Ford Europe

Ford of Europe has its headquarters in the German city of Cologne (Köln), so an electric vehicle partnership between the city and the automaker doesn't come as a surprise. Ford of Germany, the city of Cologne, RheinEnergie AG, and the University of Duisburg-Essen have signed an agreement to deploy a fleet of 10 Ford Transit delivery vans for use in the inner city, where the zero-tailpipe emissions and reduced noise of the EV can be maximized. Ford is (obviously) supplying the vans and Rhei

2009 Ford Fiesta - Click above for a high-res gallery

Despite the fact that Ford has yet to request any special funding from either the federal governments in the United States or abroad, the automaker has repeatedly said that it supports its competitors as they seek financial aid. According to Ford of Europe CEO John Fleming, "We have no objections to competitors asking governments for support in these very difficult times."

Click above for high-res image gallery of the Ford Focus RS

Ford, along with every automaker selling cars in Europe, is hard at work reducing the carbon emissions of its most popular people movers. Europeans are taxed based on the CO2 emissions from their car's tailpipes, and anything that scores less than 119g/km is subject to big savings. For this reason, Ford's understandably happy to announce that its C-Max now gets a 119g/km rating when equipped with either of the 1.6-liter diesel engine options. Fuel efficiency is also a strong point, wi

We wrote about it earlier, just as a rumor, but it looks like an announcement is imminent: the Wall Street Journal says that Ford is going to make European cars on this side of the pond. However, it isn't merely North American plants that will be changed over, but American plants. The Journal doesn't give any further indication of where those plants might be or wha

Click above for a high-res gallery of the new Focus RS

For reasons that everyone is aware of, American carmakers have been shutting down and idling plants that make trucks and SUVs. According to AutoSavant, however, Ford is not going to simply shutter plants, it is going to retool some of them to build its Euro-market cars for the American market.

Click above to view the Ford Kuga in hi-res

Ford has announced a rally to promote its range of flex-fuel vehicles in Europe. The rally, nicknamed Route E-85 will start in Bodø (Norway) and will arrive in Paris (France) crossing six countries and stopping in five other cities: Umeå and Stockholm (Sweden), Copenhague (Denmark), Wuppertal and Aachen (Germany). The vehicles will be fueled exclusively on E-85.

Ford of Europe chairman Lewis Booth confirmed today that the next-generation Ford Fiesta for the European market will be brought to us folks in small car-starved North America. In truth, we're not actually starved for small cars in North America, we're just starved for good small cars like the Ford Fiesta and other European B-class models. The current model is well received in its native market, while the next generation model will be based off of the same platform used by the new John Neff

Click image for hi-res gallery

I wrote the other day about the way Ford is offering personalization options to customers in Germany and Switzerland and, even though the options do not include ways to make your new Ford more fuel efficient, the promotional image for the service (called "Ford Individual") includes a zero-emission land-surfing vehicle in the background. Yesterday, when I went to Ford's media website

If Lewis Booth, Ford's chief in Europe and head of its Premier Automotive Group, is right, then TerraPass and other carbon offset programs are way ahead of the curve. Booth, speaking at the British motor show, said that in the next 10 to 15 years consumers will track their carbon footprint as well as they watch their bank statements today. Knowing this number means people will make lifestyle changes, Booth said.

Ford of Europe Chairman Lewis Booth (pictured with mischievous grin) was quoted Tuesday as confirming that Ford will be profitable in Europe in 2006, despite intense price competition and high prices for raw materials.