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J Mays retiring from Ford design, succeeded by Moray Callum

Ford's highly influential head of design, J Mays, has announced that he'll be retiring from his position after 33 years in the industry, 16 of which were at the Dearborn, MI-based company. Upon departure, he'll be succeeded as group vice president of design by Moray Callum. If that last name sounds familiar, yes, he's the brother of Jaguar's Ian Callum.
It's difficult to explain just how big of a role Mays had on not just Ford's design over the years, but on the entire industry. Before heading to Dearborn, Mays worked for Audi, BMW and then Volkswagen, where he was involved in concept cars that paved the way for design icons like the first-generation Audi TT and the Volkswagen New Beetle. As for his Ford resume, it's extensive.
Mays joined the company in 1997 as design director for Ford, Lincoln, Mercury and Mazda, as well as the Premier Automotive Group (Volvo, Land Rover, Jaguar and Aston Martin). He was heavily involved in the Ford Fusion, Focus, Fiesta, Taurus, F-150 and Mustang, while also contributing to concept cars like the Atlas, Evos, 427, Forty-Nine, Shelby GR-1, Lincoln MKZ and the MKC.

Ford faces class-action lawsuit for selling vehicles without brake override systems

A total of 20 Ford customers are suing the automaker in a class-action lawsuit for selling vehicles "vulnerable to unintended acceleration." According to Reuters, the suit names 30 models built between 2002 and 2010 with electronic throttle control systems but without a brake override system. Those include the 2004-2012 F-Series pickups and the 2005-2009 Lincoln Town Car. Adam Levitt, a partner with the law firm of Grant & Eisenhofer says the plaintiffs in the case want "to be compensated for their economic losses by having overpaid for cars that contained defects." Levitt contends that the plaintiffs would not have bought their vehicles or paid less for them had they known there was no brake override system in place.
Ford began installing brake override systems in its vehicles beginning in 2010. In response to the lawsuit, Ford has pointed to research by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration that indicated that unintended acceleration is mostly caused by driver error, saying in a statement that, "NHTSA's work is far more scientific and trustworthy than work done by personal injury lawyers and their paid experts."
Belville et al v. Ford Motor Co. will be heard in US District Court in the Southern District of West Virginia.

These are the slowest-selling new cars of 2024

While overall sales numbers are a solid indicator of an automaker’s success, another metric can show how well its new vehicles resonate with buyers on the ground. iSeeCars recently released a list of the fastest- and slowest-selling new car companies on the market, and a handful of brands appear to have some catching up to do. Lincoln landed the “top spot” among slow-selling brands, taking an average of 82.6 days to move inventory. Infiniti wasnÂ’t much better, at 79.8 days, and Buick came third with 79 days to sell.  Slowest-selling new cars of 2024 Lincoln: 82.6 days to sell Infiniti: 79.8 Buick: 79 Audi: 75.1 Ram: 69.7 Ford: 68.1 Dodge: 67.4 GMC: 66.6 Acura: 65.4 Lexus: 64.5 iSeeCars executive analyst Karl Brauer noted that the fastest-selling brands, which include Toyota, Alfa Romeo, and Cadillac, likely move inventory because they resonate with buyersÂ’ desire for value and a compelling product. The study also noted that seeing GMC, Ford, and Ram so low on the list likely indicates slowing truck sales, which comprise a significant portion of those brandsÂ’ numbers. ItÂ’s also possible that buyers are turned off by higher prices from those brands. Fast-selling new car brands also appeared on the used car list, where Honda, Lexus, and Toyota dominated. Unfortunately for Lincoln, it also made the slow-selling used list, between Maserati as the slowest and Alfa Romeo in third. iSeeCarsÂ’ analysis also examined EV and hybrid sales and found that hybrids tend to sell much faster than their electric counterparts. In March 2024, new hybrids took an average of 49.5 days to sell, while EVs took 70.6 days. That again brings us to the price and value arguments, where hybrids are significantly less expensive than EVs, though charging and range concerns also likely play a role. By the Numbers Green Buick Infiniti Lincoln Car Buying