1972 Ford Sport Custom. All Original Including 390 B.b. And A.c. on 2040-cars

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2015 Ford Focus Electric hides in plain sight

The styling changes to the 2015 Ford Focus were shown off at the recent Geneva Motor Show, so what the EV version looks like is not that much of a surprise. Still, the 2015 Focus Electric is making its world debut here at the New York Auto Show, so we wanted to know what changes we are looking at compared to both the internal combustion engine version and the earlier EV models.
The exterior visual distinctions between the ICE and EV are minimal, and basically nonexistent from the A-pillar to the rear. Up front, you can see the charge port, of course, but the front fascia has also undergone a bit of an adjustment. The front doesn't have the ICE version's flattened grille and the EV's Ford logo creates a bump in the hood line where none exists on the ICE. The 2015's grille is also different than the one on the 2014 Focus Electric, being slightly smaller (you can see this better if you compare pictures in our new gallery above to these of the 2011 Focus Electric and these of the gas-powered 2015 Focus).
The updated 2015 interior - which we couldn't access ourselves - has things like a new center stack, improved cupholders and is basically identical between the gas and electric models. With the car off, you can't even tell if you're in an EV or ICE, Seema Bardwaj, the US brand manager for the Focus, told AutoblogGreen. The only things that are different, she said, are extra menu screens to show EV powertrain information to the driver.

This 1969 Ford F-100 has a Cadillac CTS-V engine lurking underhood

Something always feels just a little taboo when someone builds a custom and then slots in a powertrain from a rival automaker. That's exactly the case with this modded 1969 Ford F-100 boasting a highly tuned LSA supercharged V8 like from the second-gen Cadillac CTS-V. However, with a claimed 800 horsepower on tap thanks in part to running an estimated 20 pounds of boost, it's easy to get over any bad feelings. Built by Tommy Pike Customs in South Carolina, the truck tries to keep the exterior looking somewhat stock. Although, the jade green and satin gold paint, Quaker State logo, lowered suspension and black wheels immediately suggest something is up. Once the F-100 starts up with its menacing growl, absolutely any doubts of this beast being unaltered are immediately gone. Not so obvious are some tweaks to actually help put all that power down, including disc brakes and independent suspension setups at the front and rear. The video gives some glimpses at a few of Pike's other creations, but the real star here is definitely his mean, green Ford.

Ford 'working very hard' on F-150 hybrid

The lighter, aluminum-bodied 2015 Ford F-150 gets (at best) 26 miles per gallon. That's not bad for a truck that size – and we should always remember that improving gas guzzlers can make a big difference – but what if the popular truck came with a gas-electric hybrid powertrain? How efficient would that be? We heard Ford talking about such a vehicle last year, and now we learn that Ford is still "working very hard" to make a F-150 hybrid happen. You want details? Well, we all want details, but those will not be coming for quite some time. Last year, Ford's global product development chief, Raj Nair, said that the company was planning to have hybrid pickups and hybrid SUVs on sale by 2020. With fuel prices dropping, Nair is now saying that a hybrid F-150 makes more sense, financially, than a diesel, but Ford could make both options available, depending on customer demand. The diesel wouldn't require all that much work, Nair said, since "we've got diesels in the portfolio." To date, the only hybrid F-150s we've seen have been conversions, often PHEVs, like this example from HVET or this one from Quantum. Pickup trucks from other manufacturers haven't been greeted with huge sales numbers. General Motors stopped making its big two-mode hybrids and cancelled the next-gen program.