Whoever thought up this idea is either a genius or a bit demented. ABC, the network that broadcasts shows like According to Jim and Dancing with the Stars, is going to debut a new show next year based on the auto industry. And if you know anything about Shakespeare or Hamlet, you might enjoy the show even more.

The new drama takes place in Detroit amidst the many auto manufacturers in the city. The new show – Prince of the Motor City – has a couple big-name stars in it, too. Andie MacDowell and Warren Christie are the two headlining stars, but there will be others as well.

The premise follows a young man born into the auto industry. Instead of following in his father’s footsteps, though, he decided to pursue other interests at Harvard. But when his father passes away, he is forced to take charge of the car company. However, the current CFO of the company wants to unseat the new boss and take his job. It sounds like a Billy Madison-type situation mixed with the premise of the TV show Six Feet Under.

If the show is going to represent Detroit accurately, you’ll probably notice a huge number of Ford cars and trucks each week. I hope ABC decides to showcase the city in a positive light instead of showing all of the negative aspects like the media typically does. It’s about time the city got the respect that it deserves.

Have you seen the newest TV screens on the market today? I saw an article the other day about the owner of the Dallas Cowboys building the largest high-definition TV screen ever made for the team’s stadium. But, of course, everything is bigger in Texas.

Ford is following that trend by putting a larger touch-screen TV in its 2010 Fusion models. This isn’t a normal TV screen though. We can’t broadcast “The Andy Griffith Show” directly to cars…yet. But this new bigger screen is going to be ideal for drivers using the SYNC system at any time.

According to early pictures of the interior of the 2010 Fusion, the screen is mounted within easy reach of the driver in the middle of the center stack. The engineers combined the larger screen with other high-tech devices, too. The new gadgets and devices include new and improved gauges and redesigned vents sitting right about the big screen. In addition, the climate control buttons now sit below the screen. If you rest your hand on the shifter, you can easily reach a finger out and change the temperature in the car.

Hopefully, this is going to be a feature in other Ford cars before long. I know I want to get my hands on one already!

The Mustang is undoubtedly the most popular brand of Ford cars ever made. It’s not only a car, it’s an entire culture. Many Mustang-owners eat, sleep and breathe Mustang. With the new Mustang for Men, they can even have a smell reminiscent of the car they love.

The new Mustang for Men is a fragrance that captures the “essence Mustang has embodied for decades,” according to the product’s website. “It’s the classic reinvention of a free spirit that runs on adventure.” Ingredients that compose the scent include cedarwood and pipe tobacco that emits a bold and daring feeling.

But Mustang for Men is more than just a smell. You can visit the product’s website and download a variety of wallpapers for your computer. There’s even a pretty girl that you can gaze at to help pass the time. In addition to that, there’s also an option to send a “steamy ecard” to one of your friend’s or girlfriends, letting them know your daring and adventurous spirit. There’s also a video showcasing Mustang lovers with their most prized possession.

Even if you can’t run out and get an actual Mustang today, you can still enjoy the daringness of a Mustang owner with this new cologne. Check the website for a store near you and the latest information about this great product.

Did you know that the Ford Motor Company is only planning on producing only about 45,000 Mustangs for the 2009 model season? That’s exactly what the Mustang marketing manager, Fritz Wilkes estimated in a recent article.

Of course, the 45,000 Mustangs could be symbolic of the car’s 45th anniversary of the first model. When you think about it, though, it’s probably more likely that Ford is doing this to recognize the momentous anniversary. That’s because Dearborn typically produces more than 80,000 of these popular Ford cars each year. So the 45,000 is just over half of the automaker’s normal production.

The history of the Mustang dates back to 1964 when a Ford product manager – Donald N. Frey – conceived the idea. The person who moved forward with the idea, however, is someone you might recognize – Lee Iacocca – the Ford Division general manager. The prototype for the Mustang had only two seats. But that later turned to a four-seat vehicle. It was also based largely on other popular Ford models, including the Ford Fairlane and the Falcon. The suggested price for the first model year was only about $2,400.

When the 1971-1973 models departed from the original 1964 model, Ford received hundreds of complaints from proud Mustang-lovers who wanted the original specifications back. It just shows how the Mustang’s popularity has always been huge.

The Fiesta model is one of the more popular Ford cars that have appeared on the compact car market in the last 50 years. But the Dearborn-based automaker is releasing a new and improved Fiesta for the North American market. And if you’ve kept up with Ford’s concept cars, you might even recognize the new design. It resembles the Verve concept car that was appearing at auto shows all over the world throughout the past year.

In addition to the sedan version that consumers have come to know and love, Ford is building the Fiesta model in a hatchback version at its assembly plant in Mexico. But making the new Fiesta means dropping the production of something else. With truck sales slowing down and more people looking for more fuel-efficient cars, Ford has decided to replace the F150 truck production at the Mexico plant with the Fiesta production.

If you want to get behind the wheel of the new Fiesta hatchback, though, you’ll have to exercise some patience. The new models won’t be on dealer lots in the country until 2010. Until then, you can still find a wide variety of vehicles at Ford dealers across the nation that is sure to please and satisfy. Drive one today and prepare to be impressed.

Did you ever think those old-school Ford cars would ever make a comeback? Cars like the Ford Fiesta and the Ford Escort are popular commodities in these days of high gas prices. In fact, those types of cars are commanding some of the highest prices on used car lots this year.

The most surprising fact about the prices for these cars is that they have increased more than 30 percent in recent months. The values for the compact cars are increasing while the value of large trucks and full-size SUVs. Some cars have increased in value even more than that! One dealer reported a $1,000 compact car selling for more than $6,000! That’s because it could get about 45 mpg. Who wouldn’t want something like that these days?

The only problem with these older compact cars is that they lack the safety features that we’ve come to expect today. As a result, many of them weigh much less than modern vehicles, allowing them to get that better gas mileage that we mentioned.

So what’s the solution?

Many of today’s compact cars are extremely fuel-efficient. And the best thing is that you don’t need to sacrifice your safety or the safety of your family in order to drive one.

Would you ever fight a court battle over a noise ordinance for four years? That’s what this man did.
Four years ago, a police officer in Greater Manchester, England, cited Markus Aitken for playing his Riverdance music too loud in his Ford Mustang. The official citation was for “causing excessive noise,” not for playing Riverdance.

His fine was only £30. I’m not sure how much that equals in dollars, but it seems relatively low to me. But he felt it was unjustified, causing him to refuse to pay the fine despite the numerous written demands and several visits from court bailiffs. He continued to argue that he would not pay the fine until he was allowed the opportunity to tell his side of the story in court.

The problem occurred when he finally got his chance in court. Due to administrative costs, the fine was nine times as much as the original fine. But when he finally got a chance to tell his case in court four years later, the judge didn’t even listen to his entire story. In fact, the case was over in four minutes because the judge dismissed the fine. According to his side of the story, the judge didn’t hear anything that was against any laws or ordinances.

Let that be a lesson to you. Sometimes fighting for principle is much more important than just paying a fine and getting rid of it. Or maybe the lesson is that you shouldn’t be playing Riverdance when you’re driving Ford cars.

Have you ever wondered exactly how many jobs and dollars your car contributes to the United States economy? If so, keep reading.

A new website called JobsPerCar is a great way to find out how much good you’re doing for the economy simply by the car you drive. In fact, it’s so new that it just launched last week!

And from what I can tell, it’s a very interesting and informative website. It’s the Consumer Reports of its kind. It not only determines how many jobs each individual car creates, but it also tallies up the number of job each automaker creates for the nation. Here are a few examples:

• Ford cars have a JPC rating of 81. This number is calculated by using the total number of cars sold by a company and dividing that by that company’s workforce. By purchasing a Ford, you’re helping contribute to a workforce of more than 80,000 jobs.

The website also provides information about how many factories each automaker has in the United States, the percentage of domestic materials used in a particular model and much, much more. You can even compare between companies and models to see which one is better for the US economy if that makes a big difference in the vehicle you choose to purchase.

JobsPerCar.com is a great resource to use before you go to the dealer to buy a car. If you’re unsure about which one you want, the website can help you make your final decision. Besides, picking the best car means finding one that’s good for your surroundings, too. Who doesn’t want responsible member of citizen of their country and their community?

For economy-friendly Fords, please visit our Illinois Ford dealership or our Missouri Ford dealerships.

Yesterday, I mentioned in my blog post that my wife and I rented a Ford Focus a couple years ago when going to a wedding. After that, I found this article about the automaker increasing the production of this popular model.

In April of this year, the Ford Motor Company announced that it was increasing production of its Focus brand by 30 percent this year. Ford is doing this to respond to the increasing demand for this popular and hot-selling vehicle. Its recent redesign and the SYNC system assuredly have something to do with its popularity, too.

The latest incarnation of the current Ford Focus began coming off the assembly line in 2007. During the first three months of 2008, the automaker already sold more than 49,000 units. That’s nearly a 25 percent increase over the same period from last year! That’s why the automaker decided to make more of these Ford cars.

With the boost in production, this means there will be 245,000 units of this model rolling off the assembly line this year. It currently claims about 7.5 percent of the small car market in the United States. In 2007, however, Ford was only producing about 191,000 units and the Focus only claimed a little more than one percent of the same market.

This news is also great for the workers at the Wayne County plant that produces the Focus. The 2,800 workers will likely get an opportunity to work some overtime and even weekend shifts throughout the year. With the recent downturn of the economy, everybody can get all the help they can get!

To purchase your new Ford Focus, please visit our IL Ford dealerships or our Missouri Ford dealership today.

As Ford has been coming out of a sales and quality slump for the past several years, the automaker has been gaining more customers and restoring its reputation. As a boost for the auto company, mogul Kirk Kerkorian is investing millions of dollars into the Ford Motor Company to boost its efforts.

Earlier this week, the investor disclosed that he acquired nearly five percent of the automaker’s stake to help Ford once again show a profit. To do this, his Tracinda Corporation investment company made an offer of $170 million for nearly 20 million shares of stock. The shares had a price of approximately $8.50 at the time of the deal.

You might be wondering why a 90-year-old billionaire would want to invest so much money into the Dearborn-based automaker. In the last few years, he’s involved himself in the auto industry by trying to buy Chrysler and invest in other automakers, too. But analysts think he wants people to remember him as one of the main investors who helped the Ford Motor Company, an icon of the United States and the auto industry as a whole, come through its troubled times.

Others say Kerkorian respects the impressive way Ford managed a comeback in such a short time, overcoming its dismal standing to regain a top industry spot. A spokesperson also stated that the investment reinforces the recognition that Alan Mulally earned by doing such a great job in turning the automaker’s situation around.

You might not be able to afford a multi-million-dollar investment in the company, but you can still purchase a vehicle from your local Ford dealer. It’s not only a great investment in Ford but also an ideal investment in your family and your future.