Autoblog

Despite the lack of a formal announcement (nor any real surprise), the Detroit News has the inside scoop on Ford's plan to close its Ontario plant after production of the Crown Victoria, Mercury Grand Marquis and Lincoln Town Car ceases, likely by the end of 2010.

The 2.6-million square foot facility currently employs over 2,400 workers and has built a number of models, ranging from the Pinto to the Escort.

Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) president, Buzz Hargrove, admitted to the News that, "There's nothing we can do to save St. Thomas," but we think there is. Convince Ford that the livery market is still dependent on the Panther-platform stalwart, despite New York City's vow to make all of its taxis hybrids in the next few years, and revamp the current car to be all things to all cops by fitting a new V8, a custom, police-friendly interior and anything else the boys (and gals) in blue could want.

[Source: Detroit News]

click above image to view more pics of the Ford Crown Victoria

According to Ford sources who gossiped to Ward's Auto, the Ford Crown Victoria won't be available on retail lots after 2008. From 2009, the only folks who can buy one are police and taxi drivers. Even that frontier is being threatened, with police departments snapping up Dodge Chargers and Chevy Impalas. New York's taxi fleet has to go hybrid by 2012, and Ford is pushing the Escape Hybrid to replace 2,500 Vics on Big Apple streets.

If you've got to have a full-sized rear-driver from the Blue Oval, the Mercury Grand Marquis will still be available. The Marquis is apparently much more popular with the public than the Vic, with nearly 38,280 Marquis' sold by dealers in the first nine months of this year. Compare that to the Crown Victoria, which moved 3,000 Vics to retail buyers in all of 2006. I guess this means we'll have to start looking out for Charger headlights in our rearview mirrors at night...

[Source: Wards Auto]

Many fans of the Ford Motor Company are longing for some form of the RWD Interceptor concept to become a production reality, and little do they know, such a vehicle is on the way. Well, it's not exactly the Interceptor concept, but spy shots of the 2008 Crown Victoria show that the original Police special will receive the Ford corporate three-bar grille when its refreshed. If the more masculine front clip isn't enough for you to spring for Ford's fleet maestro, then check out the new "special edition" badging complete with a crown adorning the colors of the Italian flag. The only other visible difference on the '08 donut delivery vehicle of choice is a puzzling strip of chrome at the bottom of the lower fascia which looks like a bling goatee. No word yet on powertrain, but the existing 4.6L V8 and a four speed automatic are good bets.

It's difficult to understand why Ford would go to the trouble of doing anything other than a full remodel of the Crown Vic. However trivial the costs of the updates, given that the Vic is now available for fleet sales only, we can't see anybody looking at the 2008 Crown Victoria and saying anything other than.... TAXI!

Click the Read link to see the full view of the Vickie's new three-bar grille.

[Source: Popular Mechanics]

Buying a new car or truck can be a very expensive endeavor. Style, safety, and reliability are usually at the top of shopper's lists, but the one area that will get you in the end is the all-important resale value.

Some vehicles, like the Honda Odyssey, hold their value extremely well, even after five years. Owners of the Dodge Caravan aren't nearly as lucky, with resale values after half a decade of ownership at a paltry 24-percent of the sticker. As Forbes' Dan Leinert points out, however, the Caravan actually scores quite well in JD Powers studies, so the horrendous resale value can be accounted for when considering the large incentives that are used to move hundreds of thousands of Dodge minivans off dealer lots.

Most of the other vehicles on the list have either gone a really long time without an update, like the Crown Victoria, or are just plain lousy vehicles, like the Kia Amanti. Either way, if your vehicle appears on the "Losing Value List," we'd suggest you hold onto it -- for a while.

You can see the list of the biggest losers after the jump.

[Source: Forbes]

The NHTSA says Ford, Volvo and Chrysler are recalling a total of about 300,600 vehicles.

Ford gets off relatively light and is bringing in 422 Crown Vics and Mercury Grand Marquis to replace improperly secured windshields.

Volvo, however, will install new software to fix speed controls on more than 170,000 cars. Models affected include the 1999-2000 C70 coupes and convertibles, S60, S70, S80, V70, V70XC and XC70.

And just as Chrysler is getting rid of the Pacifica, it'll be seeing 127,928 of them coming back for new fuel pumps and powertrain control module software. The affected crossovers were built from Aug. 1 to Sept. 30, 2004. DaimlerChrysler is also sending Jeep Compass owners updates to their cars' manuals. NHTSA said the books omitted a required rollover warning. We imagine the folks over at TTAC could think of a few more warnings NHTSA could have included in the Compass manual.

[Source: NHTSA via The Associated Press via Yahoo Finance]

The Crown Victoria will live! That's the word, according to a recent article in Law and Order magazine, which puts to rest rumors of Ford killing off its body-on-frame, V8-powered, RWD sedan, loved by police and loathed by anyone who's gotten the gumball machine treatment.

The Crown Victoria Police Interceptor (CVPI) will continue to be produced in its current form through 2008, with a redesign due in 2009. The new model will keep the same dimensions as the current vehicle, with measured revisions to add both performance and safety.

A posting on CrownVic.net brings to light some interesting facts about the CVPI, with regard to airbags (i.e. how do you get side curtain airbags to function properly when there's partition between cop and criminal), the importance of ballast, what level of performance is necessary and a host of other geeky tidbits.

Although this may be good news for both Ford and our boys and girls in blue, it doesn't bode well for Dodge, whose Charger has been the up-and-comer in a number of precinct garages.

[Source: Jalopnik via Crownvic.net]