#Ford

The United Automobile Workers union has expanded its strike.

A revamping of this nation’s best-selling vehicle (well, the half-ton portion of those numbers, anyway) is always worth a few words. The build-and-price tool for the 2024 Ford F-150 is now live, meaning we can poke around in what Ford asserts is a streamlined ordering process in which the number of buildable combinations has been cut by 90 percent compared to last year.

Contract negotiations between Detroit automakers and the UAW resumed over the weekend with union leadership signaling that little progress had been made. Despite Stellantis having matched the 20-percent raises offered by GM and Ford over the weekend, UAW President Shawn Fain has said the overall agreements remain unsatisfactory.

As mentioned in our earlier coverage, the union is seeking a 40 percent raise across the board through 2027 — resulting in roughly $25 an hour (around $52,000 per year) for starting employees. Some of the benefits, many of which had been rolled back as concessions during the 2008 financial crisis, are also sticking points. Fain wants workers to see those benefits restored, claiming the industry can easily afford them.

After weeks of speculation over whether the UAW and Big Three automakers would come to an agreement, we have our answer: They didn’t. Last night, the Union launched a strike against Ford, GM, and Chrysler/Stellantis, taking almost 13,000 workers off production lines and factory floors across the country.

Listening to pundits and some media outlets, it’d be easy to believe that EVs are nowhere near as popular as their gas-powered counterparts. But, while it’s true that electric vehicles still make up a tiny portion of the overall market, their numbers are growing. The latest data from Experian shows that EV registrations rose 67 percent over 2022’s numbers to an impressive 655,986 vehicles.

Ford, Honda, and BMW have announced plans to create a new “vehicle-to-grid company” that’s aimed at standardizing vehicle charging via a singular platform. The service also seeks to return excess energy to the electrical grid, effectively converting EVs into publicly shared batteries.

The business will be known as ChargeScape and, according to the automakers' press release, seeks to “create a single platform that will seamlessly connect electric utilities, automakers and their interested EV customers to manage energy usage for a broad pool of EVs.” The scheme could be one way of addressing concerns that modern power grids couldn’t endure widespread electric vehicle usage while helping to position the involved companies in an industry that’s being heavily incentivized by the government.

In Detroit, the Truck Wars never sleep. All the players enjoy nothing more than beating each other over the head with power outputs, towing capacity, and what they think is the Next Great Gadget™. For 2024, Ford is re-upping the F-150 with a midcycle refresh – and answering GM and Ram with an innovation of its own.

Last week, Stellantis slid the United Auto Workers (UAW) a contract proposal that would raise hourly workers' pay by 14.5 percent over the next four years. The deal is roughly on par with the 15 percent initially offered by Ford and 16 percent from General Motors. It likewise said it would provide workers $10,500 in inflation-related bonuses while GM offered $11,000 at GM and Ford said it could swing $12,000. Though Stellantis doesn’t appear to be offering any contract ratification bonuses, whereas others manufacturers said they’d be happy to throw in another $5,500.

Can manufacturers tend to enjoy shrouding their upcoming vehicles in a cloud of ranchland dust or billowing tire smoke – depending on what they’re trying to keep under wraps, of course. Pickup trucks often get the former, which is exactly what was deployed for a brief teaser video for the next F-150 which popped up on Instagram just one day before the entire thing is revealed in Detroit.

The Ford Escort began life in 1955, in Britain (just a year after World War II-era food rationing finally ended), as a cheapified version of the Ford Squire wagon. After the pinnacle of rear-wheel-drive Escort action on that side of the Atlantic, a front-wheel-drive version appeared over there; a not-so-closely-related North American cousin showed up as a 1981 model.

Maybe it's because we covered a $300,000 Ford Mustang last night. Maybe it's because I've always loved the looks of this generation Ford GT -- I've never driven one. Or maybe it's because I am feeling saucy on a summer Friday. Whatever the reason, today I bring you this California-based 2005 Ford GT.

The Ford Mustang has always been known for affordable -- or affordable-ish -- performance. The newest vehicle in the pony-car lineup will be priced not to compete with Camaros and Chargers but single-family homes. Meet the $300,000 Mustang -- the 2025 Ford Mustang GTD.

Ford’s Bronco is becoming more expensive, as the company is dumping the base trim for the 2024 model year. The Big Bend edition will now represent the cheapest way for one to procure the SUV. Though cheap may not be the operative word, as this choice shifts the Bronco starting MSRP from $36,785 to $41,025.

Ford is adding some new options to the almighty Bronco Raptor for 2024, including an array of snazzy colors and trim. But the Real Ones know that’s not the biggest news – not when Ford says the Everglades is returning thanks to popular demand.

We’ve reached the end of the road for the Lincoln Mark series. Through 50 installments on these pages that span history back to 1939, the Lincoln Mark (née Continental Mark) met its end in June of 1998. To celebrate the occasion of the Mark’s demise, it was time for one last go at a very special version: the 1998 Collector’s Edition. A trim package like Lincoln created previously for the Mark V in 1979, Collector’s Edition introduced some luxury features that should have been standard on Mark VIII all along.