News & Reviews- Make: Ford

Here are some stats you probably don't know. Ford brand sales are so far ahead of the competition in Canada that even if each and every Smart, Scion, Mini, Mitsubishi and Chrysler sold last year were added to second-place Toyota's lofty 2015 calendar year tally the pseudo-conglomerate wouldn't measure up. Likewise, if you combined Toyota's total sales with Subaru, Kia, Volkswagen, Mazda, Jeep, GMC, or even all of Dodge brand sales Ford would still come out on top.

How does Ford do it? Their F-Series is consistently Canada's bestselling pickup truck and their lineup of crossover sport utilities is most popular too. The Escape dominates our compact category whereas the Edge and Explorer are both strong sellers in the five- and seven-passenger SUV segments respectively, while the wonderfully oddball Flex is actually the niche model that pushes Ford past its closest competitor for top spot amongst midsize SUVs.

So far this year I've reviewed that unorthodox Flex and the Read Full Story

There's no bad day for a Mustang GT Convertible, although the hot spring weather we've recently been enjoying on the west coast is ideal for dropping the top and ripping up the asphalt. The GT's big 5.0-litre V8 produces noise that piques the ears and turn heads quickly, that is if my tester's bright yellow paint hadn't already seared their eyes. This car attracts attention in my city as easily as any mid-engine exotic, not to mention most Porsche 911s and BMWs. No wonder Mustangs sell so well.

Two-door sport models are at the very best niche players within most brands' product portfolios, but Mustang remains a critical component to overall blue-oval success. Last year Ford's pony car outsold the subcompact Fiesta hatch and sedan combined, as well as the Taurus and two of the brand's SUVs, with a total of 6,933 sales in Canada alone, although its U.S. numbers for the 2015 calendar year were staggering at 122,349 signed, sealed and delivered.

Of course, that wasn't even Read Full Story

Be honest. When was the last time you saw a pickup truck that looked so sweet? Styling is critical in the truck segment, and while many will gravitate to the refined lines of GM's trucks and others to the big rig overtones of the Ram, some even drawn to the relative upstarts from Japan, the F-150 pulls in more buyers than any of the above and has done so for as long as most anyone alive can remember.

Ford sold almost 900,000 F-Series trucks in its two northernmost North American markets last year, 118,837 of them in Canada, while its closest rival, Chevy's Silverado, couldn't get past 650,000 in the U.S. and Canada combined, with just 46,407 sold north of the 49th. Of course, we also need to factor GMC into the General Motors equation, its Sierra finding close to 280,000 buyers in the U.S. and Canada, which bumps GM's total half-ton pickup deliveries to about 930,000, while Ram's full-size Pickup managed almost 550,000 units on both sides of the world's longest undefended border Read Full Story

Am I the only one who loves the Ford Flex? I know I'm not totally alone, because Ford sold a grand total of 1,789 in Canada last year and 414 during the first three months of 2016, so more than a few of us square blocks are looking for something unique and innovative while the majority of mainstream volume manufacturers are doing their best to squeeze us into their round holes. The Flex is no round hole, however, in fact it's a bit of square block itself.

Ford has long been one of Canada's most successful automakers, this luxury giving them some latitude to drive down the road less traveled, or in other words to be creative. Some recent examples include the unorthodox C-Max hybrid on the green side (which is filled with many more conventional HEVs and a PHEV too) and fabulous Fiesta ST, Focus ST, new Focus RS, Taurus SHO, plus of course the legendary Mustang in its various states of tune, and lest we not forget the new mid-engine GT supercar (name me another mainstream automaker Read Full Story

The Ford Explorer is one of those SUVs that causes pause about paying more for a premium brand. We're seeing that more often lately, mainstream volume brands creating much more appealing high-end models than ever before, this one even taking on some similar styling characteristics to the revered Range Rover brand that Ford previously owned through its now defunct Premier Automotive Group. I happen to like the design a lot, its overall appearance combining a sophisticated inner-city look with a go anywhere ruggedness, this of course backed up with off-road prowess.

The grille is more truck-like than some in this class, but still endowed with a certain elegance that befits a luxury ute, while the new headlight design incorporates signature LED elements stretching across the top of each lens, down the outer edge and partway across the lower corner. Below that a new set of C-shaped (and reverse-C) fog lamps pull design cues from the latest F-150, again Ford giving this off-road capable Read Full Story