Analysts Adam Jones wrote, “Our forecasts give Ford credit for a transformational turnaround yielding performance far exceeding its own historical averages and places the company among a select group of global automotive firms.”

To get here Ford has had to make some major cuts. Since 2006 they have gone from producing 97 vehicles from 27 platforms to a mere 32 vehicles from just 15 platforms. Their strategy seems to be paying off.

Ford’s momentum can also be attributed to its current alternate fuel strategy that they outlined just two years ago. The company outlined where they would go in the future with alternative energy and their plan is working. Ford’s plan was to focus on their models that were already popular and updating them to include battery operation. While other companies are taking time to develop completely new models for their alternative fuel designs, Ford is saving money and getting the job done quicker under their plans. They call it economic sense

First up and releasing this year is the 2010 battery operated Transit Connect, an update to their conventional model. Next to come is what Ford hopes to be their centerpiece for battery operated vehicles, the Focus. Releasing in 2011 the battery operated Focus is projected to be a huge hit and Ford hopes to sell 15,000 – 20,000 of the new model, which will be battery powered for 100 miles.

The Hybrid Lincoln is also in the making, set to release in 2011. Ford has already announced a bold move for this model and plans to sell it for the same price as its conventional version. Could it be that they have found a way to cut costs or are they just going to front the cost to gain market shares? No one knows for sure.

Ford (NYSE: F) is Making a Comeback was created by and is property of American Consumer News.

The tax break, if passed, will allow Ford to keep nearly 15 million dollars a year that would have been slated to the state of Missouri. Michigan and several other states are aggressively vying for automakers, especially Ford, to bring there plants there, so Governor Nixon is hoping this tax incentive will keep the Ford in Missouri. Ford is still in the final stage of moving, but in order to stay it would need to retool the factories it already has.

This tax incentive does create several problems for the state of Missouri. The biggest issue will be how the state of Missouri will pay for the incentive. Missouri has already passed a budget that has already been trimmed of 300 million dollars from last years budget, and is on shaky financial ground, and the assembly has voted against other tax incentives in the past. The budget is shaky because the states source of revenue has been faltering since the economy started its downward trend. Governor Nixon was hoping to loosen state workers benefits and would ask state workers to give 4% to the state retirement plan.

This may pose opposition to the idea of a tax break. Generally speaking people do not like taking away incentives from state workers to give to a profitable corporation. But Governor Nixon will convene the assembly to help pass a possible tax break none the less. The people of Missouri and the Ford workers of Missouri will be waiting to see what the out come of this assembly will be.

This tax incentive would do much to keep jobs in Missouri for years to come. However, whether or not it will pass will depend on if Missouri can convince its people that keeping Ford in Missouri will be in its best interest, and if Missouri can prove it can still provide much needed welfare to its people even with the tax incentive.

A Nice Break For Ford (NYSE: F) was created by and is property of American Consumer News.

There are some critical points to remember when shopping for a used vehicle. Keep these tips in mind before you go.

Don’t Rush
In our society of “need it now” mentality, it really does pay to wait when looking to buy used. It takes time to do your research and make the right financial decision for you. Sure the cars you see may look good but you’ll need to do some homework before you get serious about any purchase.

Do Your Homework
When looking to buy used, you want to ensure you don’t get a lemon. You can use many online resources to find out about the maintenance history of the car. Try Edmunds.com or Carfax.com to get this information. Look for cars that have the most consistent maintenance records to avoid costly repairs in the near future. Note that cars that are the from the first year of production have been shown to have the most problems. You’ll also want to check out the gas mileage on the vehicle you want to buy. No point in saving money on the car when you’ll get in over your head paying for fuel.

Narrow Down Your Choices
Once you have found out what kind of vehicles match your criteria, start looking for which vehicle most interests you. Check the classified ads of your local paper or car sites like autotrader.com. Seek out the ads that mention the cars are in excellent shape, mint condition, or like new.

Consider Your Calls
Before you start contacting the sellers, sit and think about what you want to know. A written list can help you stay focused on the conversation and ensure you find out all you need to know before proceeding. Keep notes about each vehicle so you’ll have something to refer to when deciding which cars to view personally. Some questions you’ll want to ask:

• How many owners has the car had? If one owner, do they have all of the maintenance records on hand?
• Has the car even been in an accident?
• What is the car’s mileage?
• Why is the car for sale?

Pay attention to how the seller responds to your questions. If your gut tells you they aren’t being totally upfront, make a note. If any of the questions you ask does not result in the answers you are looking for, eliminate that car from your list and move on to the next one. Be sure to thank all the people you contact for their time. As you continue to make phone calls, you will narrow down your list to a few vehicles that you can eventually go to look at in person. From there, you can negotiate with the seller and come to a reasonable agreement about the sale. Be smart, be patience and do your research and you’ll likely get a great car that will last and not lemon out.

How To Buy A Good Used Car was created by and is property of American Consumer News.

Here is a list of 5 money lessons to remember about your personal finances.

1. Automobiles

Buy a used automobile and plan to drive it for ten years to save yourself thousands of dollars, compared to what you would spend buying new. If you must buy new, make sure you are prepared to put down at least 20% down on the vehicle you want and only agree to a monthly payment that is less than 10% of your income. Never finance your new car for longer than four years in order to keep your spending under control.

2. Student Loans

Students may not always know what they will be after graduation but many of them will at least have an idea of what field they would like to enter once out of school. A good rule of thumb for student loan borrowing is to borrow only around the amount you can expect to earn during your first year of work. Planning for college should include planning to prevent debt. Lenders will be happy to let you borrow a lot of money but you need to see the reality of how much and how long it will take to pay back a student loan.

3. Home Mortgages

If you plan to buy a home, you need to figure out if you can afford to purchase the home at a 30 year fixed interest rate. If you can not, you simply can not afford the house. Especially now, in light of the multitude of foreclosures around the country, it is much more financial sound to use the 30 year fixed term than to deal with alternative types of mortgages such as interest-only loans.

4. Emergency Funds

Your ideal number for an emergency fund should equal about three month’s worth of your total living expenses. This emergency fund money can be used in the event of a lost job or other crisis. Until you are able to sock away that amount of cash to have on hand, you should keep room on a credit card or other line of credit in the event something unexpected should happen until you are able to save up the amount of money equal to your three month’s income.

5. Positioning Your Money

Everyone always wants to know how to divide their financial priorities. It seems the order of importance is retirement funds, paying off credit cards, followed by emergency savings fund. Planning for your future should be your top financial priority and the earlier you begin saving the better off you will be. Repaying your credit card debt should be the second most important priority, especially when interest rates are so high and your debt is affecting the rest of your finances. Lastly, your emergency fund should continue to grow in the event something happens without warning, such as health problems, job loss, or even home repairs.

Serious debt can be overwhelming, that’s why you need to seek professional debt advice to get yourself back on your feet as soon as possible. There are various debt solutions available, like an IVA, debt consolidation, bankruptcy or debt management. Get debt help now to find out which one is right for you and start getting out of debt now!

5 Quick Money Lessons to Learn Now was created by and is property of American Consumer News.

Check Your Air Filter – Having a clean air filter can improve your gas mileage by up to 10%, and studies indicate that one out of every four vehicles desperately need a new filter. Purchasing a new filter will save you the equivalent of 25 cents per gallon alone!

Properly inflate Your Tires – The NHTSA says that the average car tire is under-inflated by 7.5 lbs of air pressure, causing a loss of 3% in fuel efficiency. Making sure your tires are properly inflated will save you 7.5 cents per gallon in gasoline

Get Your Car Aligned – If your vehicle is improperly aligned, your tires will wear out more quickly and your engine will have to work harder. This can reduce your gas mileage by up to 10%, or 25 cents per gallon!

Get a Tune Up – Getting your vehicle properly tuned up can improve your gas mileage by 4% according to the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration. It might not seem like much, but that’s 10 the equivalent of 10 cents per gallon if the price of gasoline is $2.50

Keep Your Foot Off The Breaks – By avoiding using your breaks, you will reduce the wear and tear on them as well as dramatically improve your fuel efficiency. If you have a “heavy foot” you could improve your fuel economy by up to 35%

Drive the Speed Limit – For every 5mph of speed that you drive on the highway, you will reduce fuel consumption by 7%. If you switch from driving 70 on the highway to 65, you’ll save 19 cents per gallon of gasoline.

A lot of people think they need to purchase a new car to get better fuel economy, but that’s just not the case. You can do a lot with the car that you already have to improve the efficiency of your engine.

How to Use 25% Less Gasoline With The Vehicle You Already Own was created by and is property of American Consumer News.

You can pickup the Honda Civic GX for about $25,000, which is about $7,500 more than the standard Civic costs, but it might be worth it. The $7,500 price difference drops down to $3,500 when you factor in the $4,000 federal tax credit that you will receive for purchasing this natural-gas powered vehicle. The real savings come in when you consider the cost of operating the vehicle on a per mile basis. You end up spending the equivalent of about $1.20 to go the same distance as 1 gallon of gasoline would.

Instead of taking your vehicle to a traditional gas-station to fill up, you would have to take your vehicle to a specially fitted station that’s equipped to fill natural gas vehicles. There are many of these stations located in California and in New England, but you might have trouble finding a station to fill up at in other parts of the country. You’ll want to do some research and figure out if there’s a station that you can reasonably fill up at before your home before you make the leap and purchase a natural gas powered vehicle.

Even if there’s no station for you to fill up your vehicle with, there’s the potential that you can still make use of a natural-gas powered vehicle. There’s a device called a “Phill” that will hook into your existing natural gas line and allow you to fill up your natural gas powered vehicle at home. You can get more information about that product at www.myphill.com.

This vehicle is a good option if you need a vehicle for driving to work and around your locality, but you likely wouldn’t want to take it on trips. If you’re in an unfamiliar area, it would be very difficult to plan out stops to fuel up your vehicle. You definitely won’t want it as the only vehicle in your family, but it’s something to consider

Honda’s Civic GX: A Vehicle Powered by Natural Gas was created by and is property of American Consumer News.

Honda is selling their 2008 Honda Civic Sedan for $15,010 MSRP. The hybrid version of that vehicle, the ’08 Civic Hybrid Sedan retails for $22,600. For that extra $7,600 dollars, you’ll get an extra 11 miles per gallon of fuel economy. You might think that going from 34 MPG to 45 MPG would make a big difference, but the reality is that you would only use 72 more gallons of gasoline per year in the non-hybrid. If you were to drive an average of 10,000 miles per year and gasoline was at a fixed price of $3.00 a gallon, you would have to drive your new civic hybrid for a whopping 35 years before the cost would break even!

Out of all of the oil that the United States uses, it imports 58% of it from foreign countries. That’s a whopping 12 million barrels of oil imported each day. You can get around 18 useable gallons of gasoline from each barrel. The rest of that oil is used to create heating oil and other oil based products. That means we’re importing 78.8 billion gallons of gasoline each year. The 72 gallons that you would save a year are a drop in a very large bucket. Even if 1 million Americans chose a hybrid for their next vehicle, it would only decrease foreign oil dependency by less than 1%.

Switching to hybrid cars is not going to do anything particularly amazing to help the environment and won’t even be a drop in the bucket when it comes to reducing foreign oil dependence. Buying one won’t do your pocketbook any favors either. Until the technology develops to a point where the price between a hybrid model and a traditional gasoline engine becomes much lower, purchasing a hybrid vehicle just isn’t worth it.

Hybrid Cars are a Rip-Off and the People Who Buy Them Can’t Do Math. was created by and is property of American Consumer News.

After your home, the car that you drive will likely be the single most expensive purchase that you make. But unlike your home that appreciates over time, your car will go down in value as it gets older and you put more miles on it. This process of buying newer cars, wearing them down, and selling them when they get too old for one’s liking can get very expensive as time goes on, so it makes sense to buy the models of vehicles which hold their values the best.

So what brands of cars will keep their initial value for the longest? Kelley Blue Book did a study on just this. Its 2008 Best Resale Value Awards found that Volkswagen produced vehicles will keep their value the longest. After five years a typical Volkswagen will have just under 50% of their value. If a car was originally sold for $30,000, it would still be worth $15,000 after the five year period.

Other brands which made their top ten include Acura, Audio, BMW, Honda, Infiniti, Lexus, Porsche, Toyota and Subaru. Any of these would be fine to keep over a long period of time. When it came the cars that hold their values the least, Suzuki was the worst. For every dollar you spend on a Suzuki, you’ll only have 25 cents of it worth of value after the initial 5 year period of ownership. Other brands that were close to the bottom of the list was Chrysler, Dodge, GMC, Jeep, Lincoln, Mercury and Jaguar.

When shopping for a new vehicle, make sure to get a make and model that will be more likely to keep its value. You’ll get a lot more money when you go to sell it a few years down the line.

Don’t Let Your Car’s Value Go Down “Like a Rock.” Buy the Vehicle that Keeps its Value the Best. was created by and is property of American Consumer News.

There are no state or federal laws which require the leasing company to tell you the effective interest rate you are paying on your vehicle, and often times you are paying much more than you need to. With a traditional loan you could simply refinance it if you were stuck in a bad loan. It turns out that you can do the same thing with car leases if you have reasonably good credit. You will likely be able to refinance your lease, end up paying less on a monthly basis and even get out of the lease earlier. If you have a credit score of 720 or above and have a car lease, checking into refinancing your lease is definitely worthwhile.

There’s a website specifically designed to help people out in this situation. LowerMyLease.com will help you figure out whether or not it makes sense for you to refinance your lease and help you get the loan to make that happen.

They have a guide on their website which discusses the process:

1. Call your current lender and ask them for your current payoff without sales tax.
2. Check the current odometer reading on the vehicle, and pull out your original window sticker for the vehicle. It’s most probably in the glove box or with your orginal lease contract.
3. To find out your new payment options, select your vehicle and enter the current payoff amount and mileage.
4. If you find a new payment or term you like, then submit your credit application and get pre-approved. Here are some things to consider when re-leasing:
o A lower payment for any selected term
o The same payment for a shorter term
o A lower residual value which gives you more options during and at the end of the lease
5. We’ll re-write your lease with the new lease program you selected. The leases offered on LowerMyLease.com are from national financial institutions that you may already be doing business with.
6. New lease contracts are printed and sent to you for review.
7. Upon your approval, sign and overnight them back to us in the envelope provided.
8. We pay off your current lease and your new re-lease begins!

LowerMyLease.com has come up with a great service to help you get a better deal on the lease that you’re stuck in. It won’t always be a better deal, but it’s definitely worth checking into if you drive a leased vehicle.

Stuck in a Car Lease? Refinance and Save Big. was created by and is property of American Consumer News.

A company called CarMax, based out of Richmond, Virginia, did a study to find out what people enjoyed about the car buying process and what they absolutely hated about the car buying process. “The grind” was the biggest thing they found that consumers hated, so they built their business model around providing high quality products at a set price and providing very good customer service, the exact opposite of how most dealers currently operate.

Consumers have responded to CarMax’s different way of doing business in a big way. The company now makes $600 billion each year, is adding locations all over the country and is currently in 19 different states. When purchasing a vehicle from CarMax, you can go to their website, pick out the exact make, model and features you want, and they’ll tell you a price, and that’s what you’ll pay. It’s as simple as that! CarMax will give consumers a better price than what they will be able to get on their own 90% of the time. One might think that this new and very successful model for selling vehicles might spread to other dealers hoping to capture the same market, but thus far that has not been the case.

You’ll almost always get a great price with CarMax, but you will likely not want to finance your vehicle through CarMax. Your local credit union or insurance company will almost certainly be able to provide you a better interest rate than CarMax or any dealer for that matter. Also, always have the car checked out by a certified mechanic before agreeing to buy the vehicle.

Get Out of the “Grind” When Buying Your Next New Car was created by and is property of American Consumer News.