FORD GAINS RETAIL SHARE IN MARCH, DELIVERS FIRST FUSION HYBRIDS, LAUNCHES FORD ADVANTAGE PLAN

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• Ford retail share climbs in March capping two consecutive quarters of retail share gains
• First Fusion Hybrids are delivered to customers
• Ford Advantage Plan offers customers peace of mind in uncertain times
• Ford, Lincoln and Mercury sales totaled 125,107, down 41 percent versus year ago but were 30 percent higher than February
• Ford updates first quarter North American production

New, fuel-efficient products and quality on par with the best in the industry helped Ford increase retail market share in March to its highest level since December 2006, capping two consecutive quarters of retail share gains. Ford estimates its retail share performance from October 2008 through March 2009 was the strongest of any major manufacturer compared with the same period a year ago.

Ford’s newest products drove the company’s retail share performance: the new F-150 pickup, Escape small utility, Flex full-size crossover and Lincoln MKS sedan. The sell-down of the previous-generation Fusion mid-size sedan also contributed to the company’s strong retail showing.

Growing awareness and consideration of Ford and its high-quality, fuel-efficient products are starting to take hold. Plus, through June 1, Ford is offering consumers additional reasons to “Drive one.”

“Ford has a great story to tell, and the Ford Advantage Plan will help our dealers tell that story,” said Jim Farley, Ford group vice president, Marketing and Communications. “We’re trying to provide people peace of mind in these uncertain times. When you combine that with our leading quality, fuel economy, safety and strong residual values, there has never been a better time to come over to Ford.”

The Ford Advantage Plan is effective on vehicles delivered from March 31 through June 1. The Plan offers payment protection up to 12 months for up to $700 per month on any new Ford, Lincoln or Mercury vehicle if a customer loses his or her job. Plus, 0 percent financing from Ford Motor Credit is available on select vehicles.

Customer deliveries of Ford’s newest products – the 2010 Ford Fusion and Mercury Milan – began in March. Recent independent studies rate Fusion and Milan – the most fuel-efficient mid-size sedans in America – as having the best predicted reliability among all mid-size sedans. Plus, the new Fusion Hybrid delivers 41 mpg in the city and 36 mpg on highway, topping the Toyota Camry Hybrid by 8 mpg in the city and 2 mpg on the highway. The new four-cylinder Ford Fusion S achieves 34 mpg on the highway and 23 mpg in the city, beating both the gasoline-powered Camry and Honda Accord.

Ford, Lincoln and Mercury sales totaled 125,107 in March, down 41 percent compared with March 2008. Retail sales were down 36 percent compared with a year ago and fleet sales were down 50 percent.

Ford sales increased 30 percent compared with February 2009 with retail sales up 34 percent and fleet sales up 22 percent.

U.S. Inventories
At the end of March, Ford, Lincoln and Mercury inventories totaled 408,000 units. Inventories were 27 percent lower than a year ago – in line with the sales decline during this period.

North American Production
The company produced 349,000 vehicles in the first quarter, a reduction of 26,000 vehicles from the previous forecast.

“Aligning production and inventory with demand is a key element of our strategy to strengthen our brand and improve customer value,” said Farley. “Our disciplined approach to the market in these challenging times helps us to minimize costly incentives that erode brand value while we’re delivering our strongest-ever product lineup.”

FORD : VICTORY IN RALLY POLAND

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BP Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team drivers Mikko Hirvonen and Jarmo Lehtinen took the lead in the Federation Internationale de L’Automobile World Rally Championship today after winning Rally Poland in a Focus RS World Rally Car.

It was Ford's third straight victory following wins in Italy and Greece and Hirvonen now heads the drivers' standings by one point with four rounds remaining.

The Finns led the rally for virtually the entire event, their winning margin 1min 10.3sec after three days of flat-out competition. Team-mates Jari-Matti Latvala and Miikka Anttila were on course for second place in another Focus RS WRC, only to retire with the finish in sight after hitting a barrel and breaking his car's steering on the final speed test in the rally's host town of Mikolajki.

This was Poland's first appearance in the WRC since the inaugural championship in 1973. More than 200,000 fans welcomed its return by swamping the picturesque Mazurian Lake District, 250km from Warsaw in the north-east of the country, to watch the action. Narrow, sandy and blisteringly fast gravel roads challenged the drivers, who tackled 18 special stages covering 352.00km. Such was the pace that Hirvonen won Friday's penultimate speed test at an average speed of 129.44kph.

Hirvonen took the lead on the third stage on Friday morning and Latvala claimed second just one test later after Sébastien Loeb, Hirvonen's title rival, hit a tree stump and broke his car's suspension. The BP Ford Abu Dhabi duo withstood a determined challenge yesterday morning from third-placed Dani Sordo and measured their pace through today's final leg until the last stage drama.

"This has been the best rally of the season so far," said 28-year-old Hirvonen. "The roads here are fast and narrow and the crowds provided a superb atmosphere. It's the first time I have won two consecutive rallies and it has put me into the lead of the championship ahead of my home rally in Finland. The weekend was perfect from start to finish. After Loeb's mistake on Friday, I thought I might have an easy drive but it wasn't to be. I had to drive flat out yesterday to stay ahead and it's a fantastic feeling to win after such a great fight.

"I started this morning determined to go flat out through the first loop of stages. When I saw the split times of the guys behind me I knew they weren't pushing so hard, so I was able to drive more cautiously. Everything is possible now regarding the championship. I'm in the lead, so it's in my own hands over the final four rounds," said Hirvonen.

Latvala drove a faultless rally until his final stage error. The 24-year-old Finn relished the challenge of the fast and narrow roads and had provided perfect support to both Hirvonen's title bid and Ford's challenge for a third manufacturers' title in four years. However, it all went wrong on the second bend of the final 2.50km test.

"It was my mistake," admitted a distraught Latvala. "I wasn't driving too quickly but I turned into the bend too early and clipped an oil barrel which was full of sand. The impact broke the steering and I couldn't turn into the next bend and hit the barrier on the opposite side of the road. I've let down the team and damaged Ford's dream of winning the manufacturers' title this year."

A determined Latvala and Anttila tried to push the car to the finish of the stage and completed a whole lap before being forced to stop and retire.

BP Ford Abu Dhabi team director Malcolm Wilson reflected on a bitter-sweet end to the weekend. "Mikko has been fantastic throughout. He drove superbly all weekend and thoroughly deserved to take his second win in a row. But I never expected to see what I saw on the final stage. I went to watch the perfect end of a perfect weekend but I can't believe what happened right in front of my eyes. It was heartbreaking to see such an excellent result slip away after both drivers did such a superb job for three days," he said.

Ford of Europe's motorsport manager Gerard Quinn said: "Three consecutive wins is a great reward for the efforts of the team over recent months. Mikko leads the championship going into his home rally and that will be a special moment for him. All our efforts are geared towards maintaining our momentum in Finland, one of the sport's great classics, next month."

Cars

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Mikko Hirvonen and Jarmo Lehtinen finished second in the Cyprus Rally today as the BP Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team claimed a clean sweep of special stage victories during the final leg. The Finns won the opening two speed tests in their Ford Focus RS World Rally Car as they eventually finished just 27.2sec behind winner Sébastien Loeb in this third round of the 12-event Federation Internationale de L’Automobile World Rally Championship.

Team-mates Jari-Matti Latvala and Miikka Anttila were fastest on the final stage as they recovered to 12th in their Focus RS WRC after spending more than 20 minutes stuck in deep sand on the edge of the road yesterday. That ensured a double points haul in the manufacturers' championship for Ford. Abu Dhabi's Khalid Al Qassimi and Michael Orr finished eighth in the team's other car to match their career-best performance.

The Cyprus Rally was the first mixed surface round of the WRC since 1996. To add to the challenge drivers tackled the opening day's slippery asphalt stages with Pirelli's gravel tyres fitted to their cars. Once the event switched to twisty and rocky gravel tracks high in the Troodos Mountains, torrential rain turned some sections into a mudbath. Conditions were so tough yesterday that the team removed 95kg of clinging mud from Hirvonen's car during the lunchtime service at the rally base in Limassol.

Hirvonen found it hard to adapt to driving on asphalt with a gravel set-up on his Focus RS WRC during the opening morning and ended the day in third, 60.2sec from the lead. Once the rally moved onto gravel the 28-year-old Finn felt more at home and beat Loeb on six of the remaining eight stages as he ate into the Frenchman's deficit. He moved into second yesterday morning and eventually finished 1min 22.2sec clear of his closest rival after 14 tests covering 332.07km.

"I lost my chance of victory on Friday morning because I didn't drive well enough," he said. "Once the rally moved onto gravel I was faster than Loeb and that's a big boost as there are now seven consecutive loose surface events to come. On the wet and muddy roads our pace was pretty much equal, but on the drier sections I was quicker and it's a shame that the heavy rain fell when it did.

"I made some small mistakes with my car set-up because I tried to be too clever. I will do things differently on the next round in Portugal. The last time I was in Cyprus I finished more than five minutes behind Loeb so to bring that down to 27sec is good progress," added Hirvonen.

Latvala was only 3.4sec behind Hirvonen when the 23-year-old Finn beached his car in sand on the inside of a corner on yesterday's second stage. He had to run 1km to find enough spectators to lift the car out and fell from fourth to 25th. He bounced back to set competitive times throughout the rest of the rally and his efforts were rewarded with two points for Ford in the manufacturers' championship.

"I was pleased with my speed this weekend but disappointed to make a mistake yesterday," he said. "This was my first time here so I'm happy to take away the experience of having driven all the stages. They were more difficult than I expected because there are so many changes in character but they weren't as rough as I thought. I've learned another lesson here and I want to deliver some solid results over the next few rallies on a surface I like."

Al Qassimi lost time with a niggling handbrake problem that meant he could not use it to slide his car around the tightest corners but was happy with his second points finish this year. "It was a challenging rally. I was pleased with my performance and it's encouraging to see I've lifted my pace," he said.

BP Ford Abu Dhabi team director Malcolm Wilson reflected on the weekend. "I would like to congratulate Sébastien Loeb on the achievement of taking his 50th WRC win—but I've had assurances from Mikko and Jari-Matti that he will not reach the next landmark for a while! Mikko again did a fantastic job and while Jari-Matti's problem yesterday was disappointing, he came back to set competitive times and score points for the team."

Ford of Europe motorsport director Mark Deans said: "I welcome the organisers' brave decision to run a mixed surface rally. It brought an element to the WRC we've not seen for many years and the decision to use gravel tyres added further intrigue. The rally required real endurance from man and machine, with today's 40km stage requiring 53 pages of pace notes. That's indicative of its challenge."

2008 KTM 1190 RC8

KTM has officially introduced their new KTM RC8 superbike. Power comes from a 155 horsepower, 1148cc 75 degree V-Twin. The 414 pound RC8 has a powder coated Chromoly trellis frame rolling on 17 inch wheels with Brembo brakes.

At the very heart of the 1190 RC8 is the completely newly developed super sporty two-cylinder based on the well known LC8 range of engines, which, with a top performance of 155 hp and a maximum amount of torque of 120 Nm delivers an overwhelming amount of power to the rider.

This is KTM’s entry in the high power superbike market and it looks like a worthy contender. The 1190 RC8 will be offered in KTM's trademark orange and black scheme, as well as a white and black version. According to KTM PR the new model will be available March 2008, "just in time for the start of the new motorcycle season."

2008 Yamaha R6

The futuristic design of this bikes really differs the design for the previous models before 2003. More sharp part rather than curve part like R1. This 600cc model is the top choice in her class when considering the top speed is the highest compared to other brands in 600cc class. Salute.


Yamaha’s 2008 YZF-R6 has just become the first 600cc supersport motorcycle to hit a genuine 170mph. At 172.34 mph, the 2008 R6 beat the next fastest bike by nearly 7 mph – Kawasaki’s ZX-6R managing 165.97mph with the same rider in the same conditions at Bruntingthorpe proving ground.


This year, Yamaha’s YZF R6 got a few tweaks in an effort to add midrange power while still retaining its class-leading high-RPM punch, including a higher compression ratio, Yamaha’s Chip Controlled Intake (YCC-I) and Yamaha’s Chip Controlled Throttle (YCC-T). These changes helped the R6 to break the 170 mile-per-hour barrier. This is the first for a 600cc machine.


The 2008 Yamaha R6 has a dry weight of 366 lbs, and features an all-new frame and magnesium subframe. Comparing to Honda, this model is lighter and better handling. Looking for on the feature as well as design for 2009 bikes.

BMW BIKES

Harley Davidson to hit Indian roads

New Delhi: American cult bike brand Harley Davidson can be seen cruising on Indian roads soon.

In return for allowing mango exports to the US, the Government on Friday relaxed emission and testing norms for the import of Harley Davidson bikes.

The Commerce Ministry on Friday notified that import of motorcycles up to 800 cc engine capacity or above subject to compliance to Euro III emission norms.

Individuals, firms and original equipment manufacturers with service networks would be allowed to import these bikes.

The relaxation followed an agreement reached at the India-US Trade Policy Forum meeting in New Delhi.

"We have reached an agreement... now Harley Davidson motorcycles can be imported while Indian mangoes will be available in the US markets," as quoted , Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath said.

The Government has done away with the need for conducting homologation checks for these bikes. These tests are essential to see if imported vehicles meet Indian regulations. In place of this, test certificates of accredited agency will suffice.

Though bikes in India have to meet strict norms, Harley Davidson and other motorcycles of higher engine capacity have been given a liberal treatment. But they would have to meet at least Euro III norms.

US Trade Representative Susan Schwab on the other hand said, "Indian mangoes are only a few days away from the shipment".

The king of fruit has not been allowed to enter the US market due to various non-trade barriers and the last hitch of radiation testing is being addressed. A radiation testing facility is being set up in Mumbai on a cost-sharing basis.