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Ford to kick off F-150 campaign during College Football Playoff

The long-awaited inaugural College Football Playoff will feature the nation's best college teams, with the Oregon Ducks taking on the Florida State Seminoles, and Alabama Crimson Tide facing some team from Ohio. On top of that, though, it'll also see the launch of the very first advertising campaign for the 2015 Ford F-150. Viewers from across the country will see a trio of ads featuring the all-aluminum truck, with two half-minute spots and a full 60-second commercial, all voiced by Denis Leary, touting the F-150's feature set and towing capacity, but passing on mentioning the new truck's class-leading fuel economy. That, Automotive News reports, isn't a miscue by Ford. The company simply didn't have enough time between the EPA's fuel economy announcement and the 2014-2015 Bowl Season to prepare a spot. Expect plenty on the F-150's fuel efficiency in future spots. Interestingly, though, AN is reporting future F-150 advertising won't include a Super Bowl appearance. Ford has made the decision to focus its new truck ads on college football rather than during the NFL championship. "From our point of view, there's no bigger stage to debut the F-150 creative than the College Football Playoff," Keith Koeppen, Ford's US marketing communications boss, told AN. "It's so closely aligned with the passions of our customer." It's those passions that are pushing Ford to kick off its ad campaign for a new truck so much earlier. Speaking to AN, Doug Scott, Ford's truck marketing manager, said that the automaker typically doesn't begin ad campaigns until its dealers have at least a fifty-fifty mix of old and new models, but that it's pushing the 2015 F-150's ads to fit with the college football playoffs. While Ford's focus is on the two semifinal playoff games on New Year's Day and the National Championship Game on January 12, the ads will actually air for the first time on New Year's Eve, when the TCU Horned Frogs face off against the Ole Miss Rebels in the Peach Bowl. The three spots will also be shown during other bowl games, as well. Featured Gallery 2015 Ford F-150 2.7L EcoBoost at Davis Dam News Source: Automotive News - sub. req.Image Credit: Ford Marketing/Advertising Ford Truck ncaa

2015 Ford Mustang production starts in Flat Rock

Today's the day, Ford fans. Production has officially commenced on the sixth-generation 2015 Mustang at the company's Flat Rock, MI factory. As production ramps up, sales should kick off in the coming months.
The production news isn't just a bit deal for American fans. With the new Mustang getting a bespoke right-hand-drive variant, the pony car's worldwide availability has swollen to include 120 different countries, including its home nation.
"Mustang is and will continue to be an automotive icon," Joe Hinrichs, Ford's president of the Americas, said in a statement. "Expanding its availability globally affords our customers around the world the opportunity to have a true firsthand Mustang experience - one unlike any other."

China's auto sales continue to drop

The days of unending growth of carmakers in China look to be over, and some analysts are even forecasting a net drop in volume this year, The Detroit News reports. After falling numbers in June and July, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers tallied total sales, including trucks and buses, in August to 1.7 million, down 3 percent from 2014. There were some tiny specs of good news in China, but there's no turnaround in sight. Total vehicle sales from January to August are actually still up but only 2.6 percent. Like the rest of the world, SUVs are booming with numbers up 45.6 percent from the previous year. Honda managed a very impressive 50.7 percent gain on the strength of the CR-V and Vezel (the HR-V here), according to The Detroit News. Also, the country's domestic automakers, which generally offer less expensive products, posted a 2.5 percent growth in sales. The news continues to look bad for Detroit's automakers, though. Volume from General Motors dropped 4.8 percent in August, and Ford fell 3 percent in August. Both of them have invested significant amounts there in the past years. The vehicle industry in China grew last year, but there was burgeoning evidence of weakness. At the end of 2014, dealers there pushed back against huge inventories pushed by automakers. Even before the big drops began in June, GM saw the writing on the wall and started cutting prices. BMW responded to the slump by cutting back production to deal with the changing demand. News Source: The Detroit NewsImage Credit: Mark Schiefelbein / AP Photo BMW Ford GM Honda Car Buying