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Autoblog Podcast #390

Episode #390 of the Autoblog Podcast is here, and this week, Dan Roth, Steven Ewing and Sebastian Blanco from Autoblog Green talk about the 2015 Ford Mustang specs, the 2016 Smart models, a proposal to add real-world numbers to EPA economy tests and the potential downside of autonomous cars. We start with what's in the garage and finish up with some of your questions, and for those of you who hung with us live on our UStream channel, thanks for taking the time. Check out the new rundown below with times for topics, and you can follow along down below with our Q&A. Thanks for listening! Autoblog Podcast #390: The video meant to be presented here is no longer available. Sorry for the inconvenience. Topics: 2015 Ford Mustang specs 2016 Smart FourTwo and FourFour EPA wants road tests The downside of autonomous cars In the Autoblog Garage: 2014 Nissan Leaf 2015 Audi A3 Sportback E-Tron 2014 Scion tC Hosts: Dan Roth, Steven Ewing, Sebastian Blanco Runtime: 01:33:35 Rundown: Intro and Garage - 00:00 Mustang Specs - 34:40 2016 Smart Models - 51:14 EPA Tests - 01:02:57 Autonomous Cars - 01:11:19 Q&A - 01:21:22 Get the podcast: [UStream] Listen live on Mondays at 10 PM Eastern at UStream [iTunes] Subscribe to the Autoblog Podcast in iTunes [RSS] Add the Autoblog Podcast feed to your RSS aggregator [MP3] Download the MP3 directly Feedback: Email: Podcast at Autoblog dot com Review the show in iTunes Podcasts Audi Ford Nissan Scion smart Electric Hybrid

The 24 Hour War: Adam Carolla's new documentary brings the Ford-Ferrari battle back to life

Long before the GoPro or even videotape, races were filmed by guys standing next to the track with 16-millimeter cameras. The images kind of shook, they didn't always hold focus, and over the years all the color has faded out of the film. It all conspires to make the endurance racing battle between Ferrari and Ford in the 1960s seem like ancient history. What Adam Carolla and Nate Adams' new documentary The 24 Hour War does best is make that inter-corporate battle feel as if it happened yesterday. Yeah, if you're an obsessive you've likely seen most of the shaky-cam race footage used here before. But what you haven't seen are the interviews that frame the war and explain the egos and engineering behind the legends. It's not a perfect movie, but it's the sort of movie only fanatics could make. And it's easier to appreciate if you're a fanatic too. The first 25-or-so minutes of the documentary are taken up with histories of both Ford and Ferrari and an overview of how ridiculously deadly motorsports were in the Sixties and earlier. It's all interesting (if familiar) stuff, that could have been handled in about a third the time with some brutal editing. Still, the two protagonists in the story are well drawn: the racing-crazed Enzo Ferrari, who only builds road cars to stay solvent; and Henry Ford II, who after being thrown into the deep end of the Ford Motor Company management in 1943 at the age of 25, wasn't going to be humiliated after Ferrari pulled out of a deal to sell him the sports car maker. With one notable exception, the filmmakers were successful in rounding up practically everyone involved who is still alive for an interview. That includes Dan Gurney, Mario Andretti, Pete Brock, Bob Bondurant, Piero Ferrari, Mauro Forghieri, Carlo Tazzioli, and even Ralph Nader. There are good archival insights from the late Carroll Shelby. But where's A.J. Foyt? After all, he co-drove the stupendous Ford GT40 Mark IV with Dan Gurney to victory at Le Mans in 1967. The interviews make the movie worthwhile, but it cries out for more technical depth about the cars themselves. Yes, the GT40 was complex and engineered practically like a production car, but there's no mention of how the Lola Mk VI and Eric Broadley kicked off the development. There's only a superficial explanation of what made the American-built Mark IV such a leap forward.

Ford invests $682 million in Edge-producing Canadian facility

Ford announced that it's investing $682 million in its Oakville assembly plant in Ontario, Canada, to make it a global manufacturing plant, which the automaker also says secures 2,800 jobs there. Including this injection of cash, Ford has invested over $2 billion in Canada in the last decade, starting with nearly $1 billion for Oakville in 2004, and over $570 million for its Essex Engine Plant in 2010.
The move to make Oakville a global manufacturer of Ford vehicles means, "If consumers suddenly shift their buying habits, we can seamlessly change our production mix without having to idle a plant," says Joe Hinrichs, Ford's president of the Americas.
Ford says that the latest investment will help it meet North American demand for the Oakville-produced Edge crossover, which is on track this year to beat 2007's US sales record of 130,000 Edges. The Ford Flex and Lincoln MKX and MKT are also manufactured at the plant.