Howes: Crucial developments in US, Germany show this is not your father's...
If you grew up in Michigan, you've probably got a pretty fair idea how the auto business works, including the basic fact that the vehicles rolling off assembly lines are going to be driven by people....
View ArticleFuture Ford cars could capture condensation, produce drinking water
What kind of conveniences do you want in your future car? We're talking more than Bluetooth connection, or climate control, or even an autonomous car. How about a water dispenser that you don’t have to...
View ArticleFord's future leans heavily on truck, SUV past
The Blue Oval has seen the future, and it looks a whole lot like its past. Ford Motor claims a rich heritage building the nation’s best-selling pickup and the best-selling three-row SUV. Its Mustang is...
View ArticleCorktown resident hopes “little man” isn’t forgotten as Ford eyes Michigan...
As Ford talks of buying Michigan Central Station , residents in the surrounding neighborhood might be the ones seeing the most impact.
View ArticleHowes: Redeveloped train station could be Ford’s ticket to millennial talent
The oldest surviving neighborhood in Detroit is Corktown. Irish immigrants started settling there in the 1830s, and many of them were from County Cork. You could make a good case that the most famous...
View ArticleFord’s Corktown play could be huge for Detroit's oldest neighborhood
So Bill Ford wants the Blue Oval to buy the decrepit Michigan Central Depot. You know that toothless edifice, empty and decaying since 1988, towering over Detroit’s Corktown. It’s an 18-story high...
View ArticleFord ditching traditional sedans in favor of trucks, crossovers, and SUVs
In 1908, Henry Ford sent the first Model T rolling off the assembly line at his Piquette Avenue plant in Detroit. A hundred and ten years later, the Ford Motor Company is no longer betting on cars for...
View ArticleHard decisions learned in bankruptcy – or not – have a legacy all their own...
A few years after the bankruptcies of General Motors and Chrysler, I found myself on the long porch of Mackinac Island’s Grand Hotel chatting with Fiat Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne. He was talking...
View ArticleWeek in Review: Ford scraps most of its sedans, and Flint's water crisis...
Ford this week announced plans to stop making almost its entire line-up of cars by 2022. That means we can say farewell to the Fiesta, the Taurus, the Focus, the Fusion, and the C-Max hybrid. Only...
View ArticleActivists to Ford Motor Company: Stop undermining clean car standards
A coalition of environmental and consumer advocates says Ford Motor Company and other automakers are lobbying the Trump administration to roll back fuel economy and greenhouse gas emissions standards...
View ArticleFord suspends all F-150 production after fire at supplier
Due to a component shortage after a fire at one of its suppliers, Ford Motor Company announced Wednesday it is suspending all production of its best-selling F-150 trucks. The fire at Meridian Magnesium...
View ArticleBattle of the Overpass: When corporate leaders fought auto unions, and lost
Do corporations have too much power and too little oversight? That question has dominated American society since the Civil War and it does not seem to be going away any time soon. Over the decades, the...
View ArticleIs Ford the mystery buyer of Detroit's Michigan Central Depot?
The city is abuzz with the rumor that Ford is taking over Michigan Central Station, after reports that the once-glamorous train depot — an iconic symbol of Detroit’s decay since it closed in 1988 — has...
View ArticleMichigan Central Depot will have the Blue Oval on the front as ownership...
After more than a quarter of a century, the Michigan Central Depot is changing owners. The Moroun family has sold it to Ford Motor Company. The once-thriving Beaux Arts gem became a symbol of Detroit's...
View ArticleFord's Corktown Play
Ford Motor is planning a big party on Tuesday . It’ll be at the Michigan Central Depot, that gap-toothed hulk looming over Detroit empty and rotting for thirty years. But not anymore, once Ford’s plans...
View ArticleWho is to blame for what happened to Michigan Central Station?
It was a near thing, but Michigan Central Station has a new lease on life, thanks to its purchase by Ford Motor Company. The historic building is in terrible shape, stripped of much of its glory by...
View ArticleHundreds help Ford celebrate next chapter for Michigan Central train station
Lately, Detroit has more good news to report than bad. Its bankruptcy is in the rear view mirror, the streets have lighting again, and more businesses are moving downtown.
View ArticleHowes: Bad decisions in global markets earn Ford a low investment ranking
Ford Motor Company got some troubling news this week from Moody's Investors Service . It has downgraded Ford's investment rating to just one level above junk status . To Moody's, this signifies the...
View ArticleHowes: Rebuilding Ford
The Blue Oval is stuck in neutral. Again. Just a few years after superstar CEO Alan Mulally retired and left town, Ford Motor is embarking on another 25 billion dollar restructuring. If you think this...
View Article"They lied to us" about contaminated groundwater, say residents near Ford's...
Two years ago, residents of Alden Village, a small subdivision directly east of Ford Motor Company's Livonia Transmission, got a letter from the automaker. It was not good news.
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