ford

If there's one thing Ford Motor does well, it's cranking out variants of its modern muscle car, the Mustang. You've got the GT, GT-H, the Cobra, the GT500, the GT500KR, the Warriors in Pink edition, the California Special, the Mach 1, the Bullit, and the list goes on and on. Now Ford has yet another 'Stang variant to add to the list: the Mustang FR500CJ Cobra Jet. So, what makes the Cobra Jet different from the rest?

Named after, and inspired by, the 1968 Mustang Cobra Jet, the FR500CJ is a factory-built drag racing variant. The interior … Read more

Ford Motor has found a new way for parents to keep teen drivers in check when they lend them the car, the company said Monday.

MyKey, a car key with a chip, can be programmed to curtail the top speed of its user to 80 mph.

The MyKey will come standard with the 2010 Focus coupe and eventually will be available on other Ford, Lincoln, and Mercury models, according to Ford.

In addition to implementing a speed limit, the key can be used to limit the volume of the car stereo system and emit a chime for six seconds every … Read more

Things aren't going well at Ford Motors.

The automaker just reported that September sales were down 34.6 percent compared with the same month a year ago. For the first half of 2008, Ford posted net losses of $8.6 billion.

Ford blames a weak economy and a tight lending market. But there may be another factor at work--unhappy customers.

In August, I rented a Ford Fusion from Hertz. When I saw a Microsoft logo under the dashboard, I suspected trouble ahead. Sure enough, it seems that poor design choices, so common in the computing world, have migrated to … Read more

Rising world-wide gas prices triggered automakers to release a new generation of small city cars at the 2008 Paris Motor Show. These cars range from the diminutive Toyota iQ to the more conventionally-sized Hyundai i20. Engine sizes go from 1 up to 1.5 liters, with fuel economies between 40 and 50 miles per gallon. Not much cabin tech is available in these cars, although, judging from its steering wheel buttons, the new generation Ford Ka might be getting the Sync system.

Click here for photos of tiny city cars unveiled at the 2008 Paris Motor Show.

See all coverage of the 2008 Paris Motor Show. … Read more

You don't have to have lived a hundred years ago to appreciate the Model T. All you have to do is look at the world around you today.

The Model T put the auto industry on the road to standardized parts and the assembly line. It helped make cars affordable for ordinary folks, by the millions. And if John Steinbeck is to be believed, it was instrumental in bringing into being the generation born between the two World Wars: "Most of the babies of the period were conceived in Model T Fords and not a few were born … Read more

CNET News' Greg Sandoval is following the last-minute goings-on in Washington which enabled Web music providers extra time to reach an accord on royalty payments.

With the stock market in free fall today, what might be the likely impact on the technology sector? ZDNet's Editor in Chief Larry Dignan weighs in.

Hard to believe but Henry Ford's Model T, one of the most significant breakthrough products of all time, celebrates its centenary.

Today's stories:

Photos: The Model T turns 100

Gadget hounds get ready for CEATEC

Nero Liquid TV:TiVo for your PC… Read more

We got our hands on the Lincoln MKS, a new model featuring the best cabin tech available. The navigation system doesn't just tell you how to get places; it also tells you how to find the cheapest gas, when movies are playing, and the weather conditions for cities all over the U.S. The MKS' Sync system offers the best voice command and device integration available, letting you hook up iPods and other MP3 players and ask for music by artist and album name. Music is played through a THX sound system, the best value in high-end car audio. … Read more

In case you hadn't heard already, this morning Esquire officially unveiled the first "digital" E-Ink cover in paper magazine history at an event in a Borders store in Manhattan. The special cover, which helps promote/commemorate Esquire's 75th anniversary edition, is only incorporated into 100,000 copies, all of which are available only at newsstands for $5.99 a pop--that's $2 more than the usual price. Sorry, subscribers, you get a ho-hum nondigital version.

The whole venture is sponsored by Ford and its campaign for its new "crossover" vehicle, the Flex. The cover … Read more

We haven't been too excited about Ford's Ecoboost tech, simply because it's not really new tech. However, Ford's next evolution of Ecoboost, code-named Bobcat, might be worth getting worked up about.

According to sources at PickupTrucks.com, the Bobcat is essentially a turbocharged engine running at a high compression ratio. Typically, this combination results in disaster, but Ford's system has a trick up its sleeve in the form of ethanol injection.

The Bobcat builds on Ford's Ecoboost engines by including a direct injected ethanol nozzle that adds small amounts of ethanol to the standard … Read more