• Ford is first to launch iHeartRadio app with voice control using SYNC® AppLink™
• The new iHeartRadio, Clear Channel’s industry-leading digital radio service, delivers more than 800 of the nation’s most popular live broadcast and digital-only stations, plus user-created custom stations – all in one fully integrated service
• The SYNC-enabled iHeartRadio app is now available for download from the iTunes App Store and BlackBerry App World; it’s coming soon to the Android Market
• iHeartRadio is the sixth app for SYNC AppLink that Ford is launching at the 2012 International CES
• iHeartRadio is one of the first broadcast radio apps to connect listeners through a native in-car system to Facebook Timeline

Ford (NYSE: F) today announced it is the first automobile company to give drivers easy in-car access to the popular iHeartRadio app using voice control through Ford SYNC® AppLink™.

The new iHeartRadio, Clear Channel Radio’s industry-leading digital radio service, brings users a best-in-class customizable digital listening experience that combines the best of both worlds to deliver everything listeners want in one free, fully integrated service: more than 800 of the nation’s most popular live broadcast and digital-only radio stations from 150 cities, plus user-created custom stations, which provide listeners more songs, better music intelligence, more user control and deeper social media integration.

The SYNC-enabled iHeartRadio smartphone app can be accessed using simple voice commands in the growing number of vehicles that now offer Ford SYNC with AppLink.

“Clear Channel’s strategy is to be wherever our listeners want us to be – no matter the device – with the programming and services they expect, and our relationship with Ford is an important piece of that strategy,” said Brian Lakamp, president of Clear Channel Digital. “Now Ford drivers will be able to create their own custom stations, tune in to the leading radio stations from 150 cities and stay connected to their favorite on-air personalities. Through Ford SYNC AppLink, iHeartRadio will offer drivers the ultimate voice-controlled, personal listening experience.”

“Smartphones now account for half of all new mobile phones and people increasingly expect to take control of when and where they listen to their media,” said Julius Marchwicki, SYNC product manager. “With the AppLink-enabled version of iHeartRadio, Ford drivers can listen to their favorite stations even if they aren’t local, get recommendations and share what they listen to through Facebook.”

Research shows more and more drivers are streaming radio from their mobile phones while on the road. In the Arbitron & Edison study, “Infinite Dial 2011: Navigating Digital Platforms,” the number of drivers using their cell phones to listen to Internet radio in their vehicles has increased 5 percent just in the past year. Overall, time spent listening to online radio has also increased 49 percent in the last three years. Flurry Analytics estimates 6.8 million new Android and iOS devices were activated over the recent Christmas weekend.

Easy to use

Being the first to add the iHeartRadio app with voice commands puts Ford further out front in the race to integrate smart technologies that are easy to use in to vehicles, a growing customer demand that is quickly becoming standard.

The iHeartRadio app, which can be accessed using steering wheel-mounted controls or SYNC’s voice commands, has numerous easy-to-use features that tailor the listening experience in the vehicle to meet the needs of the driver. With the app, the driver can do everything from creating a custom station and stopping or starting a song to playing local iHeartRadio stations and finding traffic reports based on location through the phone’s GPS using simple voice commands or the buttons on the steering wheel.

The app lets drivers use voice commands to find exactly what they want to listen to by saying “genre,” “city” or “personality” to search by type of music and location of station or host – saving time and energy that would normally be used repeatedly turning the dials.

iHeartRadio also connects users, hands-free through SYNC AppLink, to their Facebook Timelines, which enables users to share music with friends.

Drivers who want to hear other stations similar to one they are already listening to can just say “recommend stations” or use the “my stations” command to listen to custom stations they have created or their favorite stations. While listening to custom stations, the “thumbs up” and “thumbs down” commands can be used to like or skip songs. The content of custom stations can be further adjusted by saying “more discovery” or “less discovery” to restrict the playlist to more familiar tracks or expose drivers to new music.

SYNC AppLink

A study conducted by Nationwide Mutual Insurance in 2010 indicates more than one in four of the millions of Americans who download smartphone apps admit to using those apps while driving.

Recognizing that more drivers are using smartphone apps while driving, Ford decided to become a part of the global solution by developing AppLink to give SYNC users industry-exclusive hands-free voice control capability of smartphone apps.

Ford SYNC AppLink is now available in 10 vehicles for the 2012 model year.

By Michael Ramsey

In the next few months, Ford Motor Co. must confront a burgeoning supply of its small cars now piling up on dealer lots. How it handles the problem will give an indication of how much Detroit has really changed.

Ford, General Motors Co. and Chrysler Group LLC used to resort to steep incentives and cut rate sales to rental companies to clear bloated inventories. Each rejected the practice amid the 2008 recession—and have stayed true to their pledge, thus far.

Now, Ford faces its biggest test of that self-discipline. At the end of December, Ford dealers had between 1.5 times and 2 times as many Focus and Fiesta small cars as auto makers typically like to have on lots and in showrooms. Ford executives insist they won’t revert to the old days, and could slow production to drain the excess inventory.

Slowing production would allow Ford to maintain the high prices it has been getting for the Fiesta and Focus. On the other hand, production cutbacks would reduce the revenue generated by its small-car plants. Auto makers book their revenue when they ship cars to dealers.

Bill Ford Jr., executive chairman, said, “It’s a delicate balance and fortunately, so far, we haven’t had to give up one for the other.” He insisted the company won’t “go back to the days of shoving vehicles out the door just to try to get market share.”

Ford and its rivals in Detroit have been enjoying high small-car sales because of better quality and attractive new models, but it has made the competition with GM, Nissan Motor Co. and Hyundai Motor Co. that much tougher.

Ford ended 2011 with enough Focus compacts on dealer lots to last 92 days at the current rate of sales, and enough Fiesta subcompacts to last 126 days. Auto makers generally like a 60-day supply or less.

At the end of December, Chevrolet dealers had a 68-day supply of the Cruze, the GM small car that compete with the Focus. For the Chevy Sonic, GM’s subcompact, dealers have a 61-day supply.

GM and Ford have profited by keeping supplies tight and prices up. In the first three quarters of 2011, GM has earned $7.7 billion, and Ford $6.6 billion.

Mark Fields, Ford’s president of the Americas, said the company will take actions, including slowing production, if sales don’t improve. He said Ford had struggled with getting enough Focuses last year when demand was higher. Mr. Fields said the company is committed to trying to maintain its pricing.

“We always want to monitor our supplies and make adjustments as needed,” he said.

Ford launched a redesigned version of the Focus last year, and the car was met with favorable reviews for its styling and options. In 2011, Ford sold 175,717 Focuses, but that was about 25% less than the GM Cruze’s 231,732. The Focus total was 2% higher than in 2010 even though sales of compact cars increased 8.7% last year, according to Autodata Corp.

Likewise, the Fiesta was feted for its looks and feel, but sales fell 30% in December compared with a year ago. Ford sold a total of 68,574 in 2011, more than double 2010, when the car was on the market for only part of the year.

Both the Focus and Fiesta are critical to Ford’s sales of fuel-efficient vehicles and to meet U.S. fuel-economy requirements.

Jim Farley, Ford’s global marketing chief, insists there is no need to cut Fiesta production.

Bill Willis, owner of Willis Ford in Smyrna, Del., agreed: “I haven’t noticed the inventory being a big problem yet.” He added, “I think we can maintain our pricing because we have a high-quality product.”

GM, faced with an oversupply of pickup trucks last year, slowed production and ended the year with normal truck inventories levels.

Jessica Caldwell, an analyst for car research site Edmunds.com, said Ford has been sticking to its pricing on both the Focus and Fiesta, staying away from large discounts, subsidized leases and other incentives. The result is that the average price customers pay for a Focus, $20,589, is higher than the average prices paid for all other competing models except Volkswagen AG’s Jetta, according to Edmunds. Historically Detroit’s passenger cars have fetched lower prices that import-brand models. The Fiesta’s average price is higher than all rivals except the Honda Motor Co. Fit, Edmunds’s data show.

Ford Motor must confront a burgeoning supply of its small cars now piling up on dealer lots.

“That has led to more profitability for Ford, but it may have been at the expense of having lower sales than they expected,” Ms. Caldwell said.

Profit margins for its North American region averaged 10% last year, boosting Ford’s performance. Mr. Fields said Ford expects to either maintain or grow that 10% margin in 2012.

Ford executives have dismissed criticism that its small car sales are lagging. It suffered production problems in mid-2011, leaving it with fewer cars as demand was spiking because of a shortage of Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda models.

“It does call into question whether Ford can stick to lower sales and higher price point,” said Brian Johnson, an analyst at Barclays Capital.

While there have been rumors of an EcoBoost-powered Mustang ever since Ford coined the EcoBoost name, the company’s executives have been pretty mum on the subject. But at an event in conjunction with the first press preview day of the 2012 Detroit auto show, the company’s chief product man, Derrick Kuzak, acknowledged the existence of the turbo Mustang.

Said Kuzak, “Given the success we’ve had with EcoBoost across the lineup that we’ve talked about, it’s fair to assume that we will have an EcoBoost Mustang in the very near future.”

And that is all Kuzak is saying about that. Our guess is that the engine in question would be a four-cylinder version, similar to the 2.0-liter unit that will power the upcoming 247-hp Focus ST. If so, it would leave room for the current 305-hp, 3.7-liter V-6 to slot between the new turbocharged, direct-injected four and the 412-hp 5.0-liter V-8 (which will be upgraded to 420 hp for 2013). Earlier rumors indicated that the EcoBoost motor would be a larger displacement four-cylinder making more on the order of 300 hp. We’re reading Kuzak’s words to mean that the new engine option would appear within the next year or two.

Ford’s in-car computer, Sync, is now installed in 4 million vehicles. To celebrate the milestone, the car company has added new abilities including hands-free voice navigation from Telenav and on-demand access to National Public Radio programs. The company announced the milestone and new apps at the Consumer Electronics Show Monday in Las Vegas.

In-car technology was one of the five big CES trends we predicted that would matter in 2012. Car markers, especially Ford, are racing (har har) to add connectivity and apps to their vehicle dashboards. Mercedes-Benz is expected to announce new in-car tech at CES as well.

Ford’s voice-activated Sync connectivity system was introduced in 2007 in the U.S. and lets smartphone owners do more with their cars by “syncing” with various smartphone apps. Ford will be bringing Sync to European and Asian models this year, and it believes an additional 9 million vehicles will be Sync-equipped by 2015.

One new Sync addition is a feature that lets drivers listen to National Public Radio programs and stations on-demand. Drivers will be able to piece together playlists comprised of programs such as Fresh Air, All Things Considered and Morning Edition using their voices. Just download the NPR smartphone app and you can begin to use with it Sync AppLink, which already works with Internet radio apps like Pandora, Slacker, iHeartRadio and Stitcher.

Ford also has updated its Sync Destinations mobile app, which lets drivers send all their destinations to their vehicle using the iPhone. The app now has added AppLink capabilities, and it can give turn-by-turn directions and it let drivers report traffic incidents in real-time. The Sync Destinations app will hit the BlackBerry and Android platforms before the end of Q1 2012.

Another upcoming addition to Sync is the ability to work with the new Scout navigation app by Telenav. The Scout app is available now for the iPhone and provides personalized navigation, turn-by-turn directions and traffic-based drive times. The Scout app will work with Sync later this year.

The company said Friday that it plans to open the lab near Stanford University in Palo Alto, Calif., in the first few months of this year. It will employ around 15 people, including some recruited locally and others who will rotate in from Ford’s headquarters in Dearborn.

Ford’s Chief Technical Officer Paul Mascarenas said the company decided about a year ago that it needed a bigger presence in Silicon Valley.

“This is a very natural extension into one of the most innovative communities in the world,” he said.

He said the lab will work on ways to better integrate phones and other personal devices into cars, as well as safety systems that alert drivers when they’re approaching another car.

The lab will also solicit and test applications from independent programmers. One app Ford is currently studying can find an open parking space and reserve it. Another would improve weather reporting by transmitting signals when a car’s rain-sensing wipers are triggered.

Mascarenas said the lab will also study larger issues, including population growth in developing countries like China and India, and how best to handle traffic in those countries.

The lab will work with Ford headquarters as well as its design studio in Southern California and its office at Microsoft Corp. in Washington. Microsoft and Ford jointly developed Ford’s Sync voice-activated entertainment system and My Ford Touch touch-screen dashboard.

But Mascarenas said it’s important that the lab be in Silicon Valley — not Dearborn — so employees feel free to experiment.

Ford joins several other automakers that have similar offices in Silicon Valley, including General Motors Co., BMW AG and the Renault-Nissan alliance.

K. Venkatesh Prasad, a senior technical leader at Ford who will commute between Dearborn and the new office, said Ford considered opening a Silicon Valley office in the past but the technology wasn’t ready. Now, he said, the Sync platform makes it easier and faster to reprogram the car and update it with new applications. Ford introduced Sync four years ago.

“The car is finally a platform,” Prasad said.

 The car industry continues to get greener – Ford Motor Company, through the use of REPREVE recycled plastic fiber, plans to keep about 2 million post-consumer plastic bottles out of landfills. Ford and recycled plastic innovator REPREVE will use the recycled plastic fiber in new vehicles beginning with the 2012 Focus Electric – the first vehicle to feature branded REPREVE’s seat fabric made from a hybrid blend of recycled plastic bottles and post-consumer waste.

The companies will collect bottles at events throughout the year, beginning with the North American International Auto Show and Consumer Electronics Show and convert them into REPREVE recycled fibers.

Ford states that the Focus Electric is the first vehicle with interior materials made of 100 percent clean technology, including the use of REPREVE recycled fibers — seating in each vehicle interior uses roughly 22 recycled plastic bottles.

Note: Ford’s recycling program is part of an effort to raise awareness that only 29 percent of plastic bottles are recycled in the United States – only half the rate of Europe.

The last Ford Ranger that rolled off the assembly line today wasn’t fancy: just a plain, white pickup destined for service at a pest-control company. But it did symbolize the end of an era.

The Ranger will be the last vehicle produced at Ford’s Twin Cities Assembly Plant in Minnesota, which offered high-wage manufacturing jobs for 86 years and produced everything from Model Ts to Country Squires.

While Ford has been hiring at its other plants, Twin Cities is being closed because Ford is pulling out of the small pickup business in the U.S. Over the years, the plant produced 6 million vehicles and most recently employed about 800 workers.

The last pickup is going to Orkin, the pest-control giant that was one of the best customers for the Ranger pickup.

Ford’s F-150 SVT Raptor is no longer an unknown entity; we’ve grown to love its high-flying antics, the 100-mph blasts through the desert, and the ability to tear through just about any type of muck imaginable all in the comfort of a $44,000 street truck with a warranty. That hasn’t stopped Ford from making it better, though, and we recently joined the SVT wizards and a fleet of 2012 Raptors in Moab, Utah, for an exploration of the vehicle’s least likely skill: rock crawling.

Yes, the three-ton beast with a wheelbase of at least 133 inches can shimmy up crevasses and climb over boulders like a rubber-soled mountain goat. In addition to the standard 411-hp, 6.2-liter V-8; long-travel suspension; 35-inch-tall BFGoodrich tires; and an electronic-locking rear differential; the 2012 model ($43,565 base) is notable for its standard Torsen front diff and optional forward-looking camera. Other changes for 2012 include new 17-inch wheels, revised bedside graphics ($1075) and hood ($900), Race Red paint in place of Molten Orange, and a more tasteful interior package with real aluminum accents ($750).

The Torsen replaces the previous Raptor’s open front diff and can shuffle power side to side for better traction. The camera, which is operable at speeds below 15 mph, eliminates the nasty blind spot immediately in front of the truck when you’re climbing steep grades and can only see sky out of the windshield. The camera requires the $2470 Navigation and $2970 Luxury packages and displays what it sees on an eight-inch monitor in the dash, complete with graphic overlays for precise wheel placement. A separate washer nozzle in the grille keeps the view unobscured. Reduced likelihood of running over your spotter while traversing a trail like Hell’s Revenge: $525. The irony of viewing 70-million-year-old fossilized Velociraptor footprints from the cab of a Raptor pickup: priceless.

Another Challenge Conquered and Another Remaining

Much to Ford’s surprise and delight, the F-150 Raptor’s performance in the market has been as impressive as its prowess in the rough. Beyond the obvious image boost, the truck is claimed to be quite profitable and selling well, both in the U.S. and abroad (mostly the Middle East and South America.) The company never estimated production figures, but SVT officials tell us that Raptor sales have already surpassed the total number of F-150 Lightning street trucks produced and that 2011 production may reach 10,000 units by year’s end, the vast majority being the new-for-2011 SuperCrew version. With a relatively tight general supply and new Raptors taking only two weeks or so to find homes, 2012 production is being upped to compensate for the increasing demand.

Because the Raptor is such an unusual vehicle, it holds great potential for coaxing pilots beyond their limits—or the truck’s. Witness internet footage of Raptor club outings, wherein owners bomb over desert obstacles that would make a Trophy Truck wince, tweaking their frames in the process. To minimize future incidents of the sort, Ford is working to educate buyers on how to keep Raptors shiny side up and out of danger. For now, Ford’s tutelage is limited to an instructional DVD and a supplement in the owner’s manual, which it is very likely nobody will ever read. But, just as many sports-car makers offer driving academies, the blue oval is investigating potential partnerships with off-road luminaries.

In Another Year, It’ll Be Able to Drink. Then Things Get Really Crazy

Keeping up the momentum generated by successes like the Raptor is the key challenge facing SVT as its 20^thanniversary approaches in 2013. The celebration kicked off a little early in the form of the 2013 Focus ST and the2013 Mustang Shelby GT500, which go on sale next year. Despite the car’s early release and the 650 hp belted out by its supercharged 5.8-liter V-8, SVT claims the fortified Shelby was already in the works before Chevrolet committed to the 580-hp Camaro ZL1. With the Boss 302 raising the bar for the standard pony car, the GT500 had to go big. But it also will be more civilized, with refinements such as adjustable dampers and braking feel for which SVT says the Porsche 911 GT3 was a benchmark. Big words indeed.

The new Focus ST and GT500, along with the 6000-pound Raptor, illustrate how varied SVT’s portfolio has been over the years. Whereas factory tuners like Mercedes-Benz’s AMG and BMW’s M work their magic over most of the parent company’s lineup to similar ends, SVT’s sporadic products have ranged from front-drive compacts to rear-drive muscle cars and from on- and off-road pickups to a $140,000-plus, 200-mph supercar. All have been uniquely engineered in their own right and great fun to drive, but common threads are few.

European Hands Make Light Work

Ford’s push for global development, exemplified by the European gestation of the Focus ST, will allow SVT to continue diversifying. Jamal Hameedi, SVT’s chief nameplate engineer, notes that the combined effort on global models frees up engineers to work on regional products such as the GT500 and Raptor. With the ST as a template, Hameedi doesn’t rule out other shared projects—the new Ford Fusion and European Mondeo, the latter of which has a history of factory tuning, are closely related and could present an opportunity.

As for other transatlantic crossovers, Hameedi says that the RS badge affixed to ultra-hot versions of the Focus in Europe resonates with the U.S. market. We get the feeling that, if the calls were his to make, SVT would touch everything Ford makes. Hameedi also shows considerable interest in mechanical-flywheel hybrid technology as an alternative to storing recaptured energy in batteries, and refuses to throw cold water on the potential for SVTs with all-wheel drive—so long as they’re executed properly.

Whatever SVT does next, our stint in Moab reminded us just how happy we are that the Raptor exists. And that we’re finally getting a European-tuned Focus. And a 650-hp Shelby Mustang.

Just the Facts:

• The latest edition of Ford’s turnkey racecar goes into production next June.
• Prices for the 2013 Ford Cobra Jet Mustang start at $86,000 for the normally aspirated version and $93,000 for the supercharged model.
• Production of the 2013 Cobra Jet Mustang is limited to 50 units.

DEARBORN, Michigan — The 2013 Ford Cobra Jet Mustang, the latest evolution of the automaker’sturnkey racecar, will go into production next June, with total volume limited to 50 units. Prices start at $86,000 for the normally aspirated version and $93,000 for the supercharged model.

Introduced at the recent Performance Racing Industry show in Orlando, the 2013 Cobra Jet Mustang features a number of improvements.

Designed for NHRA Stock and Super Stock competition, the latest edition gets improvements to the suspension, steering and brakes, as well as a new roll cage design.

The 2013 Cobra Jet comes with a choice of two 5.0-liter V8 engines — a naturally aspirated unit with Cobra Jet induction system, CNC ported heads, high-lift cams and low-drag accessory drive, and a more potent supercharged variant with CNC port-matched manifold and heads.

The automaker also is selling Cobra Jet components through the Ford Performance Parts network, so current Mustang owners can upgrade their cars to Cobra Jet specifications.

Additional Cobra Jet options and pricing will be released in January.

Inside Line says: Likely to sell out quickly.