1970 Ford Mustang Boss 302 on 2040-cars

Auto blog

China takes lead as GM's No. 1 market

It's happened. General Motors' biggest vehicle market - at least in terms of new model sales - is China. According to TheDetroitBureau.com, GM and its various Chinese joint venture operations enjoyed a 10.6-percent sales increase in the first half of 2013, selling almost 1.6 million units in the market. That puts GM China about 200,000 units ahead of its US sales totals over the same period - this, despite indicators that the communist nation's economy is losing momentum.
TDB notes that like GM, rival Ford has also enjoyed a robust 2013 in China thus far, with its sales up a whopping 47 percent to 407,721 units sold - 75,254 of them in June alone. Between the two US automakers, passenger car sales for the first half of 2013 are up around 14 percent, well ahead of the rest of the industry's 10-percent growth estimates for the market. Some of the sales growth may come as a result of an overall anti-Japan sentiment in China, though the American brands have long outsold their Japanese counterparts in the country.
By The General's own predictions, China will only continue to grow in sales importance. The company has designs on selling over five million cars a year in the market before the end of the decade, a total that figures to dramatically widen the gap versus its US totals - even if America's auto market makes a full recovery to the the salad days of over 17-million units a year.

Mulally will stay close to Ford after he steps down, plans to advise Fields [w/video]

Ford CEO Alan Mulally has less than a week left in his role of leading the Blue Oval before he hands off duties to Mark Fields on July 1. It doesn't look like Mulally is going to be shuffling off into his retirement anytime soon, though. The 68-year-old is being rather secretive about his next move, but he tells Bloomberg in a recent interview that he plans to stay close to Ford. Also, if Fields wants to ask for any advice, Mulally is happy to help.
Mulally took over at Ford in 2006 and led the company through a seriously rough patch in the auto industry. According to Bloomberg, he became famous or his Thursday meetings where executives were forced to deal with any problems before they could leave. Since announcing his retirement from Ford in May, Mulally has been insuring a smooth transition of power by traveling the world to all of company's major locations and saying goodbye to employees and dealers.
In terms of the future at Ford, Mulally doesn't predict any big changes in management style because the rest of the executive team is staying in place. He believes that Fields is going to maintain the processes already in place to keep things going. After all, it seems to be working. The company is predicting a return to profitability in Europe next year and is opening 88 new dealers in China. If the business could get its recalls under control, things could get even better.

Ford Focus 1.0-liter Ecoboost to only get manual trans in US

Photos of the 2015 Ford Focus leaked earlier today, but now we're able to tell you more details of the global five-door hatchback. Bucking automaker's troubling trend of ditching manual transmissions in favor of automatics, Ford says the new 1.0-liter EcoBoost engine will come only in a six-speed manual in the US, because, well, American drivers aren't as sophisticated as our European brothers and sisters.
Ford didn't come out and say it that way, but it has found American drivers are more prone to complain about automatics in smaller-engine cars, Raj Nair, Ford's group vice president of global product development, said at a press conference last week. The recent JD Power Vehicle Dependability Study backs up Ford's claims, pointing out that drivers are complaining about rough transmission shifts, engine hesitation and lack of power, particularly in small cars. In Europe and other parts of the world, drivers seem to understand the quirks of these pint-sized engines, Nair said, so they'll have the option to buy an automatic. Ford is working on tuning its dual-clutch transmissions to make them more amenable to American driver's tastes.
Ford will show off the refreshed 2015 Focus at the Geneva Motor Show in early March. The car is due for an update, having been on sale in its current form since 2012. The automaker said it is jamming the car full of new technology - like a USB port that promises to charge your phone in half the time as a regular USB port. Features like Sync and a rear back-up camera will come standard. For a more in-depth look at the car, take a look at the full press release.