Ford's Sporty Car Offering Remains Desirable Amongst Millennials

PEKIN, Ill., ––Despite the change in market towards SUVs and crossovers, Ford is still attracting young buyers thanks to their strong offering in sporty cars. Ford recently saw a steep decline in car sales in the past month because of the market shift, but remain optimistic for the future with their performance variants. Ford's sporty car offering, which includes the Ford Fiesta ST, Focus ST, Focus RS, and Fusion Sport models, remains desirable amongst millennials.

Stock performance variants of Ford's current car offering has been sought after for a while, and now they're a reality, and one of Ford's best chances at making a connection with the millennial market. The customer's you would expect to buy these cars are "not just young at heart; they're actually younger on average" according to Ford.

The most popular sporty car of the bunch is the Ford Fiesta ST, which holds an average buyer's age of 35 years. In fact, the standard variant of the Fiesta holds an average buyer's age of 45 years. Second in line, the Focus RS, sells to 41 year olds, while the Focus sells to 46 year olds. The younger buyers also hold higher household incomes, which might make them more eligible or interested to step into the sporty car market in the first place. Within the first three months of 2017, millennial buyers have contributed to a 45% increase in sporty car sales for Ford.

“With repeat customers making up around half of industry sales, capturing younger buyers while they still have many vehicle purchases remaining in their lives is good for business,” said Corey Holter, Ford car group marketing manager.

With Ford's sporty car offering remaining desirable amongst millenials, we hope to see the trend continue across even more models. At Velde Ford, we want to help you find your dream vehicle regardless of your age, budget, or wants. If you're interested in the 2017 Fiesta, Focus or Fusion, you can stop by our dealership in Pekin to take a closer look, or shop our new vehicle inventory online! 

At Velde Ford, we're committed to providing our customers with an unbeatable level of service and a great car buying experience. Stop by the dealership located at 2200 North 8th Street, Pekin, IL 61554 or visit our website: VeldeFordPekin.com for more information.

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The Fabric of Ford

PEKIN, Ill. – When you’re in the market for a car there’s a few things you know to look for like the make and model, the color of the car, technology features, and possibly the safety features you’d like to have. Have you ever thought about the materials that make up your interior? No worries if you haven’t, because the fabric of Ford goes through extreme testing to make sure your interior will last as long as your car does.

The interior of your Ford will inevitably show signs of wear and tear over the years, just like the exterior of your vehicle does. To help the durability of the all the fabrics, plastics, and leathers Ford engineers put every material through thorough testing to see how each ones stands the test of time.

With these tests, Ford engineers are ensuring that it’s going to take more than a spilled coffee, slight scuff, or a small scratch will permanently damage the materials.

The fabric of Ford goes through these tests:

• The Five-Finger Scratch Test – Different samples of fabric are scratched to see how much abuse they can take.
• The Soil and Cleanability Test – Different seat fabrics are splashed with different substances to evaluate how well they can be cleaned afterwards, which tests the overall stain resistance.
• The Resistance to Dye Transfer Test - Materials of different colors (like blue jeans) are rubbed against the leather used for car seats to see if any stains are left behind.
• The Mace Snagging Test – Spins seat fabric on rotating rollers roughly 600 times while they’re repeatedly stuck by a spikey iron ball to test the strength.

In addition to these durability tests, there’s also a team of examiners that smell various samples of the materials to keep the interior odor free.

You can see all of the tests performed with these links:

• SNIFF: A Story about Car Smells – https://youtu.be/n9YnEEXhrJE
• SNAG: A Story about Mighty Materials – https://youtu.be/J9gyq9dGnUE
• SPLASH: A Story about Surprise Spills – https://youtu.be/i7DrgKeZaEY

All of these tests are performed to make sure you get the best quality vehicles from Ford. If you’re looking for a great vehicle, head to Velde Ford. We have plenty of cars, trucks, and SUVs to choose from. We’re confident that we can find the perfect vehicle for you!

At Velde Ford, we're committed to providing our customers with an unbeatable level of service and a great car buying experience. Feel free to visit Velde Ford located at 2200 North 8th Street, Pekin, IL 61554.

Visit our website: VeldeFordPekin.com

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Ford is Bringing Customers More Convenience with FordPass

PEKIN, Ill. – Ford is making huge strides with its Ford Smart Mobility plan, which is all about taking the company to the next level in connectivity, mobility, autonomous vehicles, customer experience, and data and analytics. Moving forward on the mobility section, Ford is bringing its customers more convenience with FordPass, their new phone application.

A FordPass membership will be free to all Ford vehicle owners and non-owners. FordPass has four key elements: Marketplace, FordGuides, Appreciation, and FordHubs.

Marketplace

Right now, Ford is working on a partnership with ParkWhiz and Parkopedia to assist people with finding and paying for parking in an easier way. Ford is also working with FlightCar, which is a program that lets you borrow and share vehicles when you travel. In the future, Ford plans on offering services like ride sharing, car sharing, and multimodal transportation.

FordGuides

FordGuides is a small feature, but probably the best feature nonetheless. At just the touch of a button, you’ll be able to live chat with a FordGuide that can assist you with anything you need. FordGuides' only jobs are to guide, serve, and help solve mobility challenges, so you won’t ever get a sales pitch when talking to them.

Appreciation

Appreciation is all about you! The more you do with FordPass, the more appreciation you get. For example, members will be rewarded for signing up, talking to a FordGuide, or booking parking. Also, by collaborating with partners like McDonald’s or 7-Eleven, FordPass will give members access to merchandise and unique experiences. 

FordHubs

Last, but not least, is FordHubs. With the start of FordPass comes the start of FordHubs, which will be a place where consumers can explore the company’s latest innovations, learn about their mobility services, and experience exclusive events. The first hub will be established this year at the Westfield Urban Trade Center in New York, with more following in San Francisco, London, and Shanghai. Each FordHub will have FordGuides to answer any questions for you and let you know what mobility offers are available in your city.

Ford is bringing customers much more convenience with FordPass, which will launch in April for the United States and Canada. Until then, if you’re looking for a new Ford, come to Velde to check out our cars, trucks, and SUS for sale. We’re happy to help you find the perfect vehicle for you! At Velde Ford, we're committed to providing our customers with an unbeatable level of service and a great car buying experience. Feel free to visit Velde Ford located at 2200 North 8th Street, Pekin, IL 61554.

Visit our website: VeldeFordPekin.com

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Ford GT Snap Kits Coming to NAIAS

PEKIN, Ill. – Did your kid want a sports car for Christmas this year? No worries, Ford has your back! Ford GT snap kits are coming to the North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) this year.

Limited edition Ford GT snap kits are coming to NAIAS and are being handed out FREE to kids! To get one, just stop by the Ford stand while you’re admiring all the vehicles.

Ford has partnered with Revell for the third time now since 2013 to build these snap kits. Past kits included the Mustang and Raptor.

The kit at the auto show will come with 14 pieces that can easily be assembled within just a couple of minutes. There will even be a special stamp on the bottom to signify it’s a special edition. This is a fun tradition that Ford loves to get the kids involved with.

There will also be a line of snap kits available to everyone in April. This kit will come with 28 pieces and can be assembled in 10–15 minutes. You can get yours for only $14.99!

If you’re looking for the real deal you can stop by Velde Ford! We have plenty of new Ford cars you can look at. Take your dream sport car home today. At Velde Ford, we're committed to providing our customers with an unbeatable level of service and a great car buying experience. Feel free to visit Velde Ford located at 2200 North 8th Street, Pekin, IL 61554.

Visit our website: VeldeFordPekin.com

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Ford Will Make Headlights that Track Objects at Night

PEKIN, Illi.­– Nighttime drives can be relaxing for passengers, but if you’re the one manning the vehicle you know how stressful it can be when your headlights make only a short span of road in front of you visible. Wouldn’t it be nice if there were technology to help you notice potential hazards so you can safely navigate the night?

You’re in luck, because with new technology called Camera-Based Advanced Front Lighting System and Spot Lighting, Ford will make headlights that track obstacles at night. The new technology will help you become a safer and more relaxed driver when the sun goes down, and builds on Fords Adaptive Front Lighting System and Traffic Sign Recognition that are already implemented into its vehicles.

The Camera-Based Advanced Front Lighting System is able to widen the light beam at intersections and roundabouts to highlight objects outside of your vehicle’s path that you normally wouldn’t notice at night.

GPS information enables the system to understand when bends or other alterations in a route occur so your headlights can adjust to illuminate them. However, you know how unreliable GPS can be at times, which is why Ford installed a forward-facing video camera in the rear-view mirror base that understands lane markings and can foretell a road’s shape and remembers that information for next time.

Spot Lighting technology brings your attention to objects that are in your vehicle’s path or just outside it using an infrared camera in the vehicle’s grille that can detect and trace eight people or large animals up to 360 feet away.

The system can spotlight two hazards by displaying a spot and a stripe on the road illuminated by two special LED lamps alongside the fog lights. The spotlighted objects are signified with a red or yellow frame on the screen inside the vehicle, depending on how close they are to you.

With the amount of accidents that occur at night due to a driver’s inability to notice objects, it’s great to know that Ford will make headlights that track obstacles at night in order to improve your level of safety when you drive at night. For now this technology is still being developed and tested in Europe, but Ford plans to implement it into its vehicles in the near future.

Even without this headlight technology, the New Ford Cars and New Ford Trucks at our Dealership are incredible safe. Suffice it to say, if you’re looking for a safe vehicle, you want to look in Ford’s direction. For now this technology is still being developed and tested in Europe, but Ford plans to implement it into its vehicles once the systems are road-ready. Even without this headlight technology, the Ford Cars and New Ford Trucks at our Bartonville area Ford dealer are incredible safe.

At Velde Automotive Group, we are committed to providing our customers with an unbeatable level of service and a great car buying experience. Feel free to visit either of our dealerships, Velde Ford at 2200 North 8th Street, Pekin, IL 61554 or Velde Cadillac Buick GMC is located at 2220 North 8th Street, Pekin, IL 61554.

Visit our websites: VeldeGM.com and VeldeFordPekin.com

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