DrivingEnthusiast.net Prior Blog Posts by Date DRIVING: that's what it's ALL ABOUT! A blog and website for automotive driving enthusiasts, featuring my interests as I see them: news and opinion about manufacturers of interest, significant enthusiast cars, and driving them hard and well. April 2008 Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat     1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30       Mar   May Use this calendar to navigate thru prior posts by date.     Tuesday, April 01, 2008    Australian Falcon spy pics are not the next Ford global RWD platform   A couple of comments that I made to a post today on The Car Connection (link in the title above). Several sites have picked up some pictures taken in Dearborn of a couple of new Australian Ford Falcons. Read the post. I think everybody is over-reacting by suggesting that this particular Falcon will be Fords new global rear wheel drive platform. I've CC'd my comments to their post below: "You’re reading way too much into these pictures. Ford has always had a wide array of their products from all around the world driving around Dearborn. Hang around Dearborn long enough and you’ll see any number of Fords that are not sold here and won’t be. There are a number of parking lots where they can be seen and photographed at almost any time! Those two Falcons may be here for executive awareness, for help with emissions or crash testing (two things that Dearborn has done more extensively than Australia can), to test future developments of existing or new engines (we know the Aussies will get the Ecoboost twin-turbo V-6 for the Falcon in ~2 years, and a replacement for ye olde 5.4 is certainly coming up), or they may be here for benchmarking. As for the “new” Falcon that is currently being rolled out in Australia, it’s not so much “new” as it is a “top-hat” refresh, to the same extent that next year’s F-150 is. This isn’t a new chassis at all, and it’s certainly not what would be ideal in a future world-wide and world-class rear wheel drive chassis. It’s severely dated, it has issues, and it certainly won’t match or exceed crash requirements here or in Europe. And look at that front overhang - indicative of a far-forward engine (compare and contrast that point to the G8, for example). So whatever the new platform is, it’s not this platform and these shots aren’t even of a mule of any new platform. Don’t get me wrong - I admire what the Australians have done with this car. They have a great bunch of people, both in Ford and Holden. They’ve managed to keep a line of cars going against the odds, and even improved them dramatically and added sporting models to the lineup as well. I have some major reservations about Ford moving their rear wheel drive development to Dearborn. Dearborn has shown they can do it with the DEW-98, but they haven’t shown that they can keep it moving forward - much less sustain what they had. IMHO, what’s needed is a worldwide platform built to the same strategy as Nissan’s “FM”. World-class engineering, built to be used in different widths and lengths, able to accommodate the future engine lineup, and spreading costs of the expensive platform bits around several different product lines. The DEW was nearly that, most of the bits were right on, but they didn’t tackle the cost issue and carrying Jaguar was just one reason for the end of it. So we all share the wishful thinking for Ford to get on with a new and world-class rear wheel drive platform, but what’s shown in the pictures is not it." View and add Comments: Comments: Trackback: Trackback Link [] See similar posts in these categories: Ford Motor Corporation | Ford of Australia Search for similar posts on the web: Google It!  Max Mosley: not an April Fools day joke at all   Formula One motor racing chief Max Mosley has been exposed as a secret sado-masochist sex pervert. Time to throw the bum out of the FIA, and the Brits should toss him out of the country as well. [Continuue at link in title above] View and add Comments: Comments: Trackback: Trackback Link [] See similar posts in these categories: Search for similar posts on the web: Google It!  Press Release: FORD INNOVATION TAKES NEW DIRECTION     FORD INNOVATION TAKES NEW DIRECTION Contact(s): Hero-san Honda OEM Technology (HOT) 011-81-3-438-3278 Dearborn, Michigan. APRIL 2, 2008 - Ford Motor Company has a long history of necessarily turning to OEM technology when the company’s own engineering and research labs have been effected by the latest reorganization. Past examples of this include Manly for H-beam connecting rods, Recaro seating, Brembo braking, and more. By partnering in the aftermarket instead of innovating at home, the net result is better products all around. Today, Ford announces a new partner: Honda OEM Technology (HOT). HOT will supply Ford with i-VTEC (Intelligent Variable Valve Timing and Lift Electronic Control) technology for use on selected Ford engines beginning in the 2008 model year. “Ford performance vehicles, particularly SVT products, have historically sucked. The addition of i-VTEC to legacy Ford engines is the single best strategy for Ford to pursue. I am also pleased to announce today that we are in early negotiation with Ford for licensing HOT suspension technology as well”. – Motoharu "Gan san" Kurosawa, HOT Consultant The idea to partner with HOT was the brainchild of Billy Ford, chairman and CEO, Ford Motor Company. “I like the idea of revving higher and higher”, said Billy, “Normally my ideas run out of oxygen but now we can go to new heights and stay high longer.” Ford turned to Honda OEM Technology as part of its comprehensive reorganization plan, known as Way Forward, to revitalize the appeal of its North American products. Ford Product Planners conducted extensive market research and found to its surprise that the demographic it had been building products for – known in the planning department as “straight-liners” – does in fact represent less than .000001 of the marketplace and that the vast majority of the remaining market prefers vehicles that are fun and dynamic over a wide range of driving conditions. Thus the benefits of the partnership with HOT will revitalize Ford products for mainstream buyers. An added bonus to consumers is the extensive engineering testing that HOT technology is subjected to, leading to extraordinary quality and longevity. “We’ll never appease the pushrod snobs” – Hau Thai-Tang, former head of SVT and currently Broom Technician Grade 3 at the shuttered Ford Atlanta Assembly Plant. Ford engineers have been testing the new-to-Ford technology for the past 2 years on public roads. One particularly popular car with young Ford engineers is a test mule built from the concept car formerly known as the “BOSS 604”, now painted a stealthy green. The car is popular with Ford’s young engineers and is usually the first car requested for weekend use. Except for the none-too-stealthy badge on the rear trunk lid, the public would be hard pressed to identify this as a manufacturing test vehicle. In fact, that car is a test bed for Ford’s first product built with HOT – a 5 liter double-overhead cam (DOHC) V-8 engine producing 500 horsepower @ 8000 RPM (100hp/liter) under the rigorous Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) test procedure J2723. Furthermore, the engine meets tough Tier II and ULEV emissions standards. The engine will debut in 2010. Future evolution – particularly in the existing Ford legacy parts – is expected to yield as much as 120HP/liter. “The development costs associated with adapting HOT technology to legacy Ford engines is the reason we had to cancel our product plans for all but one special-edition Mustang. We needed so many funds to totally re-engineer that car and get it right for 2010 that I ended up cancelling myself as well” - Phil Martens, former group vice president, Product Creation, North America, Ford Motor Company. PRESS MATERIALS Charts explaining how i-VTEC technology contributes to emissions and drivability. Ford Engineering Technician performing fuel economy calibration in Prototype #1 near Allen Park, MI ;-)  April Fools! View and add Comments: Comments: Trackback: Trackback Link [] See similar posts in these categories: Automotive Humor | Ford Motor Corporation | Ford - Billy Ford Search for similar posts on the web: Google It!  April Fools? Oldsmobile coming back   This isn't a particularly good one, or even especially cleaver. But the joke today is that the Oldsmobile brand name has been purchased by Toyota and will be brought back to market. Continue at the link in the title above. I understand the first model on the market will be the 2010 カットラス 最高, shown in a spy photo below.   View and add Comments: Comments: Trackback: Trackback Link [] See similar posts in these categories: Automotive Humor Search for similar posts on the web: Google It!  Chevy opens Camaro Connection website   Chevy has opened a new "Camaro Connection" website. Follow the link in the title of this posting to the site, and then click to enter the Camaro section.   While the Camaro is apparently a year off, this keeps it close in the news to potential buyers and helps ensure a successful launch and plentiful sales.   Details, and the first mailing, below.     Your Open Door Into Camaro We've just added even more stories and information to Camaro Connection! Inside you'll find: Just-released shots of an unwrapped Camaro unleashed on the pavement Straight talk straight from the mouth responsible for Camaro's menacing silhouette and stance — Tom Peters, Design Director for Global Rear-Wheel Drive Performance Vehicles Stay tuned because Camaro will be speeding to a new home in the near future with even more information, photos and interviews CAMARO CONNECTION. As close as you can get until you're in the driver's seat.   Orange convertible concept model shown. Actual production model may vary. ©2008 GM Corp. General Motors Corporation, 100 GM Renaissance Center, 482-A00-MAR, Detroit, MI 48265. View and add Comments: Comments: Trackback: Trackback Link [] See similar posts in these categories: GM | GM - Camaro Search for similar posts on the web: Google It!