Ford unveils new-generation Edge as a global crossover vehicle

Ford Motor Co on Tuesday unveiled the 2015 Edge, which it hopes will strengthen sales in the fast-growing near-luxury crossover vehicle markets in China, Europe and the Americas.

The redesigned Edge will be Ford's first global crossover vehicle. It has been sold in North America since late 2006 and in China since 2011. The new Edge will begin sales in North America early next year and in Europe by the end of 2015.

Ford is pitching the Edge as a near-luxury vehicle that can compete outside North America with premium German brands. Jim Farley, head of Ford's global sales and marketing, said that in Europe the Edge will be aimed at market-leading crossovers from Volkswagen AG's Audi and Daimler AG's Mercedes-Benz brands.

On Tuesday, Ford showed off the new Edge in Dearborn, Michigan, and Cologne, Germany. The 2015 Edge was previewed as a concept in the fall of 2013 at the Los Angeles auto show.

"The all-new Edge is a showcase of Ford's smartest technologies, the best of everything we have brought to market to date," said Joe Hinrichs, president of the Americas.

The five-seater crossover vehicle shares the same mechanical underpinnings as Ford's midsize Fusion and Mondeo sedans.

Demand for the global utility market, which includes SUVs and crossover vehicles, has risen 87 percent worldwide since 2008, Farley said. In China, sales of such vehicles are predicted to double by 2018, when one in three global utility vehicles are expected to be sold there.

Among midsize crossover vehicles in the US this year, the Edge is second behind General Motors Co's Chevrolet Equinox, which outsells it by nearly two to one. Through May, the Equinox had sales of about 102,800, compared with 55,400 for Edge.

The 2014 Edge is priced from just under $29,000 for the base model, with the top-of-the-line Edge Sport starting at $40,445.

Toyota sets price for new fuel cell car to start sales in March 2015

Toyota's first fuel cell sedan Photo: CFP

Japanese auto giant Toyota will start selling its first fuel cell sedan this financial year, with a price tag of around 7 million yen ($70,000), the company said Wednesday.

The vehicles will roll out in the home market by March 2015, it said. In the summer of 2015, the firm will make the cars available in the US and Europe.

"Hydrogen is a particularly promising alternative fuel since it can be produced using a wide variety of primary energy sources, including solar and wind power," the automaker said in a statement.

Fuel cell cars are seen as the Holy Grail of green cars as they are powered by a chemical reaction of hydrogen and oxygen, which produces nothing more harmful than water.

Toyota's fuel cell sedan can travel about 700 kilometers without refueling, about three times more than an electric car, and it only takes three minutes to refuel, Toyota said.

The company, while not abandoning electric cars altogether, sees the fuel cell as the next logical step after its big early success with the Prius gas-electric hybrid, which has sold about 3.7 million units since its launch in the late 1990s.

"Hydrogen does not emit CO2, so it could be a key player to realize a low-carbon society. It can be produced with fossil fuel such as natural gas and even with sludge accumulated in the sewage system," said Toyota vice president Mitsuhisa Kato.

"We believe hydrogen could become a very important source of energy in the future."

This is the first time Toyota has given a specific timeframe for its fuel cell cars, which it had previously said would go on the market in 2015.

The announcement came a day after Japan's industry ministry said the government will strongly support the hydrogen and fuel cell sector in a "strategic roadmap."

The ministry said the market related to hydrogen and fuel cell products and infrastructure is expected to expand from about one trillion yen in 2030 to about eight trillion yen within two decades.

While automakers expect eventual government subsidies to make fuel cell vehicles more accessible for general drivers, the price tag unveiled by Toyota on Wednesday is also a nice surprise for potential customers - it had been widely expected that a fuel cell vehicle would cost around 10 million yen.

But many hurdles still need to be overcome before fuel cell vehicles become a common sight on roads, most notably, the network of hydrogen refueling stations, Toyota said.

The Japanese government has also said it will try to make hydrogen available at a price similar to or less than gasoline fuel, while increasing the number of hydrogen refueling stations to about 100 next year.

The company said it will initially start selling the model only in the regions "where hydrogen refueling infrastructure is being developed."

The price ranges for a fuel cell unit for the US and European markets have not been decided, Toyota said.