Ford wasn’t kidding about wanting to keep ownership of the GT as exclusive as possible. In addition to setting production numbers incredibly low, the company also carefully vetted prospective supercar buyers and made them promise not to resell the vehicle for at least two years.

While atypical of Ford-branded vehicles, clauses like that aren’t uncommon among high-end manufacturers selling an ultra-rare model. But what happens when a customer decides to ignore the contract and flip the vehicle prematurely?

Well, as wrestling-icon John Cena found out, the automaker takes you to court. On Thursday, Ford Motor Company filed suit against Cena in the U.S. District Court in Michigan over breach of contract, fraudulent misrepresentation, and unjust enrichment. (Read More…)

Browsing on The Facebook recently presented me with an astonishing feat of custom bodywork, one I felt compelled to share in a very special Custom Edition Picture Time Edition of Custom.

It’s a one-off modification of a 2006 Lincoln Town Car, and you need to see it.

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General Motors’ Detroit-Hamtramck assembly plant isn’t the only facility hit hard by the public’s growing distaste for traditional highway cruisers. Falling full-size sedan sales turned out the lights at that plant last month, and GM’s Oshawa, Ontario plant will follow suit in January, returning with a missing shift once production resumes.

Like Hamtramck, the Oshawa plant builds the Chevrolet Impala sedan, and is the sole domestic builder of the Cadillac XTS. As the only remaining front-wheel-drive passenger car in the brand’s lineup, the XTS — saved from execution and refreshed for 2018 — didn’t stage a repeat performance of its October sales climb in November. (Read More…)

The pervasive opinion among truck enthusiasts and industry experts is that nobody cares about plug-in hybrid pickups. Fuel economy isn’t a major priority among those in the market for something that can haul bales of hay or a stable of horses.

This poses a problem for pickup manufacturers striving for lower emissions and fuel consumption. Ford, which previously lightened the F-150 and outfitted it with a bevy of more economical engines, knows this problem better than most.

However, Ford is pressing onwards. It even intends to bring a hybrid plug-in variant of its ultra-popular pickup to the market in the coming years. But how is it going to market the technology to consumers who are unlikely to care? The company has strategy for that and it’s less reliant on fuel savings than you might expect.  (Read More…)

Former BMW Group design honcho Chris Bangle has been tagged by a Chinese firm to design an electric car for its Redspace Project, a venture bent on creating an EV for urban environments.

The result is, um, unique. Although it is, to this author’s jaundiced eye, no worse than a BMW 7 Series from the 2002 model year, a car which was apocalyptically ugly even when compared to a large goiter and an offense to any human blessed with the gift of sight.

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The handover of General Motors’ money-losing European division to France’s PSA Group seemed complete last July, but now the maker of Peugeot and Citroen cars isn’t happy with the bag it’s holding.

PSA claims the acquisition of the Opel and Vauxhall brands left it on the hook for massive fines, all stemming from looming European emissions regulations and the not-so-squeaky-clean state of its new holdings. The automaker’s now seeking nearly $1 billion from GM — more than half of what it paid for the brands. (Read More…)

I doubt there’s much enthusiasm for the ZR1 out there among the Best & Brightest. Can’t say that I blame you. It’s not a very TTAC-friendly automobile, insofar as it costs the same as five Honda CR-Vs in LX trim while offering significantly less space for your companion animals than you would get from even one CR-V. Plus, it kind of looks like the hero car for an edgy Christopher Nolan reboot of Mark Hamill’s best movie.

That doesn’t mean, however, that I am not looking forward to it. It should be absolutely vicious around the NCM West road course and it might manage to combine the best aspects of the outstanding C7-generation Grand Sport and the even more outstanding Viper ACR. Plus, there’s the outside possibility that I could convince Danger Girl to chop in her old C5 Vette and her year-end bonus to get us a spot in the order line. You never know.

Before I get too excited, however, let’s consider some alternatives to the blunt-faced Kentucky wildcat.

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TTAC Commentator Arthur Dailey writes:

Sajeev,
Here is a timely question, as up here in snow country we are now packing away our “summer” tires. What is the best way, scientifically, to store tires? I traditionally have:

• Stored them on their rims
• Removed the plastic tire bag (learned this the hard way when a set of rims “rotted” one summer
• Wiped down/washed the rims to take off any salt
• Let out about 4 to 5 psi from each tire
• Stored them in our attached, unheated garage
• Placed rubber mats under them so that they are not in contact with the cement
• Placed old sheets over them so that they are not in direct sunlight

Previously I stored them stacked on their sides. All 4 wheels/rims from each vehicle in one column, on top of each other, using a tire storage “pole” bought from Canadian Tire. Last winter I stored them vertically (meaning I just rolled them in beside each other), but on the rubber mats and under the sheets.

So what is the best way? And how often should they be rotated/moved?

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