Horbury Returning To Volvo, Callum Takes Over At Ford Design

Peter "Hi, I'm Dave" Horbury has left his post as Ford's Executive Design Director for the Americas and is returning to Volvo as VP of design. Moray Callum will take the helm at Ford. Not-April-fools! More »

2010 Ford Taurus Revealed Because Of Those Darn Meddling Kids?

We were a bit surprised when pictures of the 2010 Ford Taurus were revealed exceptionally early. Almost as surprised as Ford was. Though things will sneak out every time from time to time once embargoed pictures or press releases get sent to the press or when mules and testers begin to hit the streets, this was a rare leak from what looks like the design studio. Anyone who has been invited into a design studio knows there are serious rules about bringing in cameras and unusually tight scrutiny. You know who'd probably escape scrutiny? An employee's child. You know when there are lots of children showing up around the Ford design studiots? "Take Your Child To Work Day." More »

Peter Horbury presents Ford "innovation." We would have gone too except we had a thing. Namely, picking our navel lint. [Freep]

Car Design Glossary Launches

Having long ago forsaken words as their primary mode of communication, car designers sometimes need a helping hand when engaging with the outside world. The aptly titled Car Design News Car Design Glossary sets out to define a common language for us to communicate with car designers and for them to begrudgingly communicate with us. Strictly limited to professional terminology - the glossary concentrates on terms like swage lines rather than pick up lines - there's no word yet on its effectiveness in dealing with the fairer sex, should such a need ever arise. More »

Peter Horbury: Still Has Big Balls, Now Believes In Magic

Peter Horbury, FoMoCo's designer of the now infamous Gillette-like "Hi, I'm Dave!" grille is not only a designer with the "big balls" necessary to design FoMoCo out of their Nasser-created product design nightmare, but now he believes in magic. That's right, the always lovable, huggable and eminently quotable Horbury dropped this little tidbit on Phil Patton when asked about the doors of the Lincoln MKR concept

"In the future you will simply touch the car and the door will magically open."

What will FoMoCo think of next? Maybe Horbury's next design will be based on a Nimbus 2000. We can only hope to see a car shaped like a flying broom coming out of the next Detroit show. – Ray Wert More »

Everybody's Doing It: More Detroit Auto Show Embargoed Lincoln MKR Concept Content

After everyone learned last week about the tragically debilitating collective selective memory loss disorder suffered by the employees of Car & Driver (I know, how tragic is it that it only affects the ability to remember what date their magazine's printed on and pops up only during months preceding major auto announcements and when issue sales are looking flaccid?) pretty much everyone's put out all they got on the Lincoln MKR, the new concept set to be unveiled in Detroit from FoMoCo's "luxe" brand. So, we figure we should drop our load on you as well. More »

Jalopnik Team Party Crash: Ford Wishes Us Happy Holidays, We Eat Their Debt-Leveraged Brand Image

Last night was certainly strange at FoMoCo's automotive press mutual masturbation War On Christmas holiday "party" at Detroit's Fox Theater. It felt strange not only because 10,000 white collar workers received buyout "offers" on Monday but also the desserts seemed to indicate the image problems certain FoMoCo NorAm brands have in terms of acceptance by the market. But never mind that — what was more important to a room of mainly product reporters was the lukewarm reaction given to the product plans presented during the Dearborn-based automakers "Showroom of the Future" event earlier in the day and the embargoed Detroit Auto Show preview after that. Keep in mind when the General provided a similar behind-the-curtain and off-the-record three-years-out look at the automaker's product plans a year ago, it kept a great number of auto journos from going all Farago on the world's biggest vehicle sales machine. But FoMoCo's next-gen look seemed to be such a non-event, it seemed to sour everything from the dessert treats to the attendance. Be that as it may, we persevered — well, mainly because we knew there'd be free food (Hey, even soured-by-bad-product free food's still free!) — plus FoMoCo execs would be on hand like "Hi, I'm Dave" design mastermind Peter "Big Balls" Horbury, Mark "Movie Star" Fields and Alan "Too New For A Nickname" Mulally — plus a cast of dozens. Full gallery below with (Now with pithy and non-insightful commentary! And yes, I know I need a new camera — keep hitting reload and maybe they'll buy me one.). – Ray Wert More »

Ford To Show Employees And Retirees Everything But Kitchen Sink From Now Until 2010

Mark "Movie Star" Fields is making one hell of a "Bold Move" for the weekend after Thanksgiving — showing off something he's calling the "Showroom of the Future" at Detroit's Cobo Hall. The little post-turkey extravaganza is a curtain pull on FoMoCo's future product plans for Ford NorAm from now until, you know, whenever they run out of ideas — which apparently will be 2010. The two-day event is open to current and future Ford workers only, allowing them to see the automaker's product development plans aren't totally full of shit, "Dave" and fourteen Mustang variants. As Fields explains,

"Through our North America 'Way Forward' plan, we've spoken a lot about reducing our uncompetitive cost structure, but we have not yet fully explained our accelerated product plans...

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Pricing! Ford Pegs Edge CUV Base Sticker At $25,995

FoMoCo's released pricing on the product the Dearborn-based automaker's already called the "key" Bold Move to fiscal stability. That's right, it's the Ford Edge — the CUV with a Gilette-blade on the front-end, and you can get it into your grubby little hands for just $25,995. And in this "under $26,000" SE package, you'll get such amenities described in the release as a "center console," an "audio input jack" and of course the aforementioned "Bold exterior styling" sometimes known as "Hi, I'm Dave." Although the thought of a car with a price tag of $26K touting the "center console" as a key standard feature left us feeling pretty wary, the rating numbers for the standard 3.5-liter V6 with 265 hp and 250 lb.-ft. of torque (still expected to be in the mid-20's range for highway driving), and the AWD capability of the SEL edition did manage to perk us up a bit. Full release after the jump. More »

Ford's B.M. — Episode VI: FoMoCo PR's Got The Biggest Balls Of Them All

We've been a bit lackadaisical in our coverage of the "Bold Moves" documentary as of late, and for the two of you who're fans of the 50-part documentary, we apologize (sorry Bill and Mark!). For the rest of us, watching these web-isodes is kind of like passing a car accident on the side of the road, where the only "Bold Move" made is when you pry yourself away from the gawking. But given the train wreck nature of this thing, we do have to give the PR folks of FoMoCo credit on the sheer size of their balls by making a video featuring a staff person from the Rainforest Action Network claiming "Ford has the worst fuel efficiency of any automaker in America." There is at least one positive we've taken away from this episode and it's that we get more video of design stud Peter "Dave" Horbury. Oh please Peter...please charm us with your big balls again. More »

The Great Leap Forward's Initial Stumbling Blocks Explained, Dave Major Culprit

Does your soul cast about like an old paper bag/Past empty lots and early graves/Of those like you who lost their way/Murdered on the interstate /While the red bells rang like thunder?

-Neko Case

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Will You Quit With the 'Dave' Crap Already, Horbury?

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