago. The asking price for this well-maintained 1964 Mustang is $5.5 million a price that only car addicts are bound to afford.

(Source) Bornrich

Tags: 45 years, 5 million, asking price, auction, eBay, Ford, ford mustang, ford mustang convertible, mustangs, vintage cars

Did you ever wonder if all those video game driving games actually help you drive better in real life? So have I. As it so happens Mustang’s “Unleashed” campaign set up four gamers of the Need for Speed SHIFT on a real 2010 Ford Mustang. Want to know how they fared? They gamed better. Do I need to say more?

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What you are seeing here is the inflatable seatbelt. As you might have guessed, these seatbelts inflate like an airbag in case of an accident, in order to protect the user from head, chest, and neck injuries.

These inflatable seatbelts are also something that Ford is planning to put on all their newest models, starting with the 2010 Ford Explorer. I suppose we will have to wait to see if it becomes an industry standard.

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Not only did Ford display a 5.4 V8 SVT Raptor at SEMA, but they went so far as introducing a 6.2 liter V8. This 6.2 version of the Raptor could be the “most capable off-roading production truck ever built”. It goes from 0 to 60 in less than seven seconds, and it has 411 horsepower and 434 pound per foot torque. The cost of the 6.2 Raptor will be at $41,995, which is $3,000 more than the 5.4 V8.

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Okay, I will admit that the whole (Insert adjective here). (Insert noun here). Ever. conceit has been done to death, but how else do you describe this Dunkel Industries 4×4?

This guy is a ginormous 32 feet long, and is built on a Ford F-650/F-750 chassis. I believe it is designed to tow the space shuttle to the launch pad, of course.

I can’t imagine what it costs, but it’s easy to see why it is outside the SEMA auto show.

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And the answer to the big question above?  Chrysler.

Ouch.

See, this is doubly unnerving after discovering that, yesterday, they were still trying to get a cohesive corporate strategy together and won’t actually have one until sometime later today.  Or at least not one they want to tell their franchisees about, who are probably all looking at this news with a kind of confused rage and just longing to scream various epithets at anyone who’s in charge over there.

Chrysler needs a comeback, plain and simple.  So what they’ve got to do is offer stuff you can’t get anywhere else.  Frankly, I have a hard time imagining just what it is they CAN do.  I drive a Chevy, myself, a wonderful if aging Monte Carlo, and my folks drive Ford Explorers.  There’s not a whole lot of taste issues as I’m considering switching to a pickup fairly soon anyway, and chances are I will go either Ford or Chevy.

Chrysler needs to get some new and interesting product, or it doesn’t matter how many bailouts it gets–it’s still done for.

Tags: Business, Chrysler, Ford, GM, improvement, lagging, Toyota

We’ve seen several vehicles come out of high profile tuning garages lately, namely John Hennessey’s, but Roush engineering has brought something a bit different to the table; a propane powered Mustang drag racer.

The beastly 5.4-liter V8 engine based on the Ford GT engine powering this thing is capable of over 600hp all thanks to propane power.

The racer isn’t actually done yet but they plan on having it ready to race in the 2010 NMRA competition. However, we will get a glimpse of it sometime this week during the SEMA show, but that car will be based on a 2005 Mustang, not a 2010.

Tags: fort gt, Mustang, nmra, roush engineering, SEMA

That’s right, twenty million dollars in tax credits went from the beleaguered former auto giant state into the hands of a US-French partnership set up to build lithium-ion batteries for Ford.

The twenty million in tax credits will be handed out over the course of three years to Johnson Controls, a subsidiary of Parisian firm Saft Advanced Power Solutions.

But this cash isn’t just going to be lost–Saft et al intend to invest about eleven times that figure in the state and add just under eleven hundred jobs to the sagging state of Michigan by hiring at a plant in Holland.

Electric batteries, folks…seems more and more we’re getting away from the gas car and getting closer to a day without gas.  Hopefully, also, we won’t be surrendering a speed anywhere near fifty five miles per hour, either.

Tags: Ford, johnson controls, Paris, saft, us-french partnership

Conan O’Brien has driven a Ford Taurus SHO for years and has made it a point to put a spotlight on it.

So why shouldn’t the new Ford Taurus SHO appear on the Tonight Show? I can’t think of any reason except because it can. There’s a sneak preview of it in the photo, and you can catch it tonight at 11:30PM on NBC.

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Popular Mechanics just loves to spotlight the best in consumer electronics, and they recently selected their best of cars, trucks, and SUVs. PM has a list of vehicles that has many categories, including the most off-road capable. Should anyone be surprised that the winner was the Ford F-150 SVT Raptor?

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Take a gander at the Loder1899 Ford Focus RS. It’s name is still pretty odd, to say the least, but it does have a 2.5-liter, five cylinder engine as well as 345 horsepower. All that is good for 0-100 km/hr in about 5.9 seconds.

Man, what I would give to go behind the wheel of this bad boy.

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These photos of the new Saleen S281 that have been dominating the Saleen’s Flickr page. Clearly, you have to be pleased with them, and love this cherry red car for what it is. You’ve got to love it, and if you want to see it for yourself, you should go to SEMA this year.

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I’m sure you are quite familiar with Mythbusters, the show where Adam and Jamie try to prove something, usually by blowing something up. This time, they were trying to prove that covering a car with golf ball-like dimples gives a car better gas mileage. I honestly don’t remember that being a myth per se, but their Ford Taurus with dimpled modeling clay achieved a better gas mileage by 3 miles per gallon. Not bad.

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