2010 Ford F-150 King Ranch Crew Cab Pickup 4-door 5.4l on 2040-cars

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What next for Alan Mulally?

Alan Mulally has emerged as a hero when it comes to American manufacturing. He came to Ford in 2006 after serving as head of Boeing's commercial aircraft division, streamlined operations, sold off the costly elements of its Premier Automotive Group and saved Ford from having to be bailed out by the federal government like its cross-town rivals Chrysler and General Motors did. But as we reported mere days ago, he's widely expected to step down from the chief executive's office at Ford shortly.
So what's next for one of the most successful executives in the business? Hard to say, but don't expect Mulally to disappear into retirement. Though he didn't ultimately take the top job at Microsoft, industry insiders expect to see him in another influential position - likely as a board director or even chairman of another company. (We say "another company" and not Ford because while Bill Ford may have stepped aside as CEO to bring Mulally on board in the first place, we don't see him giving up his chairmanship of the board also.)
Mulally has likely already lined up his next move, and could either announce what that move will be as soon as Ford confirms Mark Fields as his successor, or could wait awhile. Insiders speculate that he could leverage his transportation and aerospace experience into a position at General Electric or a major airline, his manufacturing expertise to benefit a company like Procter & Gamble or his management skills at a consultancy firm.

USPS releases hot rod stamps to speed up your delivery

After one of the worst winters in recent memory for much of the country, summer is finally here. It's time to drop the top, open the sunroof or at least put down the windows and take a long drive. The United States Postal Service is celebrating the season's sun in automotive style with two new hot rod Forever stamps.
Both stamps depict classic '32 Ford hot rods. One shows the car from the front at a low angle in red (pictured above), while the other depicts the car from the back in black with flames running down the side.
To introduce the new stamps on their first day of availability, the USPS went straight to the source at the National Street Rod Association Street Rod Nationals in York, PA. They were unveiled by Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe, Car Crazy host Barry Meguiar and NSRA Special Events Director Jerry Kennedy.

2015 Ford Focus gets more Aston-y [w/video]

With more and more members of the Ford brand adopting a new familial face, the Focus has been left looking like an odd man out. At the Geneva Auto Show, though, it properly rejoined the family, adopting the now familiar Aston Martin-ish grille that's proliferated throughout the range.
Overall, we're liking the refreshed Focus' look. Aside from the new grille, the headlights have been restyled and now look like elongated versions of the lamps on the Focus ST. Functionally, those headlamps are bi-xenon units, complete with an adaptive front lighting system. Out back, the rear retains the same overall look, which has been smoothed out for 2015.
In the cabin, the second-generation of Ford's much-maligned Sync system makes its debut. Sync 2, as it's called, is supposedly more intuitive than the first-gen system. Ford is promising "one-shot" navigation functions for the system. Saying "I'm hungry," should bring up a list of nearby restaurants. Of course, we'll be reserving final judgment until we can test the new system in person.