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Bill Ford says carsharing helps Ford, EVs need to be clean

To most people, Bill Ford is most famous for being the great-grandson of Henry Ford. But, as the executive chairman of Ford Motor Company, Ford has also been leading the company into greener and greener territory. At the morning plenary session for the 21st World Congress on Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) in Detroit today, Ford discussed a wide variety of topics, including connected cars (of course), plug-in vehicle and how Ford's collaboration with Zipcar came about because of he liked what the Zipcar CEO was excited about getting cars off the road. Given that the conference has a big focus on communication between cars this year, it's no surprise that Ford talked about his company's work on that front. He's looking at the long term, though, and says that despite announcements like the one General Motors made yesterday about Super Cruise, when fully autonomous vehicles get here, it won't be headline news since the ground work is being laid by technologies coming to cars in bits and pieces now. In other words, your adaptive cruise control is getting ready for bigger and better things. "My fear is that we electrify the fleet and our impact is not what it could be." – Bill Ford On the zero-emission vehicle front, Ford said that while he's in favor of electric vehicles, "My fear is that we electrify the fleet and our impact is not what it could be." He was discussing the emissions reality of coal-powered electricity, and said that, "We've got to have a national discussion about what we want our grid to look like." As for the work that Ford is doing with Zipcar (which is just one of the many automaker carsharing operations out there today), Ford said that he first approached Zipcar CEO Scott Griffith after hearing Griffith talk at a green conference four or five years ago. Griffith was surprised, Ford said, because he had just given a talk about ways to reduce car ownership. "Did you hear my speech? I talked about taking cars off the road," Ford remembers Griffith saying. "Yeah, and what's going to happen without us," Ford responded. Today, the partnership allows Ford to get cars to people that have traditionally been "hard to reach," like college students on campuses. Ford's vehicles are currently available on 250 colleges campuses. Ford then spoke favorably about other challenges to the traditional car ownership model, like Lyft and Relay Rides. "Rather than being frightened by that, we need embrace it and help makes their companies better," he said.

Ford Focus RS makes US debut in New York, hits dealers Spring 2016

Attendees at the 2015 New York Auto Show will be among the first American consumers to see the all-new, third-generation Ford Focus RS. The Blue Oval announced the super-hot hatch will make its US debut in the Big Apple next week and will arrive in dealers roughly one year from now. We've covered the raging Ford, which is being sold in the US for the very first time, ad nauseam. It debuted in early February, made its auto show debut at the 2015 Geneva Motor Show and is finally crossing the Atlantic, complete with at least 315 horsepower from a 2.3-liter, turbocharged four-cylinder. A trick, torque-vectoring all-wheel-drive system, an industry-first Drift Mode, a proper six-speed manual transmission and looks that can kill round out what we're wagering is a wildly entertaining package. On top of announcing the Focus RS will hit dealers in the spring of 2016, Ford gave us our first look at a production color. While the Geneva Focus RS was finished in the same Liquid Blue as the Ford GT, Mustang GT350R and SVT Raptor that showed up in Detroit, the hue on the NYAS car, called Nitrous Blue, is one of four that will actually be sold on the Focus RS. While we're waiting to see it in person to render our final judgment, based on pictures alone, we're smitten. Alongside Nitrous Blue, Ford will offer the Focus RS in Stealth Gray, Shadow Black and Frozen White. In other news, your author will be starting the official campaign to bring back the gorgeous green from the last-gen RS immediately. Check back next week. Until then, scroll down for the official press release from Ford. All-New Ford Focus RS Makes U.S. Debut in New York • All-new Focus RS makes North American debut at New York International Auto Show introducing advanced performance technologies for ultimate hot hatch experience; pioneers innovative Ford Performance All-Wheel Drive with Dynamic Torque Vectoring, industry-first drift mode, additional drive modes • Third-generation high-performance hatch features specially engineered 2.3-liter EcoBoost® engine producing more than 315 horsepower, most powerful RS brake system ever with Brembo front calipers • Ford Focus RS will be at dealerships in the United States in spring 2016 DEARBORN, Mich., March 25, 2015 – The all-new Ford Focus RS is set to debut on U.S. soil at the 2015 New York International Auto Show.

Enterprise working with renter's insurance to cover $47k Mustang stolen from its lot

There was more than a bit of public indigence following the recent story of Enterprise Rent-A-Car billing a customer $47,000 to replace a Ford Mustang GT Convertible stolen from a Nova Scotia lot. To recap: Kristen Cockerill rented the Mustang for two days, returned it to the lot on a Sunday and left the keys in a secure dropbox only for Enterprise employees to find the car gone the next day.
Despite Enterprise policies stating that customers are responsible for vehicles dropped on off-days, the company has admitted that the situation could've been handled a bit better.
In a recent statement, Enterprise has backed off the big-bill story, and claims to be working with Cockerill and her insurance company to resolve the issue. Further, the Enterprise general manager overseeing Nova Scotia has spoken with the harried renter, and apologized "for the way this claim was handled during the last few months."