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Toyota tops Kelley Blue Book's Resale Value Awards

Kelley Blue Book announced its annual Best Resale Value Award winners, and we weren't too surprised to see the list dominated by Japanese automakers - mainly Toyota and Honda. KBB hands out the awards based on the projected residual value of mostly all 2013 model year vehicles, and Toyota skated home with a number of awards including 10 of the 22 overall categories and having five of its products in the top 10 for models with best resale value. KBB's Best Resale Value Awards were announced in the same week as the ALG Residual Value Awards, and there were many similarities between both lists, especially when it came to Toyota.
To come up with its winners, KBB measures depreciation over the first five years of ownership, and looks for the cars it expects to hold its value the best after this time; on average, the report says the 2013 model year vehicles will lose 61.8 percent of its value in five years. Of the 22 categories, 15 slots were filled by Toyota, Honda and Nissan products, while the Camaro and Porsche (Cayenne and Panamera) each took home a pair of awards. If Toyota has anything to be upset about in this list of cars, it's that categories for Hybrid/Alternative Energy Car and Electric Vehicle went to the Ford Fusion and Chevrolet Volt, respectively.
The overall top 10 models for the best resale value in 2013 are, in alphabetical order:

Ford also opening up EV, hybrid patents, with a price tag

Like Tesla and Toyota before it, Ford is seeing the light when it comes to freeing up alternative powertrain patents. Of course, the Blue Oval does things differently, so free doesn't mean no cost. Instead of making its electric vehicle patents simply available to anyone, Ford is going to sell off its EV tech for an unspecified fee. Ford says it has 650 electrified vehicle patents and another 1,000 or so pending EV tech patent applications. Ford filed 400 such applications last year alone. To buy these patents, interested parties should contact Ford's technology commercialization and licensing office or work AutoHarvest. Or, you know, you could just go get Tesla patents for free. The jury is still out on whether these open patent programs are being used. The Tesla program, for example, didn't seem to be all that exciting to most OEMs right after it was announced. Ford has six vehicles with some sort of electrified powertrain: the Focus Electric, Fusion Hybrid and Energi PHEV, Ford C-MAX Hybrid and Energi plug-in hybrid and the Lincoln MKZ Hybrid. The only full EV in that group, the Focus Electric, starts at $29,995. Ford Opens Portfolio of Patented Technologies to Competitors to Accelerate Industry-Wide Electrified Vehicle Development Ford is opening its portfolio of electrified vehicle technology patents to competitive automakers to accelerate industry-wide research and development of electrified vehicles In 2014, Ford filed for 400-plus electrified vehicle patents – more than 20 percent of the total patents the company applied for last year Ford is set to hire an additional 200 electrified vehicle engineers this year as the team moves into a newly dedicated facility – Ford Engineering Laboratories – home to Henry Ford's first laboratories DEARBORN, Mich., May 28, 2015 – Ford Motor Company is offering competitors access to its electrified vehicle technology patents – a move to help accelerate industry-wide research and development of electrified vehicles. In 2014, Ford filed more than 400 patents dedicated to electrified vehicle technologies. This is more than 20 percent of the patents the company filed – totaling more than 2,000 applications. "Innovation is our goal," said Kevin Layden, director, Ford Electrification Programs. "The way to provide the best technology is through constant development and progress.

Obama to herald auto industry turnaround from idled Ford plant

President Barack Obama will tout the recent successes of the American auto industry in a speech on Wednesday. This would be a fine and dandy plan aside from two small hitches. First, the president is visiting Ford's Wayne, MI factory, which is rather strange considering the government bailed out the company's local rivals, Chrysler and General Motors. Even more worrying, considering the topic of the speech, is that the Wayne facility has been idled due to a lack of demand. According to The Detroit News, the White House said the speech will focus on "the workers in the resurgent American automotive and manufacturing sector now that the auto rescue has been completed and the decision to save the auto industry and the over one million jobs that went with it." Wayne Assembly employs some 5,100 Michiganders when its lines are up and running, but as gas prices have plunged below $2 per gallon in some areas over the past month, its fuel-efficient products – the Focus and C-Max – have seen their sales plummet, as well. In December, the Focus' year-over-year sales were down 4.4 percent, while the C-Max dipped 3.3 percent, Ford told The News. Lagging sales for the two compacts aren't a new thing, though. Focus sales in all of 2014 were down 6.4 percent, while the C-Max struggled with a 21.6-percent drop last year. According to The News, Ford made the decision to idle the factory before being approached by the White House. Considering that, we wonder what the team at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue was thinking when it selected the Ford facility, and what impact the location will have on the president's message. News Source: The Detroit NewsImage Credit: Mira Oberman / AFP / Getty Images Celebrities Government/Legal Plants/Manufacturing Ford