Ford…Focusing on el futuro

Driving down the road of life, we’ve all come to the same conclusions: the radio plays the same 10 songs over and over again, there are never enough cigarette lighters to plug in all of our gadgets, and parallel parking just plain old sucks. As 2012 approaches, it’s time our vehicles reflected that; since it’ll be quite some time before we get those flying cars The Jetsons promised us, Ford has stepped up to the plate with flying colors with the brand new fuel-efficient Focus and Fiesta. With amazing new features that take today’s technological and social media advances into complete seamless synchronization.

Both aerodynamically designed and available with amazing fuel economy packages and tech features, such as Sync – a programmable Multi-Lingual Voice Activated controller. Bluetooth connectivity allows simultaneous linkage to phones and multiple handheld devices enabling full access to phonebooks and media libraries. The Touch Screen Nav, HD/Syrius Radio are coupled with the ability to wirelessly stream Pandora and your own personal playlists. Also featuring Ambient Lighting with changeable LED Lights, 2 USB ports inputs and SD card reader; allowing for customizable screen backgrounds. The Focus by far, having one of the coolest tech perks, Active Park – which utilizes a rear-view camera and sensors for self-parking.

I was invited to test drive the Focus and compete in Ford’s Hispanic Blogger Challenge, where along with several other Blogueros raced from Midtown Manhattan to Uptown and back to see who used the least amount of fuel. While my team, the Red Team, did return first we unfortunately lost, using one mile of fuel more than our Blue Team counterparts. But regardless of my driving skills, Ford’s dedication to green and reduced fuel emission technology is clear, having also donated entire fleets of their Focus and other Green technology vehicles to the Taxi and Limousine Commissions, and to Zip Car, here in the New York City region.

Having proved their dedication to reducing our carbon footprints, and realizing the impact of reaching out to the Latino community, Ford is doing great things to improve our future, and also honor our past. Recently, I visited the Smithsonian in Washington DC, where along with AT&T, Ford has commissioned “American Sabor – Latinos in U.S. Popular Music.” This detailed interactive presentation with engaging photo and video displays, chronicles our music history with personal accounts from all the greats.

So much of our cultural identities are defined through the music we grew up with, names and faces that have been a constant presence in the daily lives of generations of Latinos. As Americans, the same can be said of Ford Motor Company, shaping much of the rest of the world’s concept of what a car is, and how it’s made. For over a hundred years, they have innovated and impacted the automobile industry, and American Culture as a whole. As the dawning of 21^st century continues to rise, one thing is certain Fordism is alive and well.