Dearborn, Mich., Nov. 13, 2009 – Ford Motor Company announced today it will produce an all-new purpose-built Police Interceptor specially designed and engineered to replace the Ford Crown Victoria law enforcement vehicle lineup in 2011.

The new Ford Police Interceptor is being developed in conjunction with Ford’s Police Advisory Board, which provided input during the past 14 months on key vehicle attributes, such as safety, performance, durability, driver convenience and comfort.  The new Police Interceptor will be offered without interruption when production of the Ford Crown Victoria ends in late 2011. 

“We have heard the repeated requests from the law enforcement community to continue uninterrupted support of the law enforcement community,” said Mark Fields, Ford’s president of The Americas.  “Ford is answering the call with the new Police Interceptor – engineered and built in America.”

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DEARBORN, Mich., Nov. 11, 2009 – Ford Motor Company, working with academic researchers and one of its suppliers, is the first automaker to develop and use environmentally friendly wheat straw-reinforced plastic in a vehicle.

The first application of the natural fiber-based plastic that contains 20 percent wheat straw bio-filler is on the 2010 Ford Flex’s third-row interior storage bins. This application alone reduces petroleum usage by some 20,000 pounds per year, reduces CO2 emissions by 30,000 pounds per year, and represents a smart, sustainable usage for wheat straw, the waste byproduct of wheat.

“Ford continues to explore and open doors for greener materials that positively impact the environment and work well for customers,” said Patrick Berryman, a Ford engineering manager who develops interior trim. “We seized the opportunity to add wheat straw-reinforced plastic as our next sustainable material on the production line, and the storage bin for the Flex was the ideal first application.”

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