Ford promises that the next generation of the Mustang muscle car will try to satisfy the demands of a global public. The design of the sports model will be sketched by the design studios in US, Europe and Australia.

After Fiesta, Focus and Mondeo, another traditional Ford model will become a global product, starting with the new generation. We’re talking about the legendary muscle car, Mustang, Ford wants to sell to the customers world wide.

In order to have success on high levels, the American model will have to adopt a completely new design, resulted from the collaboration of three design studios of the Blue Oval: from US, Europe and Australia.

Derrick Kuzak, responsible for developing the sports model, said: “It is a common process we [now] use on every vehicle. When we embark on a new product, particularly one that is all new, it involves all of the studios. Then J [Mays] and the design team pick the best of those themes.”

A recent example for the collaboration between Ford’s design studios is the birth of the Ranger Wildtrack edition, a project with Australian origins, but European design lines. The new generation Mustang will have its market debut in 2014.

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Ford will sue Ferrari for using the F150 name for their Formula 1 car, a name close the the one used by the Americans for one of their pick-up trucks.

Rumor has it that a Ford vs Ferrari lawsuit was confirmed this week.

Ford decided to sue Ferrari, saying that the Italians are fraudulently using the F150 acronym for the car that competes in the 2011 Formula 1 season, as the Americans have registered in 1995 the F-150 brand for one of their pick-ups they sell in US. Ford wants the judges to forbid Ferrari F1 Team to import, produce or sell products with the F150 name in US.

Ferrari uses the F150 name “in order to capitalize on and profit from the substantial goodwill that Ford has developed in the F-150 trademark, and in order to trade off of Ford’s famous and winning trademark,” said Ford Officials in the suit.

As well, Ford seeks $100,000 in damages for Ferrari have registered the ferrarif150.com domain, the official site of the 2011 Ferrari F1 car. In addition, Ford also sued the North American sales division of Ferrari, despite the fact it is not involved in the Italian’s Formula 1 program.

Ferrari F1 Team decided to name their 2011 car F150 in order to symbolize 150 years since the reunification of Italy.

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Ford will launch the new generation Ka in 2014. The production version of the 2014 Ford Ka will be inspired, both aesthetically and technologically, from the Ford Start Concept presented last year.

Just like the Focus and the Fiesta, which became global models, Ford wants to sell the next generation of the small Ka on all markets of the world. The Detroit automaker wants to give birth to an urban successor, based on the Start Concept, unveiled last year at Detroit Auto Show.

The influences of the concept will be felt both outside and inside the car, with a new petrol engines generation under the hood.

The new Ford Ka is expected to hit the markets in 2014, but its official debut will be made in Latin America. More precisely, the new Ka will be born at the Ford plant in Brazil, then in India and China. Given the situation, it looks like the Polish plant in Tychy will not built this vehicle for the European market.

Ford took this decision after the checked the Ka sales numbers. This fail mad the officials question about using a Fiat 500 platform for the new Ford Ka. So, the new generation could use a modified platform borrowed from its older brother. So, we could also see a five door version of the new Ka.

Rumor has it that a new engine will debut in the same time with the new Ka, as A 1-liter, three cylinder, Ecoboost engine will be under its hood.

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Caterham unveiled today at Birmingham the SP/300.R model. The extreme creation of the British automaker manage to reach 60 mph in just 2.8 seconds, despite having only 305 HP.

Autosport International Show, held in Birmingham these days, noted the beginning of an important niche model. It is about the long-awaited Catheram creation, an entirely new model, named SP/300.R, which will join the existing range, composed by the Roadsport and Superlight models and from the Super Seven model.

The new SP/300.R will take the traditional features of the range: quality, lower maintenance costs and ease of use. Moreover, the model will create a new single brand championship and will be available to all those passionates about the experiences on the track.

To give birth to the aluminum monocoque structure, Caterham has used the help of the guys from Lola, while the aerodynamics and the Hewland sequential transmission with steering wheel paddles were borrowed from Formula 3. The body, composed by seven parts, was constructed from plastic materials, and the 13 inch wheels were shod with Cooper tires.

The newest Caterham member has a length of 165 inches, a wheelbase of 102 inches and a width of 67 inches. The model surprise with a very low height of only 40 inches and the total mass, extremely reduced, only 1202 pounds.

Under the hood is a Duratec engine, Ford provenance, with a capacity of 2.0-liter, supercharged, which has a Rotrex compressor and a new ECU. The engine manage to develop a total of 305 HP at 7,500 rpm, but the special system “push-to-pass “, manage another 30 extra HP.

The British model provides an acceleration from 0 to 60 mph in just 2.8 seconds and a top speed of 180 mph. It should be noted that at 155 mph, the Catheram SP/300.R has a down force of 992 pounds.

New Caterham SP/300.R comes with a limited slip differential, with a signed AP Racing brake system, with an adjustable aerodynamic, also with an adjustable suspension and with roll cage approved by FIA. As an aesthetic special element, must to mention that the new Catheram model has LED lights on front side and also on rear side.

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Ford WRC Team unveiled on Thursday the colors layout of the new Fiesta RS WRC, the car that will soon enter in the 2011 season of the World Rally Championship.

Today, January 13, at Autosport International Racing Car Show, the opening event for the new WRC season held at in Birmingham, Ford unveiled the design of their Ford Fiesta RS WRC for the 2011 season.

At the same event, the American manufacturer confirmed the official name of the team for 2011, which will be called Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team.

Abu Dhabi emirates stay with Ford in World Rally Championship, and this is the reason why Khalid Al-Qassimi will continue to comped in the official team next to Hirvonen and Latvala.

Castrol also continues their partnership with Ford WRC team, a deal that started back in 2005.

The new Ford Fiesta RS WRC 2011 was developed by Ford Europe in a collaboration with the British team of M-Sport. The WRC version is basted on the Ford Fiesta S2000 model, launched in 2010, a model that begun its career with a win in Rally Monte Carlo, reason why this model was awarded by Motor Media team in Rally Magazine Awards.

Ford Fiesta RS WRC 2011 is developed under the terms of the new WRC regulations that focuses on reduced costs. It features four wheel drive, but no active differentials, and under its hood it’a a turbocharged 1.6-liter engine, developed on the new new generation Ford Ecoboost platform.

The complete specs of the new model will be revealed in the beginning of February. Until then, M-Sport Ford team will continue their tests in Sweden, next week, preparing the debut rally of the new WRC season, Rally Sweden, between February 10-13.

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Ford brings at Detroit Auto Show two green versions of the C-Max model: Energi and Hybrid. The first can be recharge at an outlet and the second is like to be a more economical hybrid than Fusion Hybrid.

After the electric Focus revealed yesterday, Ford continues to surprise at Detroit Motor Show by two other ecological models, both developed on the new series version of the C-Max model and also on the C segment platform, scheduled to host 10 different cars in 2014.

The surprises prepared by Ford are called C-Max Energi, the first vehicle can be recharged to an outlet from the Ford range and C-Max Hybrid, a derivative with hybrid drive train. Although the guys from Ford have not published enough informations about the two new models yet, Ford wanted to clarify that the both versions will receive a set of lithium-ion batteries developed in Ford laboratories from Michigan.

The new C-Max Energi promises a total autonomy of 500 miles, but ensures more miles in electric mode, after an outlet, rather than the newest hybrid from Detroit, Chevrolet Volt.

On the other hand, the new C-Max Hybrid wants to be a more economical alternative than the current Ford Fusion Hybrid, which currently guarantees an average consumption of 41 mi/gal and is officially designated the most economical sedan in United States.

The new models will reach on the market until 2012, but Europe will get them somewhere in 2013.

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Ford is a company which takes in-car apps seriously and it has announced an application which will monitor the charge status of upcoming electric Ford cars. The application will become available for iOS, Android, and BlackBerry smartphones, however, Ford demoed the app on the Samsung Focus which is a Windows Phone 7 device.

According to Ford, the application will also be released as a web-based app meaning that all featurephones with a browser compatible with HTML5 will get a change to monitor their cars.

Ford says that the MyFord Mobile app is like a sleeping monitor app as it will let you know when’s the best time and cost to charge your electric car. Ford didn’t announce which cars will support MyFord Mobile, but it did specify that the vehicles will need a special plug. Maybe wants to fight against piracy, speaking of which, the price of app is unknown for now.

The MyFord Mobile application will also allow users to find their car using the GPS and as soon as that happens, they’ll be able to unlock the cars’ doors. Pretty clever and handy, but we need to see a car which will fit.

MyFord Mobile App On Windows Phone 7

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Chevrolet Camaro have become the best-selling sports model in United States. The GM model have overpassed Ford Mustang in annual sales for the first time in 25 years.

For the first time in 25 years, Chevrolet Camaro was sold better than Ford Mustang. Moreover, Chevrolet sold 81,371 Camaro units even though the model was only offered in Coupe version, while Ford sold a total of 73,716 Mustang Coupe and Convertible units. Ford officials have reasons to be upset, because the their F series was the best-selling model in United States in 2010, with 529,349 units.

But both marketing teams have reasons to be happy, because Mustang sales have increased 10.6% in 2010, while Camaro sales increased with 31.9% in the same year. Since 1985 until 2010, Ford Mustang was the best-selling sports model in America, no matter the circumstances. Chevrolet also have a model in the Top 10 car sales in United States, the Silverado, model sold in 370,135 copies, registering a 16.9% increase in sales compared with 2010.

The starting price of Ford Mustang Coupe is of $22,145 in US (tax included), while the top model starts from %37,845. On the other hand, Chevrolet Camaro has a starting price of $22,680 (tax included) and the top of the range costs $33,945. The convertible version of Ford Mustang starts at $27,145 (tax included) on the US market, while the price tag for Chevrolet Camaro Convertible was not yet revealed. Starting 2012, Chevrolet will start selling Camaro in Erope, but the price of the model is still a mystery.

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Is known that Fiesta will enter WRC next season, and it seems that with the occasion Ford is planning to introduce the RS version of their subcompact model. Ford Fiesta RS is set do develop 175 HP.

Ford Focus RS’ exit from WRC and the adoption of the lower segment model, Fiesta, in the World Rally Championship, determined the Ford officials to seriously think at the possibility of launching a performance version of Fiesta. Of course, the new version will borrow the RS acronym from its bigger brother, Ford Focus RS.

“We would love a high-performance Fiesta. We’re looking at al opportunities (the WRC car can bring),” said David Katic, Marketing Manager of the Australian Division of Ford.

According to the first informations available about the next Ford Fiesta RS, the car will feature a 1.6-liter turbocharged engine that will develop somewhere around 175 HP, allowing the Ford subcompact performance model to hit 60 mph in less than six seconds. The main rivals on the market of Ford Fiesta RS will be the sporty subcompact models like Opel Corsa OPC, Renault Clio RS or Abarth Punto Evo.

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We are rapidly approaching to the end of this year and it’s time to discuss some issues related to the next year. The first one is refers to the hot hatches that we can count next year and I refer to the compact class, the best, anyway. Some models are already available, others have not been released yet, but will be in 2011.

Anyway, in the second half of the next year, we have several (about 5) hot hatches, very tempting, all at over $25,000, but that’s it, the performance is not free, especially that this sport compact models are already much stronger than what we had in the segment until a few years ago.

I mean that, until recently, the hot hatches included a 2.0-liter engine and 200 HP. But now, the standard is higher. The sporty compact displayed, generally, around of 250 HP, but some models promise even more.

But let’s see what we have available next year. The order is random … but it reflects my current tastes:

1. Renault Megane RS 250 – A car which all journalists were told that is extremely successful. I never heard a negative opinion about it, instead, is better than all ever imagined. The French model, besides the fact that it looks great, it comes with a 2.0-liter turbo engine that produces 250 HP and 250 lb-ft of torque. Accelerate from 0-60 mph in just 6.1 seconds and reaches a top speed of 155 mph. Excellent performance, doubled, say those who tested it, by a good chassis, which allows the optimal exploitation of engine-gearbox package.

2. Opel Astra OPC – The car has not debuted in the series version, but were shown us a concept, which will go into series production unchanged. Besides he looks great, new Astra OPC promises to be above all competitors in the power section. The concept was presented with a 2.0-liter turbo engine that develops 290 HP. This is exactly what I say, a bigger power than all hot hatches. I expect that the car to come with this level of power, and the Germans have already announced a performance front-axle differential, one that makes usable all the 290 HP.

3. Ford Focus ST – About this model is not clear when will hit the market. It was said some time ago that will come in 2012, but is still likely to debut next year. New Focus ST will drop the 2.5-liter turbo engine with 225 HP and will adopt a 2.0-liter turbo engine, with 4 cylinder, that will produces 250 HP, like Megane RS 250. It will be an interesting battle between the new Focus ST and Megane RS. To win, new Focus ST should have a good platform.

4. Volkswagen Golf GTI MK VI - A good car, always balanced. The 210 HP of the 2.0-liter turbo engine can not beat the competition. But it has the advantage that offer a unique gearbox, that nobody offer on a hot hatch, the excellent DSG gearbox. VW Golf GTI can accelerates from 0-60 mph in 6.9 seconds and reach a top speed of 149 mph.

5. Mazda3 Speed - I included it in this list, although it will probably sell less than the competition. In this conditions, the car does not look bad and offers more power. Maybe the price discouraged a little or maybe some mistakes at promotion level. Under the hood there is a 2.3-liter turbo engine, that develops 260 HP and 280 lb-ft of torque. The dynamic performance is identical with Megane RS 250 – 0-60 mph in 6.1 seconds and a top speed of 155 mph.

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