CHICAGO (Xinhua) — Workers in General Motors Co. on Wednesday approved the automaker’s four-year contract with the United Auto Workers (UAW) union, and the contract came into effect immediately.

The Detroit News on Wednesday reported that 65 percent of GM’s production workers and 63 percent of skilled trade workers voted in favor of the deal, ratifying a tentative agreement struck two weeks ago.

According to the new agreement, the workers’ entry level pay was raised by three dollars per hour and a 75,000-dollar buyout were offered for skilled trade workers. Workers also will get a 1, 000-dollar “inflation protection” lump sum for the next four years.

Besides, GM will save or create 6,400 new jobs as part of the agreement and bring back work to the U.S. previously destined for Mexico.

The former contract between UAW and GM expired on Sept. 14 and the two sides reached a tentative agreement on Sept. 16. UAW is now still bargaining with Ford and Chrysler on a new contract.

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NEW YORK (AP) — Ford Motor Co. says its Transit Connect small van has begun work as a New York City taxi.

The company says the first of the vans began hauling passengers late Tuesday. New York taxi companies have ordered more than 400 of the vans.

The city’s Taxi and Limousine Commission approved the van for taxi use for the next two years as it phases out the familiar Ford Crown Victoria sedan and switches to more efficient vehicles.

The Nissan NV200 van will be the New York’s official taxi starting in the fall of 2013. Most of the city’s 13,200 taxis are Crown Victorias. But Ford is scheduled to stop making the car on Sept. 15.

Two big car companies have agreed to work in hand to possibly come up with a new hybrid system made for light trucks and sports utility vehicles (SUVs). Aside from that, other intents include coming up with next-generation standards for in-car telematics which means car lovers are in for new technologies to vehicles thanks to this joint effort.

Everything was made official after Ford and Toyota signed a Memorandum of Understanding with formalities expected within the year. The joint development is aimed at delivering greater fuel efficiency while still providing customers the performance they need. The companies believe that by working together, they can bring these hybrid technologies to customers more quickly and affordably than they would separately.

Aside from that, both Ford and Toyota have agreed that they will establish new standards and technologies which will surely work to the benefit of consumers looking forward to more convenient in-car experiences while delivering new mobile ecosystems.

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Ford has added a new feature to its marquee GPS system with the 911 Assist mode which automatically dials 911 in case of an accident. The 911 Assist mode automatically dispatches a distress call and provides emergency dispatchers an approximate on the location of the said emergency.

Among the Ford vehicles that come with the safety up level include the 2011 Ford and Lincoln models. The new 911 Assist mode comes with approved accuracy, thanks mainly to the dedicated on-board GPS module. Ford vehicle owners simply need a Bluetooth equipped cellular phone to put the whole thing to work. The whole Sync system is subscription free.

It’s almost the end of the decade for the 2000′s and it’s time to look back and review what trucks were the most significant. PickupTrucks.com and AutoPacific has just announced a list of the Most Significant Trucks of the Decade. As expected the list were made up of trucks that were technologically cutting edged advanced and who pushed the envelope in terms of quality and design.

So here they are:

• 2000 Nissan Frontier Crew Cab
• 2001 Chevrolet Silverado / GMC Sierra Heavy Duty with 6.6-Liter Duramax Diesel
• 2002 Chevrolet Avalanche
• 2004 Nissan Titan
• 2005 Toyota Tacoma
• 2006 Honda Ridgeline
• 2007 Toyota Tundra
• 2009 Dodge Ram 1500
• 2010 Ford F-150 SVT Raptor

And the Most Significant of the Decade:

• 2009 Ford F-150

Why It’s Significant: Remains the gold standard against which other half-ton pickup trucks are compared.

Ford gave its F-150 half-ton pickup a major revision for 2009 and gave buyers an astonishing seven different models to choose from before they even considered engine choice or cab type. Two more models have been added for 2010! It’s not the most powerful truck but the F-150 features an excellent six-speed transmission and innovative features like Ford Work Solutions that make doing jobs with a truck easier. From contractor to urban cowboy, Ford has an F-150 to meet almost anyone’s needs.

“On balance, we thought the 2009 Ford F-150 was the most significant pickup of the last decade,” said Jim Hossack, vice president of consulting for AutoPacific. “It sells in high volume, owners like it and its body, chassis and powertrain are all first rate. Features abound, and there are more models, series and options than can be counted. It’s a good looking truck and suitable for the widest possible range of tasks and uses.”

Congratulations to the Ford F-150 team for creating a Pick-up Truck that ruled a decade.

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If you’re looking for a strong yet safe vehicle then look no further than the 2010 Ford Taurus. This car was just earned the illustrious five star rating for both driver and passenger side crash tests. It also just won the “Top Safety Pick” from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS).

So what makes this car safer than the others?

The new Taurus features crash-avoidance technologies, such as a segment-first, radar-based forward collision warning system that helps drivers avoid accidents. The system, enabled by Adaptive Cruise Control, uses a radar sensor to detect moving vehicles ahead and provides a visual “heads-up” warning signal and an audible warning when slower-moving traffic is detected ahead.

Instead of the car reacting to accidents, it actually helps you avoid them in the first place. Now that’s what I call safety!

But what about when the accident does occur?

The new 2010 Taurus earned the five-star and “Top Safety Pick” ratings based in part on advanced features such as the Personal Safety System(TM) – a suite of protection technologies, including dual-stage front air bags and front-passenger weight classification, which work together to help protect occupants in moderate to severe crashes. The Ford-exclusive Safety Canopy® features side curtain air bags that help protect front and rear outboard passengers in both rollover and side-impact crashes.

It used to be that only the front driver and passenger had bags, now the Ford Taurus has them also at the sides and back passenger side.

The 2010 Ford Taurus should be on the list of anyone who wants to buy a car.

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If you remember, we last reported that the Ford Flex was so good it could still be considered as a great car in the year 2030, well, it seems to have won another award for the present day: it and the Ford Fusion Hybrid are named 2010 All-Stars by Automobile Magazine.

Reasons for why the Flex won:

Jason Mase, Ford crossover marketing manager, says it is the design and features available with the Ford Flex that make the vehicle stand out.
“We’re delighted that AUTOMOBILE Magazine has named Flex an All-Star two years running,” he said. “The AUTOMOBILE editors recognize Flex stands apart from the rest of the crossover crowd with unmatched style, tremendous passenger comfort and space, and leading technology features like the available EcoBoost engine, Active Park Assist, Ford SYNC® and a refrigerated second-row console.”

It seems that the Flex is good on its own even if it wasn’t considered as a Green vehicle, granted, its EcoBoost engine is enough.

As for the Ford Fusion Hybrid:

Jennings says what makes the 2010 Ford Fusion Hybrid special is that it doesn’t drive like a hybrid.
“Its very ordinariness is what makes the Fusion Hybrid an AUTOMOBILE Magazine All-Star,” said Jennings. “The Fusion Hybrid is not a performance machine, but neither does it feel hobbled or inadequate for daily driving. Perhaps the best thing about it is that, apart from the LCD color screens, you might never know you’re driving a hybrid.”

Eventhough it’s not as strong as the other cars, being green was enough to win the award. Hopefully, more high performing green cars will be rolling out the production line soon.

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After a couple of best cars awards list, I think it would be fair to look at the other extreme: the worst ones. Although it may not seem nice at first, it’s a way for the auto industry to look back and learn for their past mistakes to ensure that they don’t name a particular vehicle the wrong way. A good way to start would be Cars.com’s Worst Named Cars of All Time List.

After 30 years of looking back at the automobile industry, Cars.com presents the Worst Car Names of All Time!

10. The Entire Lincoln Lineup
Lincoln is a brand with a considerable history, and we know they know how to give cars strong iconic names such as Continental or Navigator. Somewhere around 2007, many of those easy-to-remember names went out the window, leaving consumers with a hodgepodge of names starting with “MK.” That’s a shame because Lincoln has a strong lineup right now. What’s the difference between the MKZ, MKX and MKS? Gimme a second to look it up because I honestly can’t remember which is which.

9. Hyundai Equus
The inclusion of the Equus might be premature considering it’s not even on sale yet, but this could be the push Hyundai needs to give the car a proper name before it’s released. Companies occasionally give Latin names to products to make them sound sophisticated or fancy, but Equus just makes us think of the Broadway play of the same name — most recently starring Daniel Radcliffe of Harry Potter fame — where a young man loves horses a little too much.

8. Toyota Yaris

There was a girl in my dorm freshman year who organized her shoes alphabetically by mood. She majored in dead languages and responded to every single question with “no worries.” She once set the dorm microwave on fire by overcooking a ham-and-cheese Hot Pocket. Yes, that story is ridiculous and nonsensical … sort of like naming a car Yaris.

7. Kia Forte Koup
As writers, we’re particularly offended when companies take liberties with the English language in an effort to be cutesy — and this is no exception. We actually like this car! But Kia is asking us to overlook years of schooling and experience to accept their quirky spelling of coupe. It might require a few sessions with a therapist before we can get to that happy place.
6. Subaru B9 Tribeca
Here we’ve got a family crossover named after a fashionable neighborhood in lower Manhattan and … a World War II bomber? Consumers didn’t understand the B9 moniker either; that part of the name got the ax when Subaru redesigned the SUV for the 2008 model year.

5. Volkswagen Touareg
A few Volkswagens could’ve made this list, but the Touareg was easily the name that tripped up our American mouths the most. Early Touareg commercials in the U.S. even depicted people struggling to say the name. When an automaker has to spend precious time and ad dollars helping consumers learn to pronounce the car’s name — something is wrong.

4. Ford Probe
There are many borderline inappropriate jokes you could make about a 1990s sport compact named Probe, but we’re far too classy for that. Even if you don’t take into account the tasteless jokes, this is just a bad car name. There is nothing cool about a probe (the word, not the car). What thesaurus was Ford using where probe was synonymous with sleek and sporty?

3. Subaru Brat
Although Brat is technically an acronym — it stands for Bi-drive Recreational All-terrain Transporter — it’s a particularly unfortunate one. “Brat” is almost never used to describe something positively. A brat is not a calm, confident driver who knows what he wants and how to get it. A brat is busy throwing a hissy fit in the corner because his mom won’t let him borrow the car to go buy the new Styx album.

2. Isuzu VehiCROSS
Isuzu deserves a little credit for creating an attention-grabbing crossover before it was even a recognized vehicle segment, but the name practically beats consumers over the head with the idea (think SUV plus a cross-training sneaker). Add to that the unnecessary capitalization and the fact that VehiCROSS is a mouthful, and you have one bad name.

1. Ford Aspire
It’s pretty safe to say that many drivers’ dream cars fall under the category of sports car or luxury auto; few children hope to one day spend their commuting hours behind the wheel of a 63-horsepower subcompact hatchback. When Ford slapped the Aspire name on the back of this car, they were basically saying: “Yeah, even our car knows you wish you were driving something cooler.”

Well, there they are, hopefully this list won’t grow longer…

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If you remember we were looking towards 2030 to see which cars would suit those times, well there’s a curious kind of futuristic award from the Friends of the National Automotive History Collection (NAHC): Collectible Vehicle of the Future! Well, more specifically 2034.

“The NAHC is the world’s largest public archive of automotive lore and a treasure for automotive historians, journalists and collectors. Its collection of books, manuals, photos, company histories and historic documents is open to the public.”

This year, they pinned the award as the Collectible Vehicle of the Future 2009 on the Ford Flex. The reason?

“We are delighted that the Ford Flex has been recognized by the NAHC as having a design that will become a collectible of the future,” said Kate Pearce, Flex marketing manager at Ford.

“We knew from the start that we had a vehicle with stand-out design that looks like nothing else on the road, but that also meets the needs of our customers looking for passenger space with innovative technology and great fuel economy,” she said. “Reaction from our customers has been fantastic and we hope they will enjoy their cars long into the future.”

Previous winners were:

• 2008 Dodge Challenger
• 2007 Dodge Viper SRT10
• 2006 Pontiac Solstice
• 2005 Ford Mustang
• 2004 Chrysler 300
• 2003 Dodge Viper
• 2002 Ford Thunderbird
• 1996 Chrysler Sebring Convertible
• 1995 Buick Riviera and Oldsmobile Aurora

It’s great that the judging body has taken into its criteria the vehicle’s fuel economy features. It looks like the future’s going to be more green come the year 2034.

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Enough with the car awards of the year, it’s time to look under the hood and check out which engines made it as the 10 Best for 2010. According to Ward’s 10 Best Engines, the winners are as follows:

This year’s winners and the applications tested:
2.0L TFSI Turbocharged DOHC I-4 (Audi A4)
3.0L TFSI Supercharged DOHC V-6 (Audi S4)
3.0L DOHC I-6 Turbodiesel (BMW 335d)
2.5L DOHC I-4 Hybrid (Ford Fusion Hybrid)
3.5L EcoBoost Turbocharged DOHC V-6 (Ford Taurus SHO)
2.4L Ecotec DOHC I-4 (Chevrolet Equinox)
4.6L Tau DOHC V-8 (Hyundai Genesis)
2.5L Turbocharged DOHC H-4 (Subaru Legacy 2.5GT)
1.8L DOHC I-4 Hybrid (Toyota Prius)
2.0L SOHC I-4 Turbodiesel (Volkswagen Jetta SportWagen TDI)

“This year’s list embodies how the industry is responding to demands for higher fuel economy and lower emissions without shortchanging performance,” Ward’s AutoWorld Editor-in-Chief Drew Winter said. “Auto makers are using innovative designs and advanced technology to boost horsepower and torque while downsizing engines and increasing efficiency.”

It’s a good thing that one of the criterias involved was the lower gas emissions. It just shows that engine makers do care about saving the environment. Now if they can only make engines this good that runs on ethanol. In the meantime, since the US economy’s going down the slippery slope, it’s great that they’ve also included the criteria regarding fuel economy. The last thing we need are engines that guzzle gas like there’s no tomorrow.

Here’s to hoping that next year’s best engine’s list will have engines that help save more on gas and produce lower (or better no) carbon emissions.

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