Autoblog

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One of the cool features that Ford is introducing for the 2009 model year is its updated navigation system with Sirius Travel Link. When we went out to drive the updated 2009 Ford Escape this week, Ford's chief technology spokes-model Alan Hall gave us a guided tour of the system. The next generation nav unit takes the traditional touch screen GPS unit and integrates it with the popular SYNC system that debuted last year, while adding real time downloadable information from Sirius and a 10GB jukebox. The Sirius system provides information such as live weather maps overlaid on the navigation data, current fuel prices, movie listings and more.

With the jukebox, you can insert an audio CD and automatically rip it to the internal hard drive like you can in the Cadillac CTS. The full Gracenote CDDB database is incorporated so that the meta-data can be automatically added. The screen can even display the album artwork. The system can even play DVDs with the video only being visible on the front seat screen when the car is in park. As soon as the transmission is shifted into gear, it only plays the audio track. If you pull up a restaurant listing, it can automatically dial your bluetooth phone through the SYNC system. Like SYNC, the whole system can be controlled by voice commands so you don't have to take your hands off the wheel. The new setup will be on most 2009 Fords, with bigger vehicles like the new Flex and the MKS getting an 8-inch touch screen while the smaller Escape makes do with a 6.5" inch screen. Ford will be charging $1,995 for the full system including SYNC, the nav system, Travel Link and the jukebox. Check out a pair of video run-throughs of the system after the jump.

[Source: Ford]

Click image for more Fords in I Am Legend

Product placements in films get a lot of virtual ink here at Autoblog, probably because we all like cars (obviously) and are, for the most part, movie buffs. The carmaker placement king over the last year was unquestionably Transformers, which did more to expose (and evangelize) the new Camaro to the masses than GM's marketing department could ever have hoped. The Bond films are always good for some car-related water-cooler discussion, and last year also saw VW use The Bourne Ultimatum to shill for the Touareg 2. Ford's been kind of off the blockbuster radar since Casino Royale, but makes a tidy comeback in the new Will Smith thriller, I Am Legend.

Over the holidays, I managed to slink away from the wife and kids for a couple of hours to catch the film with some friends. As a movie it's imperfect but very entertaining, with a nice performance by Will Smith. The Ford stuff is very noticeable if you're aware of this sort of thing, and for the most part the cars are used well.

NOTE: Since I'm going to reference some scenes and elements that are spoilerish in nature, including the film's ending, I'll give the rundown after the jump.

The small utility vehicle market is booming right now, and there may be none better in the non-luxury space than the fuel-sipping Honda CR-V. Honda has to be thrilled with their little 'ute, mostly because customers are snatching up the vehicle with little or no incentives, and it's far and away the best-selling CUV in the US. The CR-V has been so successful that Honda has increased production in Mexico by 20,000 units annually to expand sales into Brazil and Argentina. Honda is hiring an additional 600 employees to its El Salto plant in Mexico to account for growing production. The move is part of Honda's plan to double North American production of the CR-V.

[Source: Automotive News - Sub. Req.]

Ford is recalling more than 500,000 Escapes after receiving reports from 50 owners of engine fires from 50 owners. Ford says the fires were caused by improperly installed ABS units on 2001-2004 models, and did not result in any accidents or injuries. Missing or improperly installed seals could allow water or other liquids could get into the units' wiring harnesses, causing a short, and possibly, underhood fires.

Ford dealers will inspect each of the recalled SUVs and repair or replace faulty ABS modules. The recall potentially affects 488,480 Escapes sold in the U.S. and about 75,000 sold in Canada, Mexico and Europe. Hybrid Escapes are not included in the recall.

Read the NHTSA investigation summary on the jump.

[Source: AP via Yahoo]

Senior researchers from automakers around the world agree that internal combustion engines will dominate the automotive market for decades to come, even though hydrogen fuel cells are becoming an attractive replacement technology.

Volkswagen's Wolfgang Steiger predicted that fuel cell cars will not reach 1 percent of new car sales before 2030, growing to a 50 percent market share 20 years later. A DaimlerChrysler researcher was slightly more optimistic, forecasting a single-digit share of the new-car market as early as 2020. Ford Motor's Gerhard Schmidt swung the other way, saying a 50 percent market share by 2050 seemed optimistic.

Filling the gap? Hybrids. Toyota expects its hybrid sales to blow through the 1 million units a year milestone early next decade, with auto parts supplier Bosch forecasting hybrid sales of 2.4 million units a year by 2015.

Meanwhile, dramatic improvement in the efficiency of gasoline engines, together with the development of clean diesels, is giving the internal combustion engine a new lease on life.

With U.S. automakers well behind the power curve of hybrid technology development and product rollout (Ford's hybrids notwithstanding), basing their strategies on an ethanol-based transition to a hydrogen future could leave them on the outside looking in, provided hybrids gain the hearts and minds of car buyers in the next decade.

[Source: Reuters]

Suffice it to say that Suzuki has never stunned North American consumers with beautiful automotive designs. In point of fact, reviewing their history reveals a certain manic quality, little of it pretty. Oddball propositions like the toy-like X-90 and character-free Esteem have given way to the likes of Suzuki's ill-proportioned Aerio and milquetoast non-statements on the order of the Verona and Forenza. But there are tangible signs that the automaker is finally finding the plot– the inexpensive Italdesign-penned Reno and the tweener SX4 crossover are both attractive propositions. But the offering most likely to become the company's poster child is the all-new-for 2006 Grand Vitara.

A direct replacement for its tired, boxy predecessor that reigned from 1999-2004, the new Grand Vitara is infinitely more compelling with even just a cursory glance. By comparison, yuppies ought to be clamoring for the reborn GV like it's next year's Ikea catalog. Simply put, it's a looker. The strong lines of its clamshell-style hood set the tone, creating a defining ridge across the top of the rectilinear grille, lending the clear-lensed headlamps a bit of edge. The former element is of the blacked-out cross-hatch variety, with a thin, u-shaped chrome lip adding definition and a bit of class. Even when viewed from the dead-on, the GV's meaty fender flares lend it a properly butch stance, particularly as they mold so nicely into the bumper, itself augmented by a pair of blisters housing auxiliary driving lamps. Complaints? Well, the chrome 'S' badge on the nose is a bit outsized, coming across like a Superman logo reinterpreted by an anime artist. But it's hard to blame Suzuki's designers for wanting to get the message out that they're finally in the business of making attractively styled vehicles.

(Click here for the full walk-around, along with more commentary)

Mazda has a new styling chief. Dutchman Laurens Van den Acker will be putting the rather cumbersome appliqué "General Manager of the Design Division of Mazda Motor Corporation" on his office door, replacing Moray Callum (design head since 2001) who has been appointed to Ford's automotive design director post.

Van den Acker comes to Mazda from parent company Ford, where he was the automaker's Dearborn-resident Chief Designer, Strategic Design. The gifted multilingual designer has had a hand in a number of Blue Oval concepts from the last few years, including the Bronco, 427, 24/7 and Model U. Production-wise, some of his influence can be seen on the Escape and Mercury Mariner.

In light of Callum's move, Patrick Schiavone will be Ford's Design director for trucks.

The promotions are effective immediately.

[Sources: Mazdanews.com; Ford; Mazda]

(Tip nod: Igor)

Ford Motor Company announced yesterday that sales of its hybrid SUVs rose 50 percent year-over-year in April to 2,800 units, largely on the backs of sizeable incentive initiatives.

The numbers indicate a 75 percent increase over March, which would appear to indicate that Ford is gaining some traction thanks to the zero-percent 60-month loans on its Escape and Mercury Mariner hybrids, as well as the ramping up the ‘Kermit Factor’ (read: spending more $$$ on advertising).

Ford also attributes government tax benefits and increasing gas prices for the demand uptick.

[Source: Reuters via Planet Ark; Autos.163]

Not much is known about the next Ford Escape, other than the fact that the U.S. version is becoming more distinct from its foreign-market counterparts, like the re-nosed model set to run Down Under for 2007. Of course, as can be plainly seen here, the American version of the popular small SUV will get a new look as well, though markedly more aggressive than its Australian counterpart. With a bolder chrome grille and bumper inlet and headlamps similar to that of the 2007 Expedition, the look is definitely more grown up and aggressive, with designers having exorcised the overly prominent front bumper fascia of the current iteration.

No word yet on powertrain or interior refinements, though the Aussie Escape gained variable valve timing on its 2.3-liter four-cylinder model, and all models received an upgraded interior. From the looks of things, it would appear that the domestic Escape will receive a more thorough going-over than that of other markets, which should keep it in the hunt against vehicles like the new Toyota RAV-4 and Hyundai Tucson, along with upcoming competitors like the Mitsubishi Outlander.

[Source: The Detroit News]

Mitsubishi's first Outlander unwittingly lived up to its name, operating on the fringes of mainstream SUVdom, largely failing to cross-over to the widespread success of competitors like Ford's Escape and Honda's CR-V. It wasn't that it was a horrible vehicle, but it didn't offer much in the way of Unique Selling Points (USPs), save its love/hate front clip. But judging by our first exposure to the new-for-2007 iteration, the Outlander's luck may be about to change.

Significantly larger and more powerful than the first-generation model, the Outlander has undergone a Toyota RAV4-esque plus sizing. It now offers more interior room, including an optional flip up third-row. There's reason to hope that it will be a good handler, as well. Based on new architecture that will underpin the next-generation Lancer (and more importantly for enthusiasts, the coming Evolution), the Outlander rides on a longer wheelbase and a wider track, and uniquely, makes use of an aluminum roof to lower its center of gravity.

(Dozens of photos, original commentary full press releases and specs after the jump!)