Ford Motor Co. is considering a compact vehicle for its Lincoln luxury brand, product development chief Derrick Kuzak said.
“We do think that there is room for a smaller car in the Lincoln brand,” Kuzak, group vice president for global product development. He would not discuss specifics.
Early in the next decade, Ford is expected to bring out a Lincoln companion when the company replaces the Ford Escape crossover. Suppliers and analysts expect the Ford Kuga compact crossover sold in Europe to be the basis for those vehicles. Kuzak also said Ford has no plans to bring the European Ka microcar to the United States.
Automotive News
Vehicle dependability improves in survey
DETROIT – Vehicle dependability has improved 4.6 percent across the auto industry in 2008, according to a new study by J.D. Power and Associates. The 38 brands included in the survey averaged 206 problems per 100 cars sold during the third year of ownership. That's 10 fewer problems than in 2007.
Lexus again led the industry in the study, which is based on results of a survey of 52,000 original owners of 2005 model vehicles. There were 120 problems per Lexus sold, Power said in a statement. Lexus has been atop the vehicle dependability study for 14 years. For details, go to autonews.com/dependability.
Automotive News
VW group passes Ford as No. 3 global seller
The Volkswagen group overtook Ford Motor Co. for third place in global unit sales in the first half of the year. Volkswagen said it delivered 3.27 million vehicles to auto dealers, up 5.8 percent. In an internal tally of wholesale vehicle sales, Ford reported volume of 3.21 vehicles, down 6 percent.
Automotive News
GM says it will fix latches in 300,000 Chevy HHRs
WASHINGTON – General Motors is recalling nearly 300,000 2006-08 Chevrolet HHRs.
During a federal safety compliance test, the lid on the HHR's instrument panel storage bin opened, according to documents posted online by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
GM told NHTSA that it will send a storage bin latch reinforcement kit to vehicle owners, who will have the option of installing it or taking it to a dealership for repair. GM said repair notices will probably go out in November.
Automotive News
Dodge plans Election Day Web blitz for 2009 Ram
Chrysler LLC wants to give Internet users more than a billion opportunities to see online ads for the 2009 Dodge Ram pickup. Dodge plans an ad blitz Nov. 4 – Election Day and thus a big day for Internet usage by news junkies – on home pages of such Web sites as msn.com, aol.com and yahoo.com.
Dodge executives predict the ad campaign will yield as many as 1.3 billion viewer impressions.
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