Ford Motor Company is opening a research lab in Silicon Valley that will be about emerging technologies just as much as it is about cars.

The company announced Friday morning that it will open its first dedicated research lab on the west coast early this year. The facility will be used as a way to collaborate with all the tech firms that are in the area.

“Ford has an incredible heritage of driving innovation in the transportation and manufacturing sectors during the past 107 years,” Paul Mascarenas, Ford chief technical officer and vice president of Research and Innovation, said. “Now it’s time to prepare for the next 100 years, ushering in a new era of collaboration and finding new partners to help us transform what it means to be an automaker.”

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The Detroit Auto Show won’t swing open its doors officially until Monday’s press days, but that doesn’t mean the show hasn’t already taken hold at Cobo Hall, as thousands of workers are busy erecting stands, checking lighting and jockeying vehicles into place. Ford Motor Company officials invited us over a little early to get a sneak peek at their still-being-built display, and it’s chock-full of technology that takes interactivity to a new level.

Dominating Ford’s Living Connected display is the centrally located “Cloud Journey” ride, which literally takes showgoers through the ceiling in the name of connectivity. The circular floating platform ride accommodates a dozen belted occupants in Sparco racing seats, pushing them up from the show floor to a recess in the ceiling with a 360-degree screen. Participants are then treated to an immersive 360-degree presentation that shows Ford’s vision of the near-term future of cloud-enhanced motoring (about 10 years out, officials tell us), with items like car-to-car communication, dynamic routing and so on. While you’re up in The Cloud, a series of digital cameras capture riders’ experiences, and they’ll be able to relive the experience at home with a video if they sign up for a Blue Oval Card.

(read the entire article HERE)

With fuel economy regulations tightening, Ford automakers may have decided to swap out some of the materials it uses to build its F-150 full size pick up.

Currently, the F-150 averages 17mpg/city and 23mpg/hyway, but for 2016 this number has to hit a better mark. In order to do this, it is rumored that Ford will be looking to cut down on the 4685 lbs, which can end up close to 6500 after fluids, fuel and passengers. The 2014 F-Series, currently dubbed the “P552” could be replacing some of its steel body parts with aluminum.

“We know our customers, and it’s all about the truck being a tool and they want it to be more productive and more efficient,” said Doug Scott, Ford’s truck marketing manager to Wards Auto. “So we have to keep moving the needle if we want to be king of hill. We’re always looking at all the ways of doing that going forward and we have a great strategy.”

No comments have been made to confirm that the way they will be going forward will, in fact, be aluminum, however.

With many automakers doing just that, it still is a valid option for Ford, especially with GM leading the segment in weight-reduction.

Here’s an excerpt:

The concert hall at the Syndey Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 26,000 times in 2011. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 10 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

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The 2013 Ford Fusion will officially debut in January, but we’ve got the scoop on some new technology making its first appearance on a mainstream midsize sedan in North America.

Lane Keeping System (or LKS) is, simply put, designed to help you stay inside the lines, and we know that’s of much importance not only when coloring, but while driving! LKS is set up to alert and assist if your vehicle drifts out of the lane. It recognizes the problem via a windshield-mounted digital camera that detects lane markers and the vehicle’s position on the road. Three levels of assistance help in real time: Lane Keeping Alert, Lane Keeping Aid and Driver Alert.

(read the entire article HERE)

As more confident U.S. consumers hit the showrooms, dividend-paying automaker is once again a bargain.

Our top pick is all-American stalwart and success story Ford Motor (F +1.52%) — a bet on the American consumer and the burgeoning U.S. economic recovery.

Even as Europe struggles with its sovereign debt crisis, the news from the U.S. economy has been steadily improving.

The Institute for Supply Management reported that the U.S. manufacturing index rose to 52.7 in November, and that new orders and production both rose to seven-month highs.

The unemployment rate recently dropped to 8.6%. Consumer confidence has ticked up and U.S. consumers went on an auto-spending spree in November — a normally weak month for auto sales.

With the average age of vehicles on U.S. roads hitting almost 11 years, pent-up demand resulted in an impressive 10.6% rise in seasonally adjusted annual sales (SAAS) to 13.6 million units as of last month.

That’s up from a SAAS total of 12.28 million in the same month of 2010 and the highest SAAS rate since August 2009, when the U.S. government launched the “Cash for Clunkers” program. November was also the third-straight month when annualized vehicle sales topped the 13-million mark.

Ford itself posted a gain of 13.3% in November to 166,865 vehicles, driven by strong sales of trucks and SUVs. Its 16.6% share of U.S. vehicle sales in November was its highest in five years.

Ford’s retail sales actually soared by an even more impressive 20%. Retail sales, as opposed to sales to fleets like rental-car companies and government agencies, rank as the industry’s most profitable segment.

Ford itself expects industry-wide sales of around 13.5 million units next year.

Ford also announced that it would restore a regular dividend. Ford halted its dividend payment back in 2006 when markets were in turmoil. Restoration of a dividend payment is a good sign of financial strength.

Much of Ford’s success has been thanks to its CEO Alan Mulally, who has prioritized profits over market share.

Coming from Boeing just five years ago, Mulally eliminated Ford’s dividend and sold its non-core brands. He also shut down Mercury, focusing Ford on the mass market and Lincoln on the high-end car buyers.

He also raised $20 billion as a cushion against bad times that has served Ford well, while delivering nine straight quarters of pre-tax profits.

Ford was a darling of investors after the market bottomed in March 2009 but has actually underperformed the broader market since hitting a high of $18.71 in January of this year.

But with a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.56, and a turnaround in the U.S. car market underway, Ford is once again a bargain. So, bet on a U.S. economic turnaround and buy Ford.