Ford

An alliance between Ford and Geely sounds like melodic music for Almussafes. The reality is much more complex

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Ford is looking for a Chinese car. Reason: here. This is the sign that could hang on the door of the Ford factory in Almussafes (Valencia). The American company is looking for partners in China to produce electric cars and Geely seems to be one of the best positioned brands. Nor is it the first that has raised rumors about possible collaborations with the American brand, which, in addition, is already linked to Volkswagen or Renault. But what does Almussafes have to do with all this? Ford and Geely. The last brand with which Ford has been related in recent days has been with Geely. According to Reuters, Ford and Geely, Chinese group that owns Volvo, Polestar or Smart, among othersare holding talks to produce cars in Europe in one of the spaces that the company has on our continent. In addition, collaboration is being studied for the development of shared technologies such as autonomous driving. In Reuters They point to two sources who were aware of this information and the company has not denied that this is happening. “We have conversations with many companies about many things. Some are fruitful and others are not,” the Americans assure the news agency. For its part, Geely has not commented. Ford moves. It is not the first time that the company has been related to a Chinese company. On this occasion, it is said that negotiations have been underway for months and that Ford would have sent workers to the Asian country to advance a hypothetical agreement. Coincidence or not, Jim Farley has been traveling in China recently and He has been complimenting Chinese manufacturers for a long time. One of those companies that he has complimented and with which it has also been related It’s Xiaomi. Farley himself took a Xiaomi SU7 to the United States and has not failed to point out all the good things this product does. The collaboration agreement, it seems evident, would be for Europe since Chinese cars have an almost impossible future in the United States as a consequence of the Government’s own veto. Why Geely? The conversations with Geely seem to have much more substance than the possible collaborations with Xiaomi. The automobile conglomerate has brands that are not unknown to the European public (Volvo, Lotus, Smart…) whose electric cars do not have to break that barrier of entry into the European collective imagination as a “Chinese car.” However, Geely has a problem: they pay a lot of tariffs. As many as 37.6% after The European Union will withdraw in 2024 to try to protect an industry that was threatened by cheaper electric cars. Since then, the impact of the Chinese car has been limited to the lowest priced units. And it doesn’t seem like it’s going to change whether the negotiations between the European Union and China They still don’t get ahead. Collaborating with Ford and using the company’s facilities would allow Geely to produce electric cars without going through the checkout. And although labor costs are higher than the Chinese, they would not have to build new facilities because they would take advantage of those that the company has already built. Almussafes? In the information of Reuters It is assured that “Ford’s plant in Valencia would probably be the factory involved in these talks, said a person familiar with the matter.” However, some details must be taken into account. The factory is running right now at half throttlewith a Ford Kuga that is facing its last days on the market and that is not going to be renewed. The promise is to produce a multi-energy vehicle small size until 2028 when an electric car should arrive. To do this, the plant would need a deep reconversion that Ford is reluctant to carry out because North Americans are obtaining very low sales with their electric cars. A solution, therefore, would be to reach an agreement with Geely so that the Chinese company would take advantage of these facilities by making the appropriate conversions. The only doubt is that, right now, the plan is to produce a small model with a combustion engine. Electrifying space can put in check this multi-energy car that Ford should start producing soon. For now, the newspaper Levant reports that the brand will send a Ford delegation in the coming days to speak with those responsible for the factory. Ford’s mess with the electric car. Little by little, Ford has been falling into a small hole with the electric car which has a complicated solution. The brand has decided that its future lies in two clearly differentiated family lines: one made by themselveswith the Ford seal as quality and names clearly differentiated from the rest of the range (Mustang or Bronco) and lower cost cars manufactured by third parties. Europe is heading towards a future where the electric car seems the only solution. Until now, Ford’s investments have fallen on deaf ears and that is why it has reached a agreement with Volkswagen which has borne fruit electric Ford Explorer and the Ford Capri. And it has also signed an agreement with Renault so that the French can produce them in France. a sort of Renault 5 and Renault 4 with the blue oval. Ford promises that the cars will have their own American essence. At the same time, Ford focuses its own models on high-priced combustion or electric vehicles, such as the Mustang Mach-E. This allows them to achieve higher profit margins and bring combustion models to Europe in dribs and drabs whose high price justifies the increase in the final volume of emissions to be presented to regulators. What are the exits? At the moment, the first information points to different exits in the event that the negotiations between Ford and Geely come to fruition. First, it must be taken into account that what Geely may be most interested in is a car factory capable of producing electric vehicles as quickly as possible. Ford has a … Read more

Ford has auctioned the most exclusive prototype of the 2017 Ford GT. So exclusive that no one will be able to drive it

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Ford has just auctioned a car so special and unique that, in fact, it was not made for customers, but for the engineers who were working on the development of the Second generation Ford GT to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Ford’s triplet at Le Mans in 1966. So much so that the car was auctioned with a naked, unpainted body. However, it is such an exclusive supercar that Ford has made sure to keep it away from prying eyes, so although its engine runs perfectly, no one can show it off in public. Above all, its owner. First prototype, second legend The Ford GT Mk II, which has just been auctioned on the Barrett-Jackson portal, was designed at the end of 2015 as mechanical test mule for the new engine that would be mounted in the second generation of the Ford GT that was presented in 2017. Engineers used this car in the early testing phases of the project to collect real-world data on the dynamic behavior of the design, its aerodynamic stability and the response of the suspension under extreme conditions. So it was the intermediate step between the designs on paper and the model that would finally hit the market two years later. Being an early design means the car still retains the essence of original designsbefore aerodynamics or technical requirements forced certain profiles of its bodywork to be polished. However, its usefulness as a test mule meant that technical usefulness was prioritized over aesthetics. It was a laboratory tool on wheels, not a rolling showcase, and this was taken to the extreme that the engineers did not even consider painting the carbon fiber body, sensing that sooner rather than later it would need touch-ups. Only five prototypes were built, so this unit spent years stored in the collection. Ford Heritage Fleetan internal collection with which the brand protects its most valuable prototypes and vehicles with historical pedigree, until the time came to bring it to light. Its recent sale makes it a unique case: it goes from being a corporate secret to becoming a private trophy. Driving in public is prohibited However, the brand had a hidden ace up its sleeve. The purchase of this unique supercar was linked to a very restrictive clause: the explicit and absolute prohibition of registering it, insuring it as a vehicle or driving it on any public road. That is, its owner will never be able to wear it in public, except to use it on a private circuit. In this way, the first prototype of the 2017 Ford GT becomes a sculpture with an engine that can only be admired in the buyer collection who has paid $467,500 for that unique specimen due to its technical and historical pedigree. Be the first Ford GT prototype to break the garage confidentiality Ford classifies it as an exclusive collector’s piece, especially for those who already have a street GT in their collection. Under that rough and rough untreated carbon fiber body there is still the 3.5 EcoBoost V6 biturbo engine that it shares with the final GT, a brutal engine with a double turbocharger that delivers its power through a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission, optimized for pure rear-wheel drive. When you open its doors upwards, you are greeted by an interior as austere and practical as its exterior, designed to give your all on the track, but without the fine Alcantara finishes that you expect to find in a car for which you have paid almost $500,000. It features a single fixed bucket seat molded in carbon fiber for the test driver, position-adjustable pedals to adapt to different drivers, and a flattened Formula 1-style steering wheel with integrated buttons. No sign of the passenger seat, which underlines its single-seater work role, whose objective was to push it to the limit the performance of your engine and its bodywork. An untamed beast…that no one can legally drive on a road. In Xataka | In 1982 someone became unhealthy obsessed with a Mercedes-Benz 500 SL: in 43 years he has not driven it even a single kilometer. Image | Barret&Jackson

Ford will have two electric cars based on the Renault 5. It is confirmation of a Ford that is diluted in Europe

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Ford will have at least six electric cars on the market. Four of them will not be “purely Ford” cars. And the American company has confirmed that it has reached an agreement with Renault to provide the brand with two “affordable” electric cars. The agreement also contemplates a future partnership for commercial vehicles. But above all, a concept floats in the air: what Ford do we expect for Europe? Two electric made in Renault. With a press release, Ford and Renault have confirmed that the first will use the Ampere platform to launch two “affordable” electric cars on the market in the coming years. The first, they point out from Ford, should reach dealerships in the early stages of 2028. That is to say, what seems certain is that we will see a kind of Renault 5 with the Ford logo. The question is whether we will see a second electric car based on the Renault 4 (to expand spectrum with something B-SUV type) or based on the Twingo to look for another type of client. For now, everything indicates pointing to new Renault 5 and 4 Ford. In France. These Ford cars with a French flavor will even be manufactured in Electricitythe plant that Renault has in France and where the aforementioned come from Five and Fourhence it is the couple that we will probably see on the street. The arrival of these new models is also a boost to the factory itself. It is where Renault’s small electric models are assembled, but also the Nissan Micra (brother of the Renault 5). They have the capacity to continue expanding production and had options from Alpine, Dacia or Mitusbishi, which are also part of the Renault Group or are collaborators. The arrival of the new Ford is an endorsement for a plant that has the capacity to assemble up to 620,000 vehicles annually. Ford, what Ford? In the statement, Ford wanted to mark territory and defend that the new cars that leave the French plant will have the hallmarks of the oval brand. “The two cars will feature distinctive driving dynamics, authentic Ford brand DNA and an intuitive user experience,” the company says. The truth is that in the medium term, Ford will have six electric cars on the market and four of them are mounted on external platforms. Thus, only the Puma Gen-E and the Mustang Mach-E They are purely Ford cars. The ford explorer and Capri have been launched on the basis of Volkswagen’s MEB, with the ID.4 as a brother of the Americans. Now two more electric cars will arrive from outside the company. The two speeds. The announcement does nothing more than reaffirm the strategy that Ford seems to have decided for Europe. The company has long been talking about a company at two speeds where the vehicles with the highest cost for the customer (and benefits for the company) are manufactured by Ford with its hallmarks and sold in exclusive families within the company itself such as Ford, Raptor or Bronco. The rest of the models, such as electric ones, for which you must make big investments and whose financial results are not being too good due to slower customer reception than expected, is what is being left in the hands of third parties. That is to say, Ford is trying to focus its efforts and make its highest-cost investments in those models that it knows work best for them. This has a counterpart. The brand risks being diluted between models that have their personal touch, like the Explorer, but where there is no doubt that they have a very characteristic Volkswagen car flavor. This strategy of “third party” models for Europe endangers the company’s brand image and could place it in a less dominant position if in the future they want to return to making their own investments for the European market. And Valencia? The announcement adds to the future Ford Bronco Sport for Europe, a model that will be assembled in Valencia, according to Automotive Newsand that comes to keep the plant alive with a “Europeanization” of the American model based on the Ford Kuga. A few weeks ago, The Automotive Tribune It also pointed out this possibility and that another second model would arrive at the Valencian plant. This strategy would help keep the factory alive by assembling models with combustion engines while electric ones (which require greater investment and lower return at low prices) are being left in the hands of third parties. Photo | Renault and Ford In Xataka | Until now, on Amazon you could buy practically everything except cars. That just changed with Ford

Ford CEO is completely obsessed with Chinese electric cars

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“Xiaomi is the Apple of China.” These are the words not of just anyone, but of Jim Farley, CEO of Ford. The boss of the American company is one of the bosses who has been the most talked about in recent years. And the reason is approach when studying rivals. It is rare to see the CEO of a company praising a rival, but Farley not only does not mince words, but is determined to air the details that need to be improved to catch up. And if there’s one thing that’s catching Farley’s attention, it’s Chinese cars and, in particular, the Xiaomi SU7. Knowing the competition. The automobile industry has embarked on electrification, and if this adventure is making one thing clear, it is that China is leading the way. Although Tesla struck first from the West, it is the Asian giant’s companies that are pushing both technology and batteries. This is generating an ecosystem in which chinese cars They are extremely competitive in the market, something that is making Western manufacturers nervous. To better understand his competition, Farley had the idea of ​​carrying out a series of trips to China to select cars to take back to the United States. Not to dismantle them – or not only – but to drive them on a daily basis on everyday trips. In a recent interview with La Naciónstates that the entire management team is going on that trip to choose 50 cars. He doesn’t want to get off his SU7. Of those 50, they keep five, and they are the ones they take back to Detroit. The one chosen by Farley? He Xiaomi SU7. He liked it to the point of saying that “it’s fantastic,” stating that he didn’t want to get off of it. Previously, already rated the company as “an industry giant and a much stronger consumer brand than automotive companies,” but now it has gone a little further. The Apple of China. “Everyone talks about the Apple car, but the Xiaomi car already exists and it is fantastic,” said before the official cancellation of the car was known. And, in fact, in that interview for La Nación, Farley commented that he is not surprised that Xiaomi is so successful. “It is the Apple of China.” Precisely, it is the “ecosystem” that stands out, something that is Apple’s strong point: “You get into the car with your phone and you don’t have to pair it because it automatically identifies it. It has facial recognition, an AI assistant and can accelerate from 0 to 100 km/h in three seconds with just the push of a button. It looks like a porsche taycan”, he assures. Humiliating. Is it perfect? “No, and we could surpass it in the segments in which we compete,” adds the manager. But Farley’s ‘flowers’ are not only for Xiaomi, but for the Chinese industry. At the Aspen Ideas Festival held in June of this year, CEO described what he saw in China as “lor most humiliating thing I have ever seen in my life”. The reason? That 70% of the world’s electric vehicles are manufactured in China and that they have cabin technology much superior to that offered by many Western brands. “Automatically, your entire digital life is reflected in the car.” Technology gap. Farley’s interest in competitors, both Chinese and domestic, is evident. When Ford entered the electric segment, He did it like an elephant in a china shopwith a Ford Mustang Mach-E which was very expensive to develop when its competitors already had much more optimized processes that allowed the price of cars to be lowered. Since then, they have been changing strategy and moving chips. They hired Doug Field, former chief engineer of the Tesla Model 3 and member in Apple car design, and was the one who opened cars to Farley. Field sincere: “Jim, your parts release system and development architecture are 25 years behind. You can’t compete like that with BYD”. The acid test will be the new electric pickup that Ford is preparing for 2027 with the aim of making it affordable. We will see, of course, how the market responds, but what is clear is that Farley does not fall short when it comes to praising the competition. Images | Xataka, Ford In Xataka | Ford invested 1 billion to produce electric cars in Europe. Now it will invest money in laying off 1,000 employees

There are so few mechanics on the market that Ford is taking radical measures, like paying them $120,000

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In the United States, and in general in the main Western economies, the manufacturing industry faces a serious problem: there is no specialized labor to fill the vacancies that are leaving who retire. Jim Farley, CEO of Ford, has stressed in an interview for the podcast Office Hours: Business Edition that his company has “5,000 mechanic vacancies. A workshop with an elevator and tools, and no one to work in it. They charge 120,000 a year, but it takes five years to learn how to do it.” This lack of training is the weakest link in the chain for Ford and the majority of the industrial sector. Global talent crisis. One of Trump’s slogans when he came to power is to reindustrialize the country. However, for many billion dollar investment that I get for build huge factorieswill fall on deaf ears if there are no well-trained employees to produce. This problem can be extrapolated to any country in the world. During his podcast appearance, Farley lamented: “We have over a million vacancies in critical jobs: emergency services, trucking, factory workers, plumbers, electricians and technical trades. It’s very serious.” The situation is not exclusive to Ford. According what was published by NPRwith data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, in the US there were almost 500,000 unfilled jobs in the manufacturing sector, even with a rising unemployment rate that stood at 4.3%. This is an indication that, although there are people who are unemployed, companies cannot hire them because they simply do not have the training to do the jobs they need. In Spain, the problem is also significant. The BBVA Foundation estimated that the manufacturing industry had lost a quarter of its employment since the beginning of the century, and there are an estimated 100,000 vacant jobs in the industry, in a country with 2,613,200 unemployed, according to data of the EPA’s third quarter of 2025. Again, this mismatch is due to the gap between the training of the workforce and the needs of companies. Importance of Vocational Training. Farley insists that the current reality demands a serious commitment to professional training, since “to learn how to disassemble a diesel engine from a Ford Super Duty truck requires at least five years.” For this reason, the CEO points out that without a determined effort to strengthen technical training schools and offer competitive wages, the American industrial economy—and that of any country that aspires to industrialization—is doomed to failure. The lack of investment in this type of training is one of the main causes of the crisis. Farley mentioned that “we don’t have trade schools. We are not investing in educating a new generation like my grandfather, who started with nothing and built a middle-class life for his family (working on the assembly line of a Ford factory).” The Spanish FP is a success story. In Spain, Vocational Training has experienced a big change thanks to investment policies, greater training offers and the involvement of companies in the training of those who will later become their employees. In fact, according to the report ‘Infoempleo Adecco 2024‘, in 46.96% of the job offers published during the last year, candidates were asked have a vocational training degree. The FP student report of the Ministry of Education, Vocational Training and Sports reveals that, in the 2022-2023 academic year, 1,085,259 students were enrolled in Vocational Training degrees. That represents an increase of 32.6% compared to the last five years. The demographic factor is going to make it worse. A key factor in the number of vacancies is the template aging: Many workers with decades of experience are retiring and there are not enough young people trained to take their places. This is a problem that not only affects the industrial sector, but also affects the entire labor market, both in the public sector as private. Seeing that young people are showing greater interest in Vocational Training invites us to think that the number of vacancies in sectors with vacancies due to lack of trained labor at present will not increase, but the big question is whether this generational change will arrive on time and to the areas that are needed. As and as highlighted Jensen Huang, the new millionaires will not be engineers or AI experts, but electricians, carpenters, bricklayers or bus drivers. Incentives: “Pay them more”. Never have three words held as much truth as those spoken by Joe Biden when someone asked him how to end the labor shortage: “Pay them more.” Pay them more. In his attempts to attract qualified labor to his assembly lines, Ford’s CEO adopted a strategy that the company’s founder, Henry Ford, implemented in 1914: raise salaries. That’s why Farley boasted of paying $120,000 to his mechanics. Just as he told in an interview with Walter Isaacson, Farley came to that conclusion when during labor agreement negotiations, some of his workers approached him and commented: “Young people don’t want to work here. Jim, you pay $17 an hour and they’re very stressed.” To combat this, Ford approved a 25% pay increase for its workers over four years, ensuring everyone has a fair wage and a viable career future. have a professional opportunity with a good salary and job stability is the best incentive for young people to spend five years of their lives training for a profession. In Xataka | 47% of the unemployed in Spain are over 50 years old. The problem is that many will not return to work until they retire. Image | ford

Ford had 20,000 workers in the Colonia factory. Ten years later they are 7,600 because their electric cars are not bought

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Three years ago, Ford presented its short and medium -term road map for Europe. Then they announced seven new completely electric modelsof which they were commercial vehicles. Of the other three, only one was a Ford. And, in fact, it has ended up becoming the electric variant of a combustion car. We talk about Ford Pumaan electric car in which they have had to juggle to put an electric motor train. A car limited to the city because platform restrictions Combustion barely leave space for a 43 kWh battery. With its more than 34,000 euros of departure, it has become a difficult car taking into account that it moves on the highway between 200 and the 250 real kilometers of autonomy. The other two, as we said, are not Ford cars. The Ford Explorer and Ford Capri They are electric cars mounted on the Volkswagen platform. In both cases we have stressed that, dynamically, cars have a slightly more interesting tuning than that of the Germans, with more hard suspensions and a slightly more direct direction. However, if you mount one and another it is easy to verify that both models are mounted on the Volkswagen MEB platform. That is disguised with the vertical displaceable screen in depth and a speaker arranged as if it were a sound bar. But that’s it. The interface of a good part of the menus is Purely Volkswagen And, specifically, it is evident that it is a hardware and software mounted on the MEB platform. And that is bad news. For your touch controls or for your usability decisions. And they are also bad news for Ford. So much that it will fire a thousand German employees because their electric cars are not buying. The results of a failed strategy A thousand employees. That is the number that Ford will say goodbye to its neighborhood plant (Germany). They argue that “in Europe, the demand for electric cars is still well below the forecasts of the sector” and that, therefore, the plant will pass to a single shift in 2026, reducing its productive capacity, in words collected by Motorpasion. They explain in the middle that so far this year, Ford has sold 19,000 Ford Explorer units and Capri is still below. In fact, you have to go down to the fourteenth place between best -selling electric cars in Europe in the first half of the year to find the Americans. Cupra, Byd or Peugeot were above them. We could talk about bad results but Ford invested 1,000 million euros in Colonia to modernize the plant and get its electric cars out of there. With a productive capacity of 250,000 vehicles per year, the factory works at half a gas. Nor is it a good time to receive this news since The company is losing money this year and suffering with American tariffs. So much so that last year he earned 1.8 billion dollars and this year plays in red numbers. The result is also the consequence of a risky strategy: to offer two clearly differentiated products. In October 2024, Jim Farley, his CEO, said that the company was “leaving the market of boring cars to enter the market of iconic cars” to the magazine Car. The statements They coincided over time with the abandonment of classic vehicles in the European market such as party, Mondeo or Focus. And it continued: “We are good making a quick car (about Ford and the bronco sub -jack) and authentic SUVs. Look at the Raptor, we brought it from Mexican competitions and turned it into a car that can be used in the street. It is a great example of where I think our passenger cars should go (…) We can face Porsche with the Mustang, it is the best -selling sports coupe in the world. and be stronger and stronger “ In those words, Ford’s strategy was hidden. European emission regulations They aimed at 2025 of Milmillonarias fines. Finally, the sanctions were delayed to 2027 but, if applied, Ford needs to sell many more electric and few cars like the ones Farley mentioned since they exceed the maximum proposed emissions of 93 gr/km of CO2. The answer was the hug to the Volkswagen MEB platform. This has been criticized harshly by critics and the public. In their eagerness to reduce costs, decisions have been made as a profusion of tactile controls They bother in place of adding. And cars have not highlighted precisely for good autonomy or a groundbreaking price. But, in return, Ford has obtained two electric cars in the market with a minimum investment. The risk is almost limited to the modernization of the colony plant. So, There are two clearly differentiated business lines In Ford: Cheap cars (developed on the work of others) and expensive and representative cars that do not even refer to Ford. It is no accident that the Mustang, Bronco or Raptor have lost the Ford logo on their front. They are, in themselves, as families that work almost independently. The problem is that the public has not bought Ford’s bet. The Ford Explorer or Capri are not bad electric cars but you have to assume the youth errors of the MEB platform paid, in addition, at a high price. In what we have been, in Spain, 649 units have been bought between the sum of these two models. 649 units of the almost 21,000 registrations that Ford is registered at the end of August. The damage is especially bleeding in more powerful markets. In Germany, Volkswagen has managed to overcome with the ID.3a car that seemed dead but is the best selling in the electricity market. He is followed ID.7which also uses the MEB platform. The Volkswagen ID.4 and ID.5 They are positioned in the fourth position (add up to the same bag because ID.5 is only the Coupé variant of ID.4). You have to go down to the twelfth position to find the Ford Explorer. Capri is not among … Read more

The domino effect of tariffs is also being felt in Valencia. Specifically, in the Ford factory

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Ford has drastically trimmed the production forecasts of the new bronco in its Almussafes plant. Of the 300,000 units initially planned, the figure has fallen to 209,000, as published Digital economy citing their own sources. Why is it important. This 30% cut reflects how Trump’s tariff policies are already moving chairs in the European industry before applying. The accuracy of the new figure – 209,000 units compared to the 300,000 round rounds – lets read a very specific calculation between a very specific projected stage between the lines. Between the lines. Suppliers openly speak of the “Trump effect” by explaining these changes. The most important reduction affects precisely the volume allocated to the United States: from 91,000 units per year provided for a much lower but not even pointed out. Ford is adjusting its transatlantic export plans in the face of tariff uncertainty. And that is felt in the Valencian economy, whose GDP depends by approximately 10% of this factory. In detail. The effect on the supply chain is, the redundancy, in chain: Suppliers have to recalculate investments. Prices should be modified based on a lower production volume. Lower production means less industrial capacity required. And that facilitates the transfer of suppliers outside the Almussafes environment. Yes, but. Trump will end his mandate in 2028, but bronco production is planned between 2027 and 2035. That is, three quarters of the manufacturing will be done without him in the presidency. But the car is an industry without much flexibility to modify the decisions that are made now. The threat. Reduce estimates during the award of limited pieces future expansions. If suppliers dimension their capacity for 209,000 vehicles, then increase production will be more complex and expensive. It is not easy to undo steps and make them again. The industry is creating a productive roof based on the most pessimistic stage. Deepen. Ford He is at the same time intensifying his presence in Moroccoparticipating in the Automotive Tangier meetings with the presence of the Moroccan monarch. Its sponsorship contrasts with brands such as Stellantis or Renault, which already manufacture vehicles in the African country, which gives clues of a geographical diversification of the productive strategy. In Xataka | One of the most mythical cars in the history of cinema can be “copied” by anyone. And that has consequences for the industry Outstanding image | Luke Scarpino in Unspash

A retiree and his children have stolen millions of dollars to Ford in office material. Indeed, lights, caps and bumper

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Although in February this year Audi closed its Brussels plant After 75 years in operation, the road was not simple. In the middle of the workers’ protests, someone had an idea: take the keys of 200 cars, put them in a box and remove them from the factory. Clean, simple and with 200 kidnapped cars whose unit value was around 100,000 euros. As simple as keep a box under the jacket and go through the door. More complicated seems to steal the entire engine of a car. This is what was discovered A few months ago in India. For five years, up to 900 Kia combustion engines were stolen from their plants and has not been clear to what extent some worker of the company itself is involved. However, and although large, one can understand that engines from a factory have been steal if they manage to partially disassemble. But how can one take a car cap? And a bumper? This is what they wonder in Ford where a retiree and two children, company workers, have committed a “billionaire” robbery for more than two years. Hello, dad, I bring you a bumper The information, which comes from Detroit Free Pressa police note echoed in which it was confirmed that four people have been arrested for the theft of pieces of different Ford assembly chains that later sold on Ebay. Among those arrested is a former Ford employee but the identity of any of them has not been revealed so far. The pieces were stolen from three Ford plants, one in Deabane, another on a mounting plant in Michigan and one last in Flat Rock. In Motorpasion and The Drive They point out that three of these four men were family. One of them was a retired father and the other two were his children who had contact with a Ford employee. The extracted pieces were taken to stores where they accumulated for sale. A robbery that, according to the local police, is encrypted in “multimillionaire”. And it is that the four employees would have been subtracting and selling pieces for more than two years. The most curious thing is that it is not small or easy to hide pieces. Among the products found were car headlights but also Bumper and Capóslarge pieces therefore. An agent pointed to Fox That the stores where the pieces were stored were covered to the roof. The investigation is analyzing how these pieces could be taken out of the plant without attracting attention from other employees and will have to discover how they were eliminated from the inventory so as not to attract attention since all the pieces in a mounting plant usually have some type of code that identifies each piece. In addition, from the police they point out that they are still looking for new indications that take them to ships or warehouses where the suspects could save the pieces, taking into account the volume of them and the economic damage that it seems to have caused. Photo | Ford In Xataka | The “Sowing Method” alerted by the Civil Guard: this is the new scam popular in the great parking lots

If the Electric Ford Capri seems strange to you, it is because you do not remember that one day it took a motorcycle engine. Yes, a V4 engine

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2.- Molancholic sadness originated by the memory of a loss Nostalgia has come to stay in the car market. It makes a lot of sense, if we think coldly. We are facing a historical moment in the automobile industry. The regulatory changes and a new technology that seems to be average price increased of a car to Remove some capabilities He has made many feel expelled from this “new mobility.” Nostalgia applied to the automobile market is nothing more than the redundancy of A constant of our societyencouraged to constantly remind us that all the past was better. And it does not have to be exactly like that but manufacturers have decided to enter the game. If the most common buyer of a new car exceeds 45 years and what lived between 15 and 25 years We consider it as the best time of our life … You just have to subtract. That is why Renault has risen to Renault 5which ceased to be manufactured 40 years ago and was an essential part of the childhood of those buyers who are already well entered in the forties. The same buyers who have the purchasing power to get those cars. He will follow him Renault 4 and the Twingo. It is about attracting the electric car market to an audience that needs stimuli and incentives that appeal to their feelings. Ford opted for a slightly more risky strategy: use mythical names. He did it with the Ford Mustang, who was left an electric brother. And he has done it with the Ford Capri. A car that was an icon of the 70s and a large part of the 80s. Subtracts, again, and checks who is directed An electric car called Ford Capri. Renault has opted for popular models but Ford has chosen the way to resurrect names that have a space of honor in the collective imaginary of car lovers. And, with this, they have gotten the most staunch defenders to be thrown on them but have also managed to get to those who would cost more money with higher investments in marketing. An example of that selective memory and understanding that the past was better for the simple fact that we remember it is the case of Ford Capri. Yes, it has risen as an electric car but in its day it also came to set up an unexpected, weird and that of course we do not associate with the Muscle Cars American. A motorcycle engine in a mythical car That generalized image we have of “American car” of the Ford Capri is not such and partly distorted by memory. The car was born as a European version of Ford Mustang. That forced to make a smaller car, with also smaller engines and, above all, except gastons. That led Ford to opt for a curious solution with the launch at the end of the 60s: mount a V4 engine. Ford’s intention was to make Capri A car that young Europeans could buythat was not expensive and that offered a cheap and sports alternative to the classic German Coupés. The proper functioning of Mustang In the United States they convinced them that they could get a similar result in Europe. With that premise, it was about recycling all possible components to prevent development from being price. With that premise, Ford brought out a V4 engine. A very little used concept in the car market because it forces to develop a propeller with Two ass, two exhaust collectors and two valve trains. That is much more complicated than a four -cylinder engine online. In return, you get a propeller with a very characteristic sound and very contained dimensions. Width it can be a problem if the car is very narrow but it is a much more compact option than its older brothers. In addition, the power delivery was softer than with a four -cylinder online, although it does not reach the refinement of a V6 or a V8. That compact size is perfect for a high performance motorcycle. Its power can go above 100 hp easily and entered in this field, the configuration is ideal for high performance motorcycles. In a car, where the weight is much greater, this advantage is very eclipsed. Ford’s V4 engine we already knew it in Europe. The company put it at the service of Ford Taunus and was Saab’s supplier. Also Lancia with the fulvia He had tried unsuccessfully to make the V4 engine an alternative to the four online cylinders. Despite their best behavior, the high development and production costs finished killing a propeller that we would see again in the Porsche 919 Hybrid of Le Mans. But that is another story. Photo | Ford In Xataka | Ford devised a car moved by nuclear energy in 1962. Other of his crazy ideas are more present than ever

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