2001 Ford Rander Extended Cab 2 Dr. 3.0l V6 on 2040-cars

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Ford reports 58% drop in Q2 profits on European losses

Ford Motor Company announced Wednesday that it has posted a $1 billion profit for the second quarter of 2012. That sounds like good news for the Blue Oval, until you take into account that Ford posted a $2.4 billion profit for Q2 a year ago. That is a substantial 58 percent loss.
Ford also posted $465 million in international losses, with $404 million of those losses coming directly from Europe. The automaker also increased its European loss projections to $1 billion for 2012, due in large part to the economic crisis overseas, which has resulted in increased unemployment and decreased consumer confidence.

Ex-PR chief Vines accuses Ford of bugging cars, phones

Jason Vines, former head of communications at Ford among other automakers, is accusing the Blue Oval of bugging his company phone and his car during the Firestone tire recall for the Explorer in 2001. The allegations have come to light in Vines' upcoming book What Did Jesus Drive? Crisis PR in Cars, Computers and Christianity.
According to The Detroit News, which has an advance copy of the book, Vines (pictured above) claims that after leaving the company, someone with security within Ford advised him that he had been bugged around the time of the recall. The allegations don't stop there, though. Vines further contends that he might not have been the only one to get this treatment, noting that then-general counsel John Rintamaki also believed he was being listened to.
According to The Detroit News, even if it had been a company phone, recording Vines without his knowledge still would have been a felony under Michigan law.

Barrett-Jackson rundown: 2024 GMC Hummer EV, Colin Powell's Corvette and more

The echoes of the last hammer fall at Barrett-Jackson's Scottsdale Auction have disappeared into the Arizona night, as have the record crowds and the traffic jams. During the Super Saturday charity auctions, three main attractions drove onto the dais for bidding: Late U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Secretary of State General Colin Powell’s 2015 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray, the hammer price benefitting AmericaÂ’s Promise Alliance, the nonprofit Powell founded to support kids; The first production 2024 GMC Hummer EV SUV Edition 1 with VIN 001, proceeds going to Tread Lightly!, which educates people on how to enjoy the outdoors in a motorized vehicle and simultaneously protect the outdoors; And the first production 2024 Ford Mustang GT Fastback VIN 001, its hammer price benefiting the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. Before the Saturday showcase, charity auctions on Friday took Barrett-Jackson past a huge milestone. When an 800-horsepower 2021 Shelby Super Snake Count's Kustoms Edition hammered for $350,000 to support the veteran's charity Camp Freedom, the auction house officially surpassed the $150 million mark for charity auction proceeds. Piling on before the clock struck midnight, a 2023 Ford F-150 Lightning 4x4 Super Crew sold for $275,000, those funds donated to Fighter Country Foundation. Then came Saturday. Powell's Gunmetal Gray on black Stingray was said to be a daily driver, but with just 15,600 miles on the odometer, Powell — who died in 2021 — apparently had a very short commute. Equipped with an eight-speed automatic transmission and chrome wheels, it sold for $200,000. The first production 2024 GMC Hummer EV SUV Edition 1 ran the bidding up to $500,000. That's quite a ways down on the $2,500,000 that the bedded 2022 GMC Hummer EV Edition 1 garnered at the charity auction in 2021, and not a bad price all things considered. The owner gets the first one off the line instead of getting lost in the 90,000-order backlog, and the markup goes to a good cause instead of a flipper and eBay fees. The first production 2024 Mustang GT Fastback brought in both less and more than the Hummer EV. The Ford's hammer price came to $490,000. However, two additional philanthropic donations for this lot in the amounts of $50,000 and $25,000 took the final price to $565,000. The big movers on the day were outside the charity sphere, four cars breaking the million-dollar mark.