Although, the much anticipated 2010 Ford Mustang will debut later this year, Ford has released an image of the new Mustang logo. The updated pony looks more defined and muscular. Ford says the new pony is “faster looking,” with sharper and more defined edges.

“We wanted to give the Mustang pony a more realistic feel,” said Douglas Gaffka, chief designer for the 2010 Mustang. “We lifted the head to make the pony more proud, tipped the neck into the wind to give it a feeling of greater speed and better balance. It’s more chiseled and more defined and looks more like a wild horse.” (more…)

Stephen Odell, the Chief Operating Officer of Ford of Europe will replace the Fredrick Arp as President and Chief Executive Officer of Volvo Car Corporation, said Ford Motor Co. Odell will take over the charge on October 1, who will report to Ford of Europe and Volvo Chairman Lewis Booth. Odell will be responsible for the global operations of Volvo, out of its headquarters in Gothenburg, Sweden.

“Stephen Odell brings to Volvo a wealth of experience of strong leadership in the automotive industry,” said Alan Mulally, President and CEO of Ford Motor Co. (more…)

In a recent press event, Derrick Kuzak, the product development chief of Ford Motor Co. said the company is considering an inclusion of a new compact crossover vehicle  to its luxury brand, Lincoln. “We do think that there is room for a smaller car in the Lincoln brand,” he said.

The Lincoln brand might get the C-segment car at the same time, when it will replace the Ford Escape early next decade. However, Kuzak didn’t go into details, but the upcoming car is likely to be based on the European Ford Kuga crossover vehicle. (more…)

The U.S. automakers’ inability to finance leases, coupled with high gasoline prices and weak economy, some of the automakers have been taking serious stake in their lease business. Last week, Chrysler LLC announced that its finance arm will stop issuing new car and truck leases to customers by the end of this month.

Now Ford Motor Co. is planning to raise leasing prices on some of models, as the residual value of these particular vehicles is falling so fast. As a result the automaker’s finance arm recorded “extreme losses.” (more…)

The chief designer for the Ford Flex crossover car, Richard Gresens has left Ford Motor Co., but reason behind this remains unclear.

Although some sources assume that Gresens’ departure was related to company’s effort to cut salaried jobs. Ford has been in the process of reducing salary- related costs by 15 percent in North America by August 1. Sources say Gresens could have found himself a casualty of Ford’s recent restructuring effort.

Ford spokeswoman, Charlotte Fisher confirmed the news but declined to comment on the reason for Gresens’ step-out as well as layoff. (more…)

One of the world’s largest automakers, Ford Motor Co. posted the biggest quarterly loss in its history in the second quarter of 2008. The automaker lost $8.7 billion, as the buying trends shifted from
gas- guzzling trucks and SUVs towards fuel- efficient smaller vehicles and hybrids.

Ford took a huge charge for reducing the value of various troubled assets in the second quarter. The net loss includes a pre-tax special charge of $8 billion, of which $5.3 billion was for Ford North America alone. The North America unit posted a $1.3 billion pre-tax loss in the quarter, as compared to a $270 million loss during the same period in 2007. The Volvo unit lost $120 million, compared to a loss of $91 million a year ago. (more…)

Ford Motor Co. announced that it will make buyout offers to hourly workers at its several plants across Southeast Michigan and Northern Ohio. The company made buyout offers previously in June and it’s planning to extend another round of offers as the company struggles to reduce production capacity to match declining demand for its cars and trucks.

The company is planning to offer the buyouts to workers at about fourteen plants, starting next week as it looks to trim its workforce to match a declining U.S. market share. Reportedly, Ford posted a $2.7 billion loss in 2007 and has abandoned a long-standing goal of returning to profitability in 2009. The automaker had previously extended buyout offers at plants in Kentucky and Ohio due to the declining demand for large pickup trucks and SUVs. (more…)

Kirk Kerkorian’s investment company, Tracinda has launched a tender offer of 20 million additional shares of Ford Motor Company on May 9, which has been attracting many Ford investors. 

The investment company on Tuesday said that its tender offer of $8.50 a share drew offers of more than 1 billion of the company’s shares. It will buy 20 million shares for about $170 million, which will further help the company increase its stake in the automaker to about 5.5 percent. (more…)

Ford Motor Company plans to conduct involuntary layoffs of salaried employees by August 1, 2008.

It has been told by the company officials that, Ford would cut 10 to 12 percent or more than 2,000 employees this summer.

Ford spokesman, Mark Truby said, “We’re not going to comment on internal discussions we’re having with our employees. As soon as we finalize some of these details, we’re going to tell our employees as quickly as we can.”

The J.D. Power and Associates has released its 2008 Initial Quality Study results on June 4. This year has showed the overall quality improvement with 118 problems per 100 vehicles. Last year, the study reported 125 problems per 100 vehicles.

The quality study tallies the problems reported per 100 vehicles by owners of new vehicles, 90 days after purchase. The survey includes design complaints as well as manufacturing defects and the complaints could be a button or a switch on the instrument panel, or an uncomfortable seat.

According to the report, the Ford and Mercury brands jumped two positions and were the shining stars at the quality study. Both the brands cracked the top eight rankings in the latest study. Ford Motor’s eleven nameplates out of fourteen have showed the significant improvement.

However, Ford’s Lincoln dropped drastically to number 15, from its number 3 spot in 2007. Global manager of quality data at Ford, Mike Hardie said that the navigation and voice command issues were to blame for Lincoln’s falter. He further added, “We’re taking a look right now to resolve those issues to mitigate those for customers in the future.”

Audi has posted the largest improvement in the latest ranking, moving from bottom fourth rankings in 2007 to number 10 this year. It has shed 23 defects as compared to the last year.

Porsche held on to its number 1 spot followed by Infiniti and Lexus. The Porsche 911 has the fewest quality problems in the industry, with just 67 problems per 100 vehicles. For the third consecutive year, Porsche tops the overall nameplate rankings.

Infiniti improved from 9th position in the last year to 2nd position in 2008. Toyota tied with Mercedes-Benz at number 4 position.

GM could not make it to the top 10 with any of its brands. However, its four brands such as Cadillac, Buick, Chevrolet and Pontiac- all rose from below average last year to above average in the 2008 study.

General Motors’ Chevrolet Malibu sedan has collected the top award in the mid-sized car segment.

According to GM’s top quality executive, Jamie Hresko “When the customer spoke here, it validated that we are doing all right.” The executive further said, “I think one of the big keys was that our launches are helping us, not hurting us. I’m not sure it’s a grand slam, but we did very well.”

Interestingly, one of the U.S. notable automakers, Chrysler LLC’s brands remained at below the industry average in the ratings. Jeep was the industry’s worst at 167 problems. Dodge and Chrysler placed in the 28th and 29th position, or in the bottom fourth of all brands in the rankings.

Honda models capture three segment awards, more than any other nameplate in the 2008 study for the Civic, CR-V and Fit. Garnering two segment awards each were Chevrolet with Malibu and Silverado LD; Dodge with Dakota and Durango; Infiniti with EX-Series and M-Series; Lexus with LS and RX; and Mercedes-Benz with CLK-Class and E-Class.

Ford Motor Company plans to conduct involuntary layoffs of salaried employees by August 1, 2008.

It has been told by the company officials that, Ford would cut 10 to 12 percent or more than 2,000 employees this summer.

Ford spokesman, Mark Truby said, “We’re not going to comment on internal discussions we’re having with our employees. As soon as we finalize some of these details, we’re going to tell our employees as quickly as we can.”

The severe cut in Ford’s production that has been lowering its 2009 profitability goal, has finally compelled the automaker to reach such a tough decision. The sales have slumped severely, especially for large pickups and SUVs.

With the cuts in work force, the company is expecting to restructure the slumped sales, which is mainly struggling due to high gas and raw material prices.

In the second quarter of 2008, Ford has reduced its production by 15 percent as compared to the same quarter last year. It has been expected that, the third and fourth quarter will account for a fall in production as much as 20 percent and 8 percent respectively.

The employees who will be terminated, would not be offered voluntary buyout packages with financial or early retirement incentives.

Earlier, Ford had terminated 11,000 salaried workers in North America since the end of 2005, by offering voluntary buyouts and early retirement incentives. Ford had a total of 23,700 salaried workers at the end of 2007. The large number of cut has reduced its full-time salaried workers.