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STUDY: Ford owns brand loyalty in 2009; Scorned Saturn, Pontiac buyers will look outside of GM

Ford buyers appear to love their cars more than customers of any other automotive brand, returning back to the American automaker when it comes time to purchase their next vehicle. According to a study by Experian Automotive, six of the top 10 vehicles for customer brand loyalty wear badges from the Blue Oval. That includes the Ford Fusion (62.4 percent), Ford Edge (57.9 percent), Ford Five Hundred/Taurus (56 percent), Ford Freestyle (51.9 percent), Ford Escape (49.4 percent) and the Ford Focus (47.57 percent).
Other vehicles making up the top 10 include the Toyota Prius (52 percent), Chevy Impala (51.7 percent), Toyota Camry (47.8 percent) and Toyota Corolla (47.56 percent). This brings up an interesting question: With the closing of automotive brands like Saturn and Pontiac, where are those buyers to turn for their next automotive purchase?
Apparently, not back to General Motors. According to Experian, Pontiac owners are most likely to look to the Ford lineup for their next car or truck and Saturn shoppers will switch to Toyota or Honda - not particularly surprising given that Saturn was meant to compete with import brands. Experian predicts that GM's overall market share will fall from 20 percent to about 17.5 percent, with most of the slack being picked up by Ford, Honda and Toyota.

Ford Focus EV's slow sales trigger massive incentives

The Detroit News reports Ford is having real trouble moving its new Focus Electric. As a result, the automaker is offering substantial incentives in an attempt to lure in more buyers. How substantial? Try $10,750 off of a three-year lease. What's more, the EV can now be had for $37,995 ($2,000 less than its original base price) on top of an additional $2,000 cash discount to buy the EV outright - or you can opt for 1.9-percent financing if you work through Ford Motor Credit. None of which factors in various potential government incentives. Last year, Ford managed to sell a paltry 685 of the 1,627 Focus EV hatchbacks it built.
Ford isn't alone in trying to woo more buyers to its EV effort. Nissan cut the price of its Leaf by a whopping 18 percent for 2013, now down to $28,800 and built in the USA. The move followed the automaker's substantial incentives in 2012.
If you want a Focus Electric, you can now apparently get your hands on one for as little as $285 per month with $930 due at signing for a 36-month lease with 10,500 miles per year.

Watch Tanner Foust hustle the Fiesta ST 'round the 'Ring

The last time we saw Tanner Foust at the Nürburgring he was sloshing an SVT Raptor from kerb to kerb. Sticking with Ford but swapping keys, this time the drift champion and Top Gear USA host goes to the opposite end of the manufacturer's tuner garage and plucks a Fiesta ST for 'Ring duty.
The 179-horsepower front-wheel-driver acquits itself well by the end of the video. But be warned, Foust doesn't set a 'Ring time and it's shot like a commercial... because that's what it is. Still, you can enjoy all two minutes and 31 seconds of it below.