The people involved are NOT actors, and yes, it IS that cold and snowy in Michigan right now.
Welcome to Gladwin, Michigan, folks–home of the two season year. Namely, winter and road construction. Sorry, old Michigan joke there, but the video you’re about to see today is none other than recent Ford convert and Hitler annoyance Ken Block, tearing through the ice and snow of Gladwin in his Ford Fiesta. Locked in sixth gear, he’s going to do some absolutely amazing things in this vehicle.
This is all being done in advance of Block’s first race with the Ford Fiesta, in the Rally America series.
Needless to say, most of us here in Michigan wouldn’t dream of driving like that down our ice-slick roads, but that’s what separates rally drivers like Ken Block from the rest of us on our way to the grocery store for hot chocolate and popcorn. So enjoy the video, because it really is something else.
If you’re not quite as upset about Ken Block’s recent defection to Ford as Hitler was, then you’ll likely be interested in the following video putting Ken Block’s Ford Fiesta on special display, as well as telling us about the upcoming Monster World Rally Team’s racing schedule.
And although this particular installment is little more than a commercial showing off Block’s various sponsors–everybody from DC comics to Pirelli is represented here–his Ford Fiesta is indeed looking well cared for in advance of the new season.
This video, and those like it, do make me wonder why Block would decide to leave Subaru for Ford in the first place. Is it some desire to “drive American”, especially following the near c0llapse of the American auto industry? Or did Ford just straight-out make him a better offer?
Regardless of the cause, Block’s driving for Ford now, and this video is all the proof of that you’ll ever need. So be sure to check out Monster’s 2010 season!
This add-on may not be that striking but as far as 2011 Ford Models are concerned, they will come with these three-blink turn signal function. Other car companies have added this through the years and now, Ford will make it a standard for all its 2011 models.
The first Ford Models which will have this feature include the 2011 Ford Fiesta and Super Duty Pickups. The three-blink turn signal functions by tapping the left stalk off of the steering column up or down to allow the blinkers to flash only three times. This should be perfect for lane changes and remedy the annoying practice of driving behind cars whose blinkers are left on.
Speaking as someone who has both training and experience in marketing–special note for Scott Adams: we’re not ALL morons–putting together a booth for a trade show is spectacularly exhausting work. Trying to get all your ducks in a row, getting your take-home stuff together, lining up a swag vendor…it’s just painful and can take days to properly do.
Imagine how bad it is for MAJOR corporations like Ford to do this–I just set them up for a little company–and do it correctly.
Well, we’ve got some behind the scenes footage from the Los Angeles Auto Show as Ford prepares to bow the 2010 Ford Fiesta. And believe me, as bad as it looks on the video, it’s even more hair-raising to be living it.
They put three years into the launch, and just getting the show set up took eighteen hour days with lots of music and video. Also included is a nifty segment on the value of social media in the promotion of the car line–hey FORD! Next time, invite me, huh?
Vehicle color seems to be playing an important role for consumer buying preference and it looks like Ford will be giving in to the trend. While they have offered the usual array of colors for other Ford vehicle models such as the 2010 Mustang and the Ford F-150. These cars for example came out with unusual colors like Grabber Blue (2010 Mustang) and Molten Orange (Ford F-150). And the response was positive enough to push Ford towards offering their 2010 Ford Fiesta in two color variants, Bright Magenta and Lime Squeeze which will come out next Summer.
As to why these two colors were chosen, sales agents have proven their impact to the public. They have been going around in Fiestas with these two colors and the attention is quite astounding. Likewise, placing into consideration that vehicle color has become among the top 10 reason for purchasing a car, these two new color variants may yet spell the difference between sales and flops for their 2010 Ford Fiesta vehicles once they start coming out.
Ford Motors continues to invest in vehicle safety highlights with the continued improvements to its line of vehicles. Ford has announced that it will continue to use HyperWorks simulation suite and RADIOSS to maintain its niche as a class leader in producing and distributing occupant and pedestrian safe vehicles.
The highlight of their concentration on safety was seen first on the Ford Fiesta. The highly scalable and repeatable nature of the solver, combined with Ford UK’s state of the art engineering methods and development processes, successfully achieved an outstanding five star crash performance when rated by EuroNCAP.
A few days back we posted about the VW Golf making it to the finals of the aspirants for the World Car of the Year. Now, the other two were finally announced, limiting the options to only three cars that will potentially run away with the World Car of the Year award. The official list of finalists are as follows:
Ford Fiesta
Toyota iQ
Volkswagen Golf VI
Vehicles are selected and voted on by an international jury panel comprised of fifty-nine (59) top-level automotive journalists from twenty-five (25) countries around the world. Each juror was appointed by the World Car Steering Committee on the basis of his or her expertise, experience, credibility, and influence. Each juror typically drives and evaluates new vehicles on a regular basis as part of their professional work.
While the winner of the overall World Car award must excel in a broad range of attributes, the World Performance Car award must demonstrate a specific and overt sports/performance orientation while satisfying the same availability criteria as for the overall World Car of the Year award.
“Chicks Dig The Car! Well if you want to go a bit into it, it should be “Chicks dig the Bentley”. The Telegraph writes up a study that showed women pictures of the same man sitting in two cars, a silver Bentley Continental and a battered Ford Fiesta. Surprise, surprise the women, who were aged between 21 to 40, chose the man in the Bentley.
The research from Dr, Michael Dunn, of the University of Wales Institute in Cardiff, has been published in the latest edition of the British Journal of Psychology. His study also shows that men are more impressed by how a woman looks than what she drives.
Dr. Dunn says that women still look for wealth and status because they are seeking a man in “better condition to rear healthy offspring.” He says that this basic human trait is not likely to change even as women acquire more independence and wealth. Dr. Dunn, who drives an old Ford himself, will now do research to find out if luxury items help make up for “the attractiveness-diminishing effects of age.”
People of a certain age may well remember the Ford Fiesta as perhaps not Ford’s finest moment. The Fiesta of 30 years ago was a boxy, poorly built sub-sub-compact that rusted out quickly but often didn’t last long enough mechanically for that to be an issue. Now, with the memory of $4.50 gasoline still on the minds of Americans and the economy tanking faster than anyone imagined, Ford is planning to bring back the Fiesta for 2010. Happily, the 2010 Fiesta is not your mother’s high school graduation car.
The Ford Fiesta has been available overseas for years, will come to America in a sleeker, sturdier, more fuel-efficient form that is made to last and also to appeal to a wide spectrum of cost-conscious buyers. “Take the five-door Fiesta,” says Ford global design chief J Mays, “and graft on the trunk of the Verve sedan concept, and you’ll be 99 percent there.” Watch for it late in 2009.
Ford Motors will start manufacturing the Ford Fiesta in China this week with the hopes of timely introducing it to the market this year. Touted as the first global car, is expected to go on sale at local car dealers by the first quarter of 2010.
The Ford Fiesta originally debuted at the North American International Auto Show in 2007 under the name “The Verve”. Ford has sold more than 61,000 Fiestas in its 19 European markets during its two months in showrooms. It is the auto maker’s second-best selling vehicle behind the Ford Focus.
Ford, like its U.S. competitors, is attempting to develop vehicles that it can build quickly to match changing dynamics in the automobile market. U.S. auto makers were caught off guard last year when rising gas prices caused consumers to abandon pickups and sport-utility vehicles in favor of more fuel-efficient products.
This add-on may not be that striking but as far as 2011 Ford Models are concerned, they will come with these three-blink turn signal function. Other car companies have added this through the years and now, Ford will make it a standard for all its 2011 models. 
