Car News Articles

Speeding tickets are beginning to cross international borders in Europe, thanks to the European car and driving license information system, or EUCARIS. At the beginning of the year, Swiss motorists began being charged for speed camera tickets issued by French authorities. As of October, the French government had collected on a total of 10,000 citations from violations allegedly committed by vehicles registered in Switzerland. A total of 1800 tickets were issued last month alone.

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REPORT: 10 Ford Focus variants coming to the U.S.

by Chris Shunk (RSS feed) on Nov 14th 2009 at 12:39PM

Ford C-Max – Click above for high-res image gallery

While the first-generation Ford Focus certainly had its faults, it was also ahead of its time, with engaging driving dynamics and a ton of different variations. You could get a Focus sedan, a three- or five-door hatch and even a wagon. For a few years there was even a high-revving SVT Focus (those were the days). While the current Focus is relegated to only sedan and coupe variants, the 2011 Focus will reportedly have a lot more options from which to choose.

Car and Driver recently sat down with Ford marketing chief Jim Farley, and when the subject of the Blue Oval’s long awaited next-gen global Focus came up, Black Sheep’s first cousin came up with the number 10. That’s 10 as in the number of Focus variants we might expect here in the U.S. While Farley didn’t go too far into which Focus variants will be available here, the list isn’t difficult to guess.

One vehicle that we know has been given the green light for sale here in the U.S. is the Focus C-Max and Grand C-Max minivan, which will come in five- and seven-seat variations. Then there’s the sedan and coupe, three- and five-door hatch, the promised Electric Focus, the Kuga crossover and possibly Lincoln and Mercury versions that will utilize Ford’s global C-Segment platform. The next couple of years will be pretty interesting for Ford as it finally gets serious about small cars here in the U.S. With 10 Focus-based vehicles and an excellent new Fiesta, customers will finally have some solid small car choices from which to choose. The new Focus we’ve all been waiting for should make its global debut at the 2010 Detroit Auto Show in January, so stay tuned.

Gallery: Frankfurt 2009: Ford C-Max

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[Source: Car and Driver]

Filed under: Coupe, Sedan, Crossover, Hatchback, Ford

Tags: 10 focus variants, 10FocusVariants, 2011 ford focus, 2011FordFocus, c-max, ford focus, FordFocus, grand c-max, GrandC-max, jim farley, JimFarley

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The past 12 months has been truly apocalyptic for the auto industry. GM, once the proud symbol of American enterprise and the very engine room of American capitalism — broke; Chrysler, the scrappy survivor that somehow always drove back from the brink with a killer new product — bust; Ford, the company that put the world on wheels — hanging on by its fingernails. Detroit is bruised, battered and bleeding. The icy wind blasting down Woodward Ave this winter has an especially bitter edge.

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Chrysler Group LLC is counting on significantly higher sales of its midsize sedans to meet ambitious growth targets outlined last week in its five-year business plan, but the automaker has not been competitive for at least a decade in the market's largest vehicle segment.

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Chocolate Poisoning; MommyTracked.com
Are you helping yourself to your kids’ Halloween candy? My husband and I limit how much Halloween candy our boys can have each day, but we don’t bother with any limits for us. I’ll even admit to recently having a dinner comprised of only Halloween candy. It’s shameful, and blogger Stefanie Wilder-Taylor knows my shame. She writes, “Just while I was writing those last three sentences I consumed a mini Baby Ruth, a mini Nestle Crunch, a red strawberry flavored hard candy, a vanilla tootsie roll and two small boxes of Dots. It’s all I can do to not go get more.”

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Automotive News [sub] has more bad news for Saab dealers and customers. Saab’s prospective new owners have put the hit out on 81 of Saab’s current 218 US dealerships. If all goes according to plan, a measly 137 US Saab dealers will remain. Saab’s thin and uneven sales and service network has been an issue for the brand forever, and this isn’t going to make it any better. “The target date to close the sale of Saab is Nov. 30, but it could take until year end, says Mike Colleran, COO of Saab Cars North America in Detroit.” Don’t count on it.

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California motorists hit with massive fines for minor, alleged toll infractions won a settlement last month from the Orange County Transportation Agency (OCTA) and Transportation Corridor Agency (TCA). The toll road operating entities agreed to pay $1.4 million in restitution and waive $41 million in unpaid toll penalties after admitting the fines were “excessive” and that the denial of due process to the accused was “unconstitutional.” Over a dozen motorists sued in 2007 claiming that fines of up to $123,000 for skipping tolls were outrageous. In several cases, such as that of Stephanie and Brian Young, the violations were inadvertent. The couple racked up $580 in unpaid tolls in 2003 after the credit card linked to their toll transponder account expired. For this mistake, OCTA demanded that they pay $53,550 in fines. Similarly, Maria and Pablo Gonzalez allegedly failed to pay $60.14 in tolls and were billed $78,780.

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