Ford and Best Buy Team Up

Test Drive a 2011 Ford Edge and Earn 2,500 Best Buy Reward Zone Points

Best Buy Reward Zone Premier Silver members have the opportunity to earn 2,500 Reward Zone points by test driving the 2011 Ford Edge. Premier Silver members will have the ability to opt-in to take advantage of this promotion from November 22nd until December 19th. Members will receive emails from Best Buy explaining this offer and the option to opt-in will also be available on the landing page of the Reward Zone website.

In order to qualify to be a Reward Zone Premier Silver member, a participant would have to either spend $2,500 on eligible purchases in Best Buy stores or on Bestbuy.com in one calendar year. Another way to qualify is by spending $2,500 anywhere using a Reward Zone Master Card.

Once a qualified member has opted-in, they will need to print out the generated confirmation email which will explain the program offer. The participant will then bring this print-out to a local Ford dealer, where they will be able to complete their test drive of the new 2011 Ford Edge. After the test drive is completed, the member will receive a code from the dealership that will need to be entered on http://www.myrz.com/testdrive
between December 19th -31st. The member will then receive 2,500 points, which translates to $50 in Best Buy Reward Zone certificates.

For more information on this offer, visit http://www.myrz.com

Fortune's Businessperson of the Year Award - Winner Announced

The title of Fortune’s Businessperson of the Year for 2010 can now proudly claimed by Netflix’s CEO, Reed Hastings.

The rising success and expansion of Netflix has not gone unnoticed by the world. Every major player in the electronics industry is trying cash on the Netflix sensation by integrating the technology in their products (ex. Nintendo Wii, Sony PlayStation, etc.). Stock in Netflix has risen more than 200% since January of this year and Netflix is one major contributor as to why Blockbuser declared bankruptcy *. These are just some of the reasons why Fortune has named Reed Hastings Business Person of the Year.

While Hastings won the official title, he only ranked 3rd in the Reader’s Choice portion of the competition. Alan Mulally placed first from the reader’s votes and placed second overall from Fortune.

One thing is clear, Alan Mulally has made a huge impact on Ford over the past year and the people have noticed.

For the official word on the standings, follow the article from Fortune below.

* http://bit.ly/9bLe9N

Alan Mulally- Reader's Choice Winner of Fortune's Busniessperson of the Year

Today, Fortune will announce their official Businessperson of the Year. As mentioned in one of our previous posts, Mulally made it to the final round of the competition where he was matched up against Apple’s CEO Steve Jobs. With an astounding 94% of the reader’s votes, Mulally is named the winner of the Reader’s Choice. This is only one factor that Fortune will use to determine who will win the coveted title of Businessperson of the Year.

Stay tuned to hear who wins the official title.

For Fortune’s full article on this victory please follow the link below.

bit.ly/bLW4VH

The New Ford Focus sharpens Dynamic Driving with Sport and Titanium handling packages - http://ping.fm/5E9jg

First News on the Launch of Ford’s First Electric Car

It has arrived. Ford Motor Company’s first all-electric passenger car will be released in 2011. No official date has been confirmed yet, but Ford has publicized that the vehicle will first be launched in select U.S. markets. These markets include Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York and Orlando, just to name a few. Ford stated that this is merely the first stage in their plan for rolling out the Focus Electric and that as demand increase, it will be made available in more cities.

The Focus Electric will be the first of its kind for Ford and it is promising capabilities of “up to 100 miles of zero C02-emissions, gas-free driving on a full charge” *. The motor will powered by a lithium-ion battery. The life of the battery is prolonged by a cooling and liquid heating system. Ford has stated that the price of the new vehicle will start around $16,995 **.

It is also worth mentioning that Ford chose the initial markets because of cooperation and collaboration with local government authorities. One of Ford’s goals is to educate consumers about electric cars and they said that working with the local authorities is the key to making that happen.

For more information about Ford’s Focus Electric follow the links below.



* http://media.fordvehicles.com/article_display.cfm?article_id=33570

** http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-11-15/ford-to-start-selling-focus-electric-in-19-cities-in-late-2011.html

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Stress-Reducting Technology While Driving

A new study conducted by Ford and MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) concludes that new advancements in vehicle technology have proven to reduce stress while driving.

In a research project implemented over a nine month span, Ford and MIT have proven that technology such as the Ford Motor Company Active Park Assist feature (in the Lincoln MKS) and the Ford Motor Company Cross-Traffic Alert have resulted in a reduction of as much as 12 beats per minute in the driver’s heart rate.

Ford began this study in an initiative to “improve driver focus, wellness and safety”. 1

Physiological changes in drivers’ heart rates were measured while test participants were instructed to undergo instructions from the test administrator such as to parallel park and reverse out of a parking space.

The results of the study showed that with the added technology to assist in these tasks, the drivers were ultimately less stressed demonstrated by their bpm reduction heart rate.

For more information and statistics from Ford about this study please follow the link for the article below.

1 http://www.thefordstory.com/safety/want-stress-free-driving-use-in-vehicle-technology/

Vote Ford's CEO Alan Mulally Businessperson of the Year!

Ford's CEO Alan Mulally has made it to the final round in Fortune's contest which awards one exceptional business leader the title, Businessperson of the Year 2010. Mulally faces off against Apple's CEO Steve Jobs. While Steve Jobs represents a company that thrives on innovation, Mulally has proven that Ford is a company that cannot be stopped.

In the first round of the contest Mulally beat out Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Facebook, with 64% of the votes compared to Zuckerberg's 36%.

In the second round, Mulally beat Michael Duke, the CEO of Wal-Mart, with an astounding 94% of the votes while Duke only held 6%.

In the third round, Mulally was up against Ellen Kullman. Kullman is the CEO of DuPont and she only received 25% of the votes while Mulally held 75%.

In the fourth round, Mulally blew Warren Buffett out of the water with 94% of the votes.

Other notable industry leaders that were featured in the competition were Bob Igler (CEO,Disney), Jeff Bezeo (CEO,Amazon), Reed Hastings (CEO,Netflix), Eric Schmidt (CEO,Google), and Lloyd Blankfein (CEO,Goldman Sachs).

The contest will conclude on Thursday November 18th. Please be sure to visit the link below and vote!

http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/businessperson_year/2010/poll/index.html

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