Autoblog

Click above to watch Ford's new commercial for Canada

Ford would like to think that it's a car company for the people, and the Blue Oval's latest TV commercial for Canada features zero cars. What the ad does show is a group of men and women dressed in Ford-issue blue going Cirque Du Soleil to form the silhouette of a Fusion and an Edge. The vehicles are very recognizable too, even though the 18 or so hominids use very minimal props. It's hard to say whether the ad is neat or creepy, so we'll let you decide in the comments after watching the 30-second clip after the jump. Thanks for the tip, Darryl!

[Source: YouTube]

Ford sent but a single model into the roiling crossover market battle with GM's Lambda trio quartet. How did the Edge move 130,000 units alone while GM needed the aggregated sales of the GMC Acadia, Buick Enclave, and Saturn Outlook to close 137,000 deals? Money. It's a simple case of throwing lots of bucks behind a product and making it hot. Ford backed the Edge with about $179 million in media buys, while GM spent less in total for all three Lambdas. Having three branches on the same tree doesn't give quite the same bang for the buck as you can get throwing it all behind a single product, too.

The advertising campaign for the Edge saw Ford hitting the web with a vengance, in addition to being placed well with several programming tie-ins. Viewers of American Idol and Extreme Makeover were treated to the Edge blitz, with snappy spots from David Mamet highlighting the Edge's speed and serenity. Overall, the crossover segment has been good for Detroit, with the Buick Enclave in particular zipping right off dealer lots, and the buying public embracing car-based, truckish-looking big wagons.

[Source: Advertising Age]

It seems like America is the only place where American cars aren't popular. Buick has huge numbers in China, and Ford's having a lot of success in Brazil. Sales of the Fusion sedan took off to the point that it now leads the midsize segment there. Riding high on the Fusion's success, Ford's sending the Edge below the equator. The Edge will join a lineup that includes the new Ka compact, the EcoSport small 'Ute, and the Fiesta.

Ford's also pumping $1 billion into it's Brazilian operations to keep the stampede going. Ford do Brasil has had 15 quarters of profit and earnings are up 72-percent over last year. The infusion of cash will go into Ford's local products, which will help the rest of their lineup come closer to the Edge's excellence.

Press release after the jump.

[Source: Ford]

Rather than have disparate design wings flung across the globe, all speaking in a different tongue, Ford's tasking J Mays with teaching everyone the design equivalent of Esperanto. The new, unified, global design language will replace the "Kinetic Design" that Ford of Europe employs, as well as superseding the "Bold American" motif we get here in the United States. We're not likely to see the Edge pick up any Mondeo themes any time soon, but Mays is looking forward about six years to see the convergence come to fruition on a new generation of vehicles.

Ford is looking inward, trying to divest some of the PAG largesse while simultaneously reinvigorating the core Ford brand. New, cohesive, and most of all exciting design is key to transforming Ford, and Mays will serve as overlord from his London base of operations. While you'd think that something as important as global design for such a huge automaker would be cloistered in the bowels Dearborn, Mays says that Alan Mulally is comfortable with him working remote. We think it will be good to have the design chief living abroad, able to take in a wider sampling of automotive fashion than what we can find here in the US. Besides, we're sure there's an XK in the Mays garage, ready to rip on down to Carnaby Street to study fashionistas in their natural habitat.

[Source: Automotive News - Sub. Req.]

Americans spend billions of dollars on breakfast cereal every year, and there is no better way to place advertising at the family breakfast table. Ford knows that and has teamed up with Kellogg's to give kids of all ages a Hot Wheels collector card featuring either the F-150, Mustang, or Edge. The blue oval Hot Wheels cards will be available after Labor Day (only at Target, which is lame) in over a million boxes of cereal. There are three different cards for each vehicle, each with a different color. If you find all three colors of a specific vehicle, you win yourself the real thing, courtesy of the gang in Dearborn.

We've had a lot of cereal in our time, and when we were kids there was always something to dig for in every box, even if it was total junk. The promo is cool, and while we're all for contests, we would have preferred actual Hot Wheels cars in-box instead of trading cards.

[Source: Ford]

Click the image above for a gallery of high-res images.

When we think of tuning potential, the Ford Edge doesn't immediately spring to mind. We've driven it. We like it. But it doesn't strike us as the perfect platform for a dump and dubs. H&R disagrees, and after last year's showing at SEMA, they've put together a comprehensive package for Ford's newest CUV that is almost a direct carryover from the concept shown in Vegas.

The kit includes a two-inch drop courtesy of the company's Sport Springs, along with a set of Trak+ wheel spacers that bring 22x10-inch OZ Giotti three-piece rollers to the very edges of acceptability. Judging by the dead-cat gap between the Pirelli Scorpion Zeros and the fender, we think they could have gone for 24s with minimal fuss.

Beyond the retina-damaging orange hue, black hood, ghost flame-style airbrushed lightening and restyled lower front fascia, the H&R Edge remains relatively stock. Fine by us, since the original's looks are good enough straight from the factory.

[Source: H&R via Jalopnik]

The Autoblog crew is being pulled in a million different directions right now, with plenty of OEM-sponsored events and car show to attend. We also got ourselves into a couple of competing crossovers, the Ford Edge and the Subaru Tribeca, and a couple new BMWs were unveiled as well. We fit in some first drives from the folks over at Ford Motor Company, and we attended the world premiere of the Transformers movie.

The last week was packed with information, and four minutes will give you an update on anything you might have missed by clicking on the video above. We've also added links below to some of the more significant galleries from the last seven days. In honor of our vacationing editor in chief, this week we found the only royalty-free music in the world that specifically mentions Cleveland. The one and only George Thorogood and the Destroyers cranked out "Any Town USA" for your enjoyment.

The advent of the crossover is fully upon us, so much so that no one even snickers at the name anymore. After all, SUVs have become persona non grata to many buyers thanks to their thirsty nature in a world where "cheap gas" is a phrase that seems quaint. That said, people still like the other stuff their trucks offered, like a high riding position, all-wheel-drive, room for kids and pets, plus the capacity to haul everything from groceries to bags of mulch. Of course, minivans offered this level of utility already, but some people's aversion to them (due to perceived lameness and other reasons) has brought us to where we stand today. The crossover will do battle with the van to become the new king of the family cars, and Ford has stepped right up to the plate with a solid player in the Edge.

When we drove the Edge in San Francisco last year, we came away rather impressed by Ford's newest entrant into the highly competitive CUV market. Apparently, we're not alone.

Consumer demand for the Edge has continued to increase since its launch, causing Ford to raise its sales forecast from 100,000 to 120,000 sales annually. Case-in-point: May saw the highest number of Edge sales so far, with 12,701 units sold. If those numbers remain constant, Ford should be able to exceed its revised sales goal, if only by a couple of hundred vehicles.

Knowing how important the Edge is to Ford's success, this is good news for the Blue Oval boys. Let's just hope it can be sustained.

[Source: Automotive News – Sub. Req.]

In 2000, more than 500,000 CUVs were sold in the U.S. In 2006, nearly 2,500,000 CUVs were sold, nearly a 400% increase in just six years. In fact, CUVs and midsized cars now account for 50% of the industry's sales, having claimed 20% from the sales of trucks and SUVs.

With crossovers in general being the fastest growing segment in autos, the Edge and Lincoln MKZ are leading the way for Ford. The Edge -- with a conquest rate of 41% -- is reportedly outselling the Fusion, with both models still showing month-on-month gains, though Ford's own numbers up through the month of March don't agree with that claim. The MKZ MKX is no slouch either, selling more than the RDX and both of Infiniti's FX models.

We don't know how often this kind of thing happens, however: Bob King, a dealer in Cincinnati, said that a couple traded a 2004 BMW Z3 and a 2004 Corvette for two new Edges. And that was after they tested a BMW X5 and Lexus RX 330. Even if that's not happening every day, the sales trend is very good news for the Blue Oval. By the end of 2008, Ford will have six CUV's on the market, and predicts CUV sales in the industry to reach 3 million by 2010.

[Source: Blue Oval News]

UPDATE: Post corrected to more accurately reflect source article. Sorry!