UAW’s newest President, Bob King, recently reiterated the ban on foreign vehicles in UAW parking lots. King’s comments were in response to a reporter who got kicked out of a UAW parking lot for driving a Toyota Camry. King’s reasoning is that “Foreign automakers accept U.S taxpayer’s dollars in incentives to build assembly plants in the United States, jeopardizing the future of middle-class workers in the domestic auto industry.”
Although I will be one of the first to preach the importance of protecting the domestic industries, I completely disagree with UAW’s policy. Unions came about for good reasons, such as improving working conditions, creating the 8 hour work day and 5 day work week, fair wages, etc. But, this policy goes opposite of what the UAW is “supposed” to stand for – pro-American. This is actually, quite un-American. Competition leads to better innovation and better products, not bullying.
So is this what UAW leadership is paid to accomplish – create stupid policies? I thought it was to stand up for their workers. Maybe it would be more beneficial to work on helping make the domestic companies more efficient and cost effective. Or, how about working on changing our trade policies with other nations and make it fair to sell our products overseas.
Oh, by the way, I’ve been reading article after article about this story, along with people’s comments, and I’ve noticed something interesting – many people state that this worsens their perception of the UAW (as if it’s not bad enough), and worsens their perception of UAW built cars. So how about that, people won’t buy domestic cars because of this! Thanks Bob.
Source: The Detroit News
The 2011 Ford Explorer will be a game changer in the SUV world, not only because of its impressive design and powertrain features, but because of the technology it has. Things like a Terrain Management System, Trailer Sway Control or even just the Blind Spot Indicator System make this one of the most high tech, and safest, SUV’s on the road.
Ford Motor Company has had huge success thus far with its SYNC connectivity software. Cars with SYNC are flying off dealer lots in half the time of non-SYNC equipped vehicles. In order to keep SYNC current in the eyes of the buying public, Ford has fitted it with a host of new features. Any SYNC equipped vehicle with the Traffic, Directions and Information (TDI) application can now get horoscopes, stock updates, airline information, movie times and more, sent right to their car! The information is streamed from your data-equipped cell phone and transmitted seamlessly via a Bluetooth connection to SYNC. These new services are available free of charge and are NOT offered on any of Ford’s Japanese, German or Korean competitors!!! For more details, check out the video below!
Check out video of the 2011 Mustang GT500 doin’ it’s thang
One word; “Awesome!”
Check out these sweet videos from Ford that are basically advertisements for the new powertrain offerings in the 2011 Mustangs. They detail the legendary 5.0 V8 and the 3.7L V6. Enjoy!
Ford Fusion hybrid pays off the quickest out of major hybrids!
The San Francisco Chronicle has published a piece on how long your modern hybrid will cost you over the long run, or more specifically, how long it will take you to recoup your higher initial cost of buying a hybrid vehicle over a conventional auto. The winner may shock you, because it’s not the Toyota Prius, or the Honda Insight. No, it’s none other than the 2010 Ford Fusion hybrid! A traditional sedan with a stellar hybrid powertrain, it not only won 2010 North American Car of the Year at the Detroit Auto Show, but it also won Motor Trend magazine’s Car of the Year award. For the full article, head on over to sfgate.com.
(Image source: Ford)
The 2011 Ford Fiesta is getting close to sale here in the United States and Autoblog has had a go at both a manual version and an automatic, the sedan and the hatchback, and their review is quite good. They do have some negatives to point out, like how the soft touch IP looks much better than the non-soft touch door trims, but what competitor in this class offers even half the features or looks of the Fiesta? None! The Nissan Versa is one of the ugliest cars I have ever seen, the Toyota Yaris is downright boring (what Toyota isn’t?) and the Honda Fit is rather uninspiring. For the full review, head on over to Autoblog.
(Image source: Ford)
Check out this cool video of Ford’s newest concept vehicle, the Ford Start.
The Ford Start was unveiled at the Beijing Motor Show – it is a design study of how to build a small and affordable city car, using as few raw materials as possible. The concept vehicle uses aluminum and high strength steel for its structure, to help keep weight down. The body panels are made of molded-in-color composites, which will eliminate the need for paint. The electronics will be in-line with what Ford is developing for the rest of its vehicles, but will require more interaction with the newest generation of smartphones, which will minimize the amount of hardware necessary.
Read more about this neat little vehicle at Autoblog.
Ford Motor Company just released its quarterly earning results, and the results are sweet! Ford posted a $2.1 billion profit, or 50 cents a share, compared to a loss of 60 cents a share during the same time period a year ago. Revenue was also up to $28.1 billion from $24.4 billion a year earlier. Ford also boosted its outlook by increasing production by 30,000 vehicles and now expects to build 625,000 vehicles in the second quarter of this year.
Ford’s success can be attributed to numerous factors, the most important of which are the amazing new products and the greatly increased quality of its vehicles. Way to go Ford!
Read more at The Wall Street Journal.
Ford’s EcoBoost has already been making strides in bringing over conquest buyers to the brand. EcoBoost is Ford’s way of categorizing its engines that feature direct gas injection and turbocharging. The concept is not exactly new, but instead of using the application for performance gains only (as in the Mazdaspeed3 or the Chevrolet Cobalt SS) FoMoCo has decided to use it to increase fuel economy as well. The added power of the turbo chargers means the engine can be downsized, taking weight out of the vehicle. The direct injection means the engine car run higher compression ratios and also run a slightly leaner mixture, allowing a reduction in emissions. This adds up to a more fun to drive vehicle that is easier on the environment too.
This week at the 2010 Society of Automotive Engineers World Congress in Detroit, Michigan, Ford will announce that the 3.5L V6 EcoBoost will make its way into the 2011 F-150. This will be the first rear wheel drive application for this engine and should really show what this engine is capable of. The peak torque available at 1,500 rpm should appeal to truck buyers too, especially those who regularly tow or haul a large load around. The other announcement was that the 2.0L EcoBoost I4 will be going into the 2011 Ford Edge sometime this year. Ford also upped its sales predictions for EcoBoost to 1.5 million units by 2013 – way up from their original estimate of 750,000. Stay tuned for more details, until then, head on over to Autoblog.
(Image source: Ford)
