Autoblog

Ford confirms $1.1B investment to build Transit van in Kansas City

Zach Bowman — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 13:29:00 EST

Filed under: Minivan/Van, Plants/Manufacturing, Work, Ford

Ford has confirmed that its Transit van will be manufactured in Kansas City. The company plans to invest $1.1 billion in facility upgrades and tooling to produce both the next-generation F-150 and the Transit in preparation for the van's arrival on U.S. soil in 2013. That investment is $700 million more than Ford had previously allocated for its Kansas City facility. Ford says the extra cash will go toward new paint and body shops in addition to an integrated stamping plant. The upgrades will also allow Ford to increase F-150 pickup production with the addition of a second manufacturing shift.

Previously, we had heard word that Ford would embrace the T-Series naming convention for the Transit, with models breaking down into trim levels similar to what's seen on the current F-Series, though the press release after the jump specifically refers to the new van as the Transit. Does that mean Ford will rely on a new system of trim designation for the van? It's hard to say, but either way, it certainly sounds like the days of the E-Series/Econoline range are numbered. Hit the jump to see the full press release for yourself.

Continue reading Ford confirms $1.1B investment to build Transit van in Kansas City

Ford confirms $1.1B investment to build Transit van in Kansas City originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 21 Oct 2011 13:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Ford Transit van coming to America as Kansas City-built T-Series

Noah Joseph — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 10:02:00 EST

Filed under: Minivan/Van, Plants/Manufacturing, Work, Ford, UAW/Unions

When Daimler started selling its Sprinter van in North America - first as a Freightliner, then as a Mercedes-Benz and even a Dodge - it found companies on this side of the Atlantic were as keen to get their hands on a European-style van as, well, European companies are. But the Sprinter is about to get some European competition from... an American automaker.

That Ford makes certain products for overseas markets is nothing new, but as part of its drive to standardize its lineup around the world, the Blue Oval automaker is apparently planning on bringing its full-size Transit van Stateside.

Not only is it bringing the Transit to the American market, but it will also be building it here, too. The news is confirmed by a recent United Auto Workers announcement that reveals that, with production of the next-generation Escape moving to Louisville, Kentucky, the Transit will be assembled for local consumption alongside the F-150 pickup truck at the Kansas City plant.

According to Car and Driver sources, in order to avoid confusion with the smaller Transit Connect, the big van will be badged as a T-Series in this market, with nameplates like T-250, T-450 and T-550 - similar to the F-Series trucks, and more pertinently, the E-Series vans that used to be known as the Econoline. They can call it whatever they want; we just hope we get a version of the UK-market limited-edition SportVan pictured above.

Ford Transit van coming to America as Kansas City-built T-Series originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 05 Oct 2011 10:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Ford investing $400M in Kansas City plant for unnamed new car

Zach Bowman — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 16:00:00 EST

Filed under: Plants/Manufacturing, Ford

Ford has announced plans to invest $400 million in its Kansas City Assembly plant in Missouri. The company is shifting production of the Escape from that facility to its Louisville, Kentucky plant, which will open up a line for an unnamed model. There's some indication that the FoMoCo crew is planning to build the Transit Connect alongside the F-150 at the Kansas City facility. Regardless of what model Ford plans to build there, the company's investment will go toward new tooling, a new body shop and other improvements, while managing to save 3,750 jobs in the process.

Ford will receive around $150 million in tax breaks over 10 years for keeping the Kansas City plant up and kicking as part of the 2010 Missouri Manufacturing Jobs Act. The legislation provides tax incentives for automakers who retain jobs through new investments.

The Blue Oval is now in the process of retooling a total of four plants for upcoming products. The company just recently announced that it is investing $600 million in the Louisville, Kentucky plant to produced the next-generation Escape. Hit the jump for the press release.

[Sources: Ford, Automotive News - Sub. Req.]

Continue reading Ford investing $400M in Kansas City plant for unnamed new car

Ford investing $400M in Kansas City plant for unnamed new car originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 19 Jan 2011 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Report: Last Mercury for retail business built on Sunday

Zach Bowman — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 17:29:00 EST

Filed under: SUV, Plants/Manufacturing, Mercury, Earnings/Financials

Ford is already well into winding down its Mercury line, and the autoamker has announced that the very last of the soon-to-be dead brand's products built for retail sales was manufactured on Sunday, October 3. The final Mercury Mariner rolled off of the assembly line at the company's Kansas City facility, putting an end to a brand with over 70 years of history behind it.

Even after the Mariner heads off into the automotive sunset, Ford says that it will continue to manufacture a handful of Mercury models for fleet and government service for a while longer, though mum's the word on how long we can expect that practice to continue.

Interestingly enough, according to USA Today, most incentives on Mercury vehicles have all but dried up, even as the brand's August production increased by 120 percent compared to July's figures. Instead of cash on the hood, some areas are offering no-cost maintenance or similar programs. Even so, Mercury has continued to out-sell Lincoln right to the end - besting Ford's luxury arm's sales by nine percent in August.

[Source: USA Today]

Report: Last Mercury for retail business built on Sunday originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 04 Oct 2010 17:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Report: Ford to halt Missouri Escape production in 2011

Sam Abuelsamid — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 18:38:00 EST

Filed under: Plants/Manufacturing, Crossover, Ford

2010 Ford Escape Hybrid - Click above for high-res image gallery

Ford will be ending production of the current generation Escape crossover by the end of 2011 and move production of its replacement from Kansas City, Missouri to Lousiville, Kentucky. The Kansas City plant has built the Escape and its Mercury Mariner twin since they launched in 2000.

Production of the Mariner will end in the next few months as Ford winds down the Mercury brand and the new Escape will be built on the global C-segment platform. The new Escape is expected to be share a platform with Europe's next generation Kuga crossover. Space in Louisville was freed up by moving the new uni-body Explorer to the Chicago assembly plant alongside the Taurus and Lincoln MKS. Louisville may add additional C-segment products such as the C-Max MPV.

Officials in Missouri are considering new tax breaks to help convince Ford to put a new product in the Kansas City factory alongside the F-150 which will continue to be built there.

Gallery: Review: 2010 Ford Escape Hybrid

[Source: Detroit News]

Report: Ford to halt Missouri Escape production in 2011 originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 23 Jun 2010 18:38:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Kansas City man wins trip to England for logging most topless hours in a Mini

Noah Joseph — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 09:30:00 EST

Filed under: Convertible, Mini, UK

2009 Mini Cooper S Convertible (above), Openometer (inset) - Click above for high-res image gallery

Ever wonder what possible use the Openometer could have? The tiny dashboard gauge is found only in the Mini convertible and tracks the number of hours a Mini motorist has been driving with the top down. Cute, sure, but hardly as useful as, say... a speedometer or fuel gauge. Well, David Loveall and over 400 other Mini Cooper Convertible owners across America found the Openometer very useful as they participated in the Open One Challenge.

Kansas City's Loveall logged some 555.55 hours of top-down driving in his Mini, after driving across the country and visiting every one of the 48 contiguous states in the union. He took some of America's greatest back-roads, like Route 66 and US 50, avoiding the freeway at all costs and often camping roadside in a tent.

For his dedication to the open-air cause, Loveall is being awarded with a free trip to England to visit the Mini factory in Oxford. That's on top of the $1,000 in gift cards he got after finishing first in four out of five of the monthly contests and third in the fifth. Not too shabby, David. Follow the jump for the full press release, click here to visit the contest website and check out our gallery of high-res images from our review of the Mini Cooper S Convertible - in Interchange Yellow just like Loveall's - by clicking the thumbnails below.

Gallery: Review: 2009 Mini Cooper S Convertible

[Source: BMW]

Continue reading Kansas City man wins trip to England for logging most topless hours in a Mini

Kansas City man wins trip to England for logging most topless hours in a Mini originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 05 Feb 2010 09:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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REPORT: GM to depart with form and run certain plants around-the-clock

Michael Harley — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 10:59:00 EST

Filed under: Plants/Manufacturing, Buick, Chevrolet, GM, Earnings/Financials, UAW/Unions

Two weeks from now, General Motors will start running its Fairfax assembly plant continuously on a permanent basis. The unprecedented around-the-clock operation, following on the heels of the temporary third shifts a few months ago, is intended to boost the plant's production from its current 4,500 vehicles per week to 6,300 units over the same period.

Operating around-the-clock is no simple feat. Experts point out that automotive assembly lines require a lot of scheduled maintenance, cleaning, and restocking - tasks that are usually accomplished during the down periods between shifts. Typically, car makers add second shifts on a temporary basis when the market demands more vehicles. Third shifts are common for part suppliers, but not for automakers (even Toyota Motor Corp., often cited as a benchmark in efficiency, rarely operates more than two shifts). To allow time for maintenance, GM and union officials have figured out how to "overspeed" parts of the assembly line so they can be slowed temporarily later. The three-shift assembly line will run about 21.6 hours per day (up from 14.5 hours with two shifts).

GM is moving cautiously. The Fairfax assembly plant is the automaker's best candidate for a permanent third shift. Located in Kansas City, it consistently ranks among the most efficient automotive factories in America. In addition, the facility is tasked with manufacturing the Chevrolet Malibu and Buick Lacrosse - both vehicles are selling well, so a third shift will help satisfy demand rather than oversaturate the market. Hat tip to Sea Urchin for the tip!

[Source: Wall Street Journal - Subs. Req'd]

REPORT: GM to depart with form and run certain plants around-the-clock originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 23 Dec 2009 10:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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REPORT: Enterprise sold cars after removing side impact airbags

Noah Joseph — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 13:33:00 EST

Filed under: Car Buying, Safety

Enterprise, the country's largest car rental and fleet agency, is finding itself in hot water after purposely deleting standard safety equipment from some 66,000 Chevrolet Impalas it purchased between 2006 and 2008 for its nation-wide fleet of rental cars. The full-size Chevy comes fitted standard with side-impact curtain airbags, but Enterprise chose to have the equipment removed to save the cost.

In an investigative piece broken by The Kansas City Star, industry sources say that deleting "unwanted equipment" can save fleet buyers like Enterprise significant costs, especially advantageous in the highly competitive rental car business where the lowest price is often the determining factor for many customers. By removing the airbags from the Impalas, Enterprise was said to have saved $11.5 million.

The rental company also acknowledged having ordered some 5,000 Chevrolet Cobalts and Buick LaCrosses with the airbags removed at the factory. The placement of side-impact curtain airbags has been shown to dramatically reduce the number of fatalities from side collisions, the second most deadly type of accident after head-on collisions. Although the airbags came as standard equipment on the Impala, as well as the Cobalt and LaCrosse, federal safety regulations did not mandate their inclusion, therefore Enterprise broke no law in removing them. Research discovered at least five fatal side-impact collisions involving fleet-purchased Impalas from various companies.

To make matters worse, however, Enterprise reportedly sold 745 Impalas on the open market, falsely advertised as having the side airbags when they did not. Enterprise says the listing that specified the cars in question had the airbags was simply "a glitch in the system", and offered as recourse to buy back the cars from their new owners for $750 over their Blue Book value. That works out to $175 more than the cars would have cost with the airbags installed as standard equipment from the factory.

[Source: The Kansas City Star via CBS]

Continue reading REPORT: Enterprise sold cars after removing side impact airbags

REPORT: Enterprise sold cars after removing side impact airbags originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 17 Aug 2009 13:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Ford will shut down 10 N.A. plants in early January

Chris Paukert — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 15:29:00 EST

Filed under: Trends, Plants/Manufacturing, Ford, Lincoln, Mercury

A bitingly cold wind is sweeping through the Motor City this day, but the bigger chill continues to be the rapidly increasing number of idle plants from Detroit's automakers. As part of a previously-announced bid to trim first-quarter output by nearly 38%, Ford now says it will shut down ten North American factories the week of January 5. Unlike Chrysler's planned one month downtime (where they eerily won't commit to start dates), the Blue Oval has confirmed plans to re-light the fires in eight of those plants beginning the week of January 12.

That means that during the week of January 5, Ford's only active North American plants will be in Dearborn (F-150), and Kansas City (F-150, Escape/Mercury Mariner). The week of January 12 will see all facilities up save Hermosillo, Mexico (Fusion, Milan, Lincoln MKZ) and Oakville, Ontario, where the Flex, Edge, and MKX are built.

Ford is angling to cut down its quarterly output to just 430,000 vehicles, and shutdowns at staggered intervals are expected to continue throughout early next year.

[Source: Automotive News - Sub. Req. | Photo: Bill Pugliano/Getty]

Ford will shut down 10 N.A. plants in early January originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 18 Dec 2008 15:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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1.2 mil gallons of unleaded gas go up in flames

Frank Filipponio — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 18:01:00 EST

Filed under: Etc., Government/Legal

You'd think the folks in Kansas City, Kansas had money to burn judging by this huge bonfire they held with a reservoir full of $4-per-gallon unleaded. Actually, the fire was caused by a lightning strike Tuesday night. After battling it for some time, firefighters said they would have to let it burn itself out. That could take two days, with 1.2 million gallons of gasoline being burned in the process. The fire apparently started around 7:30 PM at the Magellan Pipeline terminal near General Motors' Fairfax plant. The tank exploded and employees quickly mobilized to keep it isolated and prevent the fire from spreading to surrounding storage tanks. The smoke from fire was so bad, however, that the Kansas City airport had to be shut down for a while, but everything is back to normal now. Thankfully, nobody was hurt in the blaze. No word yet on what effect this will have on local gas prices, but we can't imagine that it will help. Thanks for the tip, Cody!

[Source: KMBC-TV]

1.2 mil gallons of unleaded gas go up in flames originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 04 Jun 2008 18:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Duo critically injured when race-prepped Porsche flies off highway

Alex Nunez — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 17:35:00 EST

Filed under: Motorsports, Performance, Etc., Porsche, First Drives

Click image to see one other photo of the wrecked 944

Cody, a reader from the Kansas City area, let us know about a story that made the rounds on the local news there on Monday. Two men were in a race-prepared Porsche 944 driving down Highway 350 when the driver, an employee of the owner (who was not in the vehicle), lost control of the car. According to KMBC-TV, the Porsche then left the highway, flipping twice and hitting several trees before coming to rest on its roof. Both occupants were hospitalized and listed in critical condition, and the passenger was thrown from the vehicle during the incident, according to the station.

The car was running Yokohama racing slicks at the time of the crash, which could have been a contributing factor. Weather conditions in Kansas City yesterday were, according to The Weather Channel, cloudy with a high of 35 degrees. The accident investigation is ongoing. KMBC has video of the scene, and Cody captured two shots of the car as it was being flatbedded the following day. From the look of things, it's probably better that the wreck involved a race-prepped car. Had it been a regular 944 without a roll cage, it could have been even worse. Thanks to Cody for the tip and photos.

[Source: KMBC-TV]

Gallery: Porsche 944 Racer in Highway Accident

Duo critically injured when race-prepped Porsche flies off highway originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 01 Feb 2008 17:35:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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