First All-New Ford Transit Custom and Tourneo Custom Roll off the Production Line

• First all-new Ford Transit Custom produced in Kocaeli, Turkey today; model marks new era for Ford’s global commercial vehicles
• Transit Custom and Tourneo Custom, also produced today for the first time, deliver modern exterior design, car-like interiors and outstanding driving dynamics, durability and load-carrying ability
• New models combine low cost-of-ownership, including best-in-class fuel efficiency, with latest safety and smart driver assistance features

COLOGNE, Germany, July 23, 2012 – The all-new Ford Transit Custom and Tourneo Custom roll off the assembly line for the first time today at Kocaeli in Turkey.

The arrival of the Transit Custom van and Tourneo Custom people mover marks the first step in a complete transformation of Ford’s global commercial vehicle range by the end of 2013.

Transit Custom

“The Tourneo Custom is a fantastic-looking people mover – inside and out. It offers outstanding day-to-day, real world practicality as well as being great to drive,” added Odell.

 

Tourneo Custom

The new Transit Custom sits between the smaller Transit Connect and the larger Transit van in Ford’s commercial vehicle line-up; and is also offered as an eight- or nine-seat people-mover, the Tourneo Custom.

The chassis dynamics have been developed to offer a rewarding driving experience in both models, while car-like interiors and stylish modern exteriors are aimed at broadening the iconic Transit appeal.

Both models are powered by 100 PS, 125 PS or 155 PS versions of Ford’s latest 2.2-litre Duratorq diesel engine, offering class-leading fuel consumption of 6.5 l/100 km (43.5 mpg) for Tourneo Custom and 6.6 l/100 km (42.8 mpg)* for Transit Custom.

The Transit Custom and Tourneo Custom models are built at Ford Otosan’s Kocaeli plant in Turkey. Ford Otosan is one of the most successful joint venture businesses in the auto industry, and is jointly-owned by Ford and Koc Holdings. Its Kocaeli plant has been the home of Ford Transit production since 2001, and to date has built more than 2,250,000 vehicles and exported them to more than 70 countries.

Transit Custom and Tourneo Custom will go on sale later this year.

Its A Hybrid Harbor Service Body!

Here’s a Harbor Hybrid Body, it might be called a Service Body
but it starts with a 12' flatbed with diamond plate steel floor, then a series
of three large compartment boxes are added to each side welded together.
The upper boxes have shelves and there are underbody boxes with more storage.

Notice the full length rack that extends to the front bumper for full support
to carry extra-long items with expanded metal at the front functioning as a
stop. There is a short work platform on the rear with a unique set of open
steel boxes underneath the rear.  It’s mounted on a Ford F350 with 84" CA chassis.

See more of Harbor's body building at www.htbi.net.

Ford Super Duty - It's All Brawn and Dependable!

Hercules who? The Super Duty^® is all brawn and dependability. Its maximum towing capacity is tops in the class of full-size pickups over 8,500 lbs. GVWR when properly equipped. F-250 XL Regular Cab 4x2 shown in Oxford White with optional equipment.

Diamond Back Truck Covers: TV Ad - Think For a Second

Commercial for DiamondBack Truck Covers featuring all the reasons a DiamondBack let's you use your truck like a truck. www.diamondbacktruckcovers.com

A Robot with Feelings: Ford’s Sense of Quality, Touch Perfected by the RUTH Machine

• Ford develops vehicle interior design and executions by using international customer study groups combined with the measurements of the Robotized Unit for Tactility and Haptics (RUTH) machine

• Ford is the first automaker in North America to use a RUTH to quantify the quality and comfort of vehicle interiors

• RUTH makes high-end products and technologies more attainable for a larger selection of buyers by ensuring a consistent ability to reproduce excellence

DEARBORN, Mich., July 17, 2012 – You won’t hurt RUTH the robot’s feelings if you disagree with her, but it’s very difficult to prove your point given her opinions are backed up by mathematical evidence.

Thanks to the Robotized Unit for Tactility and Haptics (RUTH) machine, which arrived in North America earlier this year, Ford knows its 2013 Fusion has an interior that customers want.

Quality can be difficult to express, yet when customers sit in a high-end car, they know by the feel of the trim and the touch of the buttons that the car is special. The sense of touch and the intuitive understanding of quality are innately human characteristics, but how do you measure them? The answer: use a RUTH.

RUTH allows engineers to quantify vehicle characteristics such as softness, roughness, temperature, hardness and comfort. This allows Ford to tailor each vehicle interior to exactly what a customer group wants.

Click here to see RUTH in action and hear engineers and technicians explain how she works.

The RUTH robot is a giant arm with six joints, programmed to poke the trims, turn the knobs, push the buttons and interact with many of the vehicle’s interior areas in the same way a person would.

Engineers in North America are finding several different ways to use RUTH. They are the first in the world, for example, to use the robot to measure seat comfort.

Eileen Franko, Ford craftsmanship supervisor, believes RUTH results in greater customer satisfaction.

“Thanks to the data provided by RUTH, we can be sure the customer who buys a car like Fusion will experience the same type of quality they might feel if they were to buy a high-end luxury car,” Franko says. “I might be biased, but RUTH isn’t. We know the steering wheel and the armrest softness in Fusion are the best in the world.”

For years, Ford’s quality interiors resulted from worldwide studies where customers tested various parts, documenting their preferences. RUTH won’t change that. But now, RUTH is involved from beginning to end to determine the feeling of quality.

Interior samples are premeasured by RUTH. Customer test studies are conducted, and after the results are tallied, RUTH supplies the data to implement the finest option into mass production. In other words, quality is no longer a guessing game.

As a relatively new resident to North America, RUTH, first introduced in Europe, is found only in Ford’s product development center. And the robot has already helped engineers improve the quality of many parts of the car.

RUTH illustrates Ford’s commitment to putting high-end products within reach of a larger group of customers.

“We are going further for our customers by more accurately and quickly assessing our products’ performance,” Franko says. “RUTH simulates the motor skills of a real person, allowing us to get precise measurements that explain what the customer wants. Engineers can take the findings and implement them. As a result, when customers sit in an affordable car like Fusion, they’ll feel instantly like they’re in a high-end ride.”

Luke Robinson, Ford metrologist and RUTH technician, says RUTH has increased productivity.

“Before RUTH, many engineers had access only to hand-held measuring tools, and no means to test the interiors in a manner that resembled in-vehicle scenarios,” he explains. “An engineer outside of our department might even have pushed a dictionary and a pop can into an armrest to measure its resistance and softness. But now engineers can contact us and we can put RUTH into a vehicle; within a few hours, we can give them tangible data.

“With years of Ford customer research to tell us where to start,” Robinson adds, “we can use RUTH to measure exactly what the majority of customers want.”

Knapheide KSS Body and Rack-It Rack Add Functionality and Style

 

The Knapheide KSS body with the Rack-It Truck Rack possess all the same traits as your truck cab. The KSS has contoured lines, triple contact door seals, concealed door hinges and wrap around lights, and with a removable tailgate it feels like a normal truck bed while offering the benefits of a service body. The KSS comes in many different lengths to fit your needed application and since it’s just as rugged as a standard service body backed up with a six year warranty.

2013 Ford E-Series

2013 Ford E-Series: Ford E-Series has been America's best-selling van for the past 33 years; the spacious vehicle can tow up to a best-in-class 10,000 pounds when properly equipped. (06/18/12)