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Someone converted a vintage commercial truck into a one-of-a-kind pickup. Sometimes when a commercial truck gets retired from service, someone comes around and converts it into a pickup. The result is often garish, with feet of ground clearance and a bed that doesn’t fit the cab’s design. For a time, this niche was just popular enough that even commercial truck manufacturers joined in on the madness. But despite its handsome looks, this 1952 Ford F-7 Big Job never left the factory looking as good as it does now. Converting a commercial truck into a pickup is a creative way to...

Ford has officially announced the 2019 Ford Ranger, the long-awaited return of this midsize truck. From 1983 to 2011, the Ranger was one of the most popular pickups on the road. It disappeared as the car companies moved more and more toward oversized trucks, leaving a big fan base pining for the return of the Ranger ever since. The success of the Chevy Colorado has been a barometer for the mid-size truck market, and sales are up 83 percent since 2014. Now Ford is banking on the new Ranger as a Chevy rival and a solid alternative to its best-selling...

DEARBORN, Mich., July 25, 2012 – Near-record profits in North America and continued strong performance from Ford Credit helped the Ford Motor Company [NYSE: F] deliver its 12th consecutive quarterly pre-tax operating profit as it reports second quarter 2012 results today. The company reported a pre-tax operating profit of $1.8 billion, or 30 cents per share, and net income of $1 billion, or 26 cents per share. The company also continued to generate positive Automotive operating-related cash flow, and ended the period with a strong liquidity position of $33.9 billion, an increase of $1 billion during the quarter. “The Ford...

America is still fighting over President Obama's costly bailout of Chrysler and General Motors. Especially the owners of Ford, the only member of Detroit's "Big Three" who rejected the government dole and emerged perfectly healthy. [Check out our editorial cartoons on President Obama.] In its most political ad in the so-called "Drive One" ads where real drivers are thrust before cameras to explain why they picked Ford, a real Ford F-150 pick-up driver is featured.

NEW YORK – General Motors and Chrysler put on their best brave faces here at the New York International Auto Show, but Ford Motor came out guns blazing, determined to separate itself from the other two Detroit-based auto makers. Ford now has a more tightly honed message than I've ever seen in 20 years of covering the auto industry. The Ford people keep repeating over and over and over again that they get it – that the products matter. If Ford is ever going to break from the Detroit pack, if Ford ever hopes to get away from the kind...

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Ford will announce on Wednesday plans to rename its Five Hundred mid-size sedan "Taurus," according to a report by Dow Jones Newswires. The name change will be announced at the Chicago auto show. A month ago, a report in BusinessWeek suggested Ford could revive the Taurus name, but it seemed unlikely at the time. CEO Alan Mulally was quoted as saying Ford should have never dropped the nameplate in the first place. "I havent had time to do the deep dive on why we stopped investing in Taurus, but I'd like to," said Ford CEO Alan Mulally. "The Ford Five...

For all the nonsense about the love affair between Americans and their cars, people seem to spend a whole lot of time and effort to avoid climbing into a car. Super Stop & Shop's Peapod provides home delivery of groceries. That eliminates one's weekly trip to the grocery store. Get the grocery list online, pick the items, and the food appears in the insulated box outside your house. People can go to Match, Jdate, EHarmony and Match.com to start dating without even heading to a bar. What happened to joining the ski club? What happened to taking night classes? Tennis,...

DEARBORN, Mich. - Sometime next week, the assembly line at a Ford plant near Atlanta will come to a halt, signaling the end of a family sedan so revolutionary that its 1985 debut changed forever the way cars look, feel and drive. ADVERTISEMENT Say goodbye to the Taurus. After 21 years and sales of nearly 7 million cars, Ford Motor Co. is giving up on what some call the most influential automobile since Henry Ford's Model T. The Taurus is credited with moving America away from boxy V-8 powered gas-guzzling bedrooms-on-wheels to aerodynamic, more efficient cars with crisper handling. To...

BALTIMORE - As Ford Motor Co. tries to right itself with plant closing and staff reductions, Baltimore area dealers wonder if Ford will try to close their dealership. Two weeks ago, Ford officials announced a project called “Way Forward” with $5 billion in cutbacks that included reducing a third of its salaried workforce — about 14,000 jobs, closing nine assembly plants, and the possibly sale of its Aston Martin brand. Company officials didn't announce specific reductions in its franchised dealership ranks. But Ford is continuing to lose market share as monthly sales fall for the automaker, which for the past...

DETROIT (Reuters) - U.S. auto sales have been slipping as domestic automakers have struggled to boost sales amid high gas prices this year -- a trend that will continue into next year, industry executives and analysts said. Industry-wide sales are down more than 4 percent this year as U.S. automakers such as General Motors Corp. (NYSE:GM - news) and Ford Motor Co. (NYSE:F - news) struggle with high labor costs, loss of market share to foreign rivals, and weakening sales of trucks and sport utility vehicles - typically their largest profit generators.Both GM and Ford are trying to stem billions...

Hurt by Falling Sales of SUVs, Ford Will Face Plant Closings and Thousands of Job Losses DETROIT (AP) -- Ford Motor Co., hurt by falling sales of sport utility vehicles, is expected to close plants and cut thousands of jobs in North America as part of a restructuring program to be announced Monday. ADVERTISEMENT Ford has refused to release details of the plan, dubbed the "Way Forward," which also is expected to include product changes and cuts to Ford's salaried ranks. Ford has about 87,000 hourly workers and 35,000 salaried workers in North America. "It's going to be painful for...