#Ford

Today's UCOTD is a 20-year-old hot hatch.

This 2003 Ford Focus SVT comes to us from Wisconsin, with a reasonable price of $4,000.

Following our coverage of the Lincoln Nautilus Hybrid, reader feedback seemed overwhelmingly focused on the vehicle being manufactured in China. This was interesting because the article dealt exclusively with updates to the vehicle, which is technically still a product of North America.

But Ford Motor Co. has confirmed that the next-generation Nautilus will indeed be imported from China so that the Canadian facility currently responsible for U.S. volume can be transitioned into an electric-vehicle plant.

As we learned in our last entry, the new for ‘84 Lincoln Continental Mark VII headed in a different direction than any of its PLC predecessors. It was smaller and lighter than even the downsized Mark VI that came before it and rode on the newer Fox platform shared by the Mustang, Thunderbird, Cougar, and indeed the Continental sedan. The Mark’s Eighties evolution was a necessary measure as European luxury competition came in hot, and the disco-traditionalist type PLC customer of the past was no more. Lincoln’s designers had a tall order in the earliest days of the Eighties: Maintain the Mark’s identity generally as a Lincoln and a luxury coupe, and move its looks beyond everything prior to 1984.

When Lincoln’s new Continental Mark VII arrived for the 1984 model year, the sleek new coupe offered immediate relief from the tired (and lousy) Panther platform Mark VI that languished at dealers between 1980 and 1983. The move to the Fox platform with the likes of the Thunderbird and Cougar was accompanied by a big step forward in drivability, technology, and general modernization for the Mark. Finally!

On Wednesday, Ford Motor Co. celebrated the fact that its entire electric-vehicle lineup would still be eligible for consumer incentives under the so-called Inflation Reduction Act federal tax credit scheme. But it downplayed that some of those models won’t be eligible for the maximum amount due to stricter EV sourcing requirements pertaining to battery components and critical minerals.

Today's UCOTD is a 1966 Ford Galaxie with 108K miles on the clock. The seller is asking for $20,000.

It didn’t take very long for the chilly reception of the downsized and Panther-based Mark VI to reach Ford HQ in Dearborn. Despite the seductive and elegant four-door Mark VI’s presence, sales were nowhere near those of the outgoing Mark V. Things continued on their downhill trend for the model’s four-year duration. It was time for an all-new take on the PLC from Lincoln.

Yesterday, we f eatured a Ford you can't get here.

Do you want a Ford car -- car, not crossover or SUV -- that isn't a Mustang? Sorry, you're out of luck. At least in this market.

However, if you live overseas, you can get your hand on a good-looking Taurus that will make you forget all about the stormtrooper cars of the '90s or the bulky sedan that was the last Taurus sold here.

On Tuesday, Ford confirmed that the Transit Connect would be removed from the North American market after the 2023 model year. Rumors had circulated that the small van would soon be relegated to Europe – with reputable outlets citing its regional demise back in the summer of 2022. However, this is the first time the company has commented on the matter publicly.

We've lost two models today -- the JDM Toyota Camry and the Jeep Cherokee.

But we're about to gain two more models on the market in exchange. One is planned from Ford -- check back in an hour for something from Toyota.

In today’s Lincoln Mark coverage, we reach the conclusion of the ill-fated and unpopular Mark VI. Though the Mark of 1980 to 1983 was arguably the least interesting entry in the model’s history and the one with the least amount of effort put into it, Lincoln still charged a pretty penny for its PLC. But the market was changing, and so was Lincoln’s lineup.

Ford told investors and analysts today that it expects its electric-vehicle unit to lose $3 billion this year, but that news isn't nearly as dire as it might sound at first glance.

Today's UCTOD is in a color combo that yours truly loves. It's a blue-with-white-racing-stripes 2016 Ford Mustang Shelby GT350.

We're doing something a bit different for the UCOTD today -- we're focusing (sorry) on a 2014 Ford Focus Titanium sedan.