Our own Matt Burns will be driving from Dearborn, Michigan to San Francisco in a new Ford Fusion Hybrid, a Ford we can all truly be excited about. He’ll be running contests and reporting live from the road so if there’s anyplace you think he should visit, speak now or forever hold your peace. Matt’s trip was even written up in the local Flint news where he describes his job to incredulous reporters. To wit:
He’s now associate editor of CrunchGear.com and also freelances to other tech sites, writing about 12 posts a day. Most are 300 to 400 words but a few are longer, on everything from Blu-ray formatting to the latest satellite navigation systems.
“I got the job with a few sentences in an e-mail. That’s how this world works. It’s very informal,” said Burns. “I didn’t even talk to anyone on the phone for three or four months. It’s a pretty weird work atmosphere where you rarely see or talk to people.”
The first time he met fellow staffers was at a big consumer electronics show in Las Vegas.
“But we talk all day long in a chat room. I feel as close to these coworkers as anybody I’ve ever worked with, if not more,” he said.
Look for more reports tomorrow as Matt begins his 10-day trek across these United States. Here’s a bit about Matt’s car, the newest hybrid vehicle in Ford’s line-up:
A selection of specially refitted 2010 Ford Fusion Hybrids are set to embark on a national journey across the United States. Matt Burns, from the gadgets, gear and computer hardware blog CrunchGear is the first participant in the Ford American Hybrid Tour. Beginning his ten-day road trip at Ford Motor Company Global Headquarters in Dearborn, MI, Matt will travel across the country in a brand new, fully-equipped 41 mpg 2010 Fusion Hybrid, while blogging about his adventures en route.
Advice? Stops? Calls for meet-ups? Dump ‘em here.
Editor’s Note: Matt’s expenses at the end of this trip will be paid by the Ford Motor Company. We are not required to write anything good – or anything, really – about the Fusion during the course of the trip although we did choose to partake in the trip because of the technology in the car itself.
yeah great
Wow, what did he write in those few sentences that got him the job?
He probably wrote the location of his writings, online, so they could see his style and competence.
Ford is making excellent strides promoting their vehicles using social media (thanks to Scott Monty).
I’m excited about Matt’s journey from Dearborn to San Francisco in a 2010 Ford Fusion Hybrid.
Scott, any plans to spin this ‘Maiden Voyage’ into a viral road campaign?
Do you envision choosing a blogger/social media fan from specific parts of the country, or even better one representative from each 50 states, to test drive the Fusion?
After watching the success of the Ford Fiesta videos on YouTube I think it would be fun to push the envelope even further with a “Fusion 50″ vlog or YouTube promo.
I’ll take the wheel from Burlington, VT (greenest state in the Union)!
What do my fellow online/auto/blog crowd think?
Actually, this is part of a smaller program in which we’re delivering Fusion Hybrids from Michigan to our media fleet locations around the country. We’ve got a small number lined up.
Separate from that, we’re having an ongoing Fusion Hybrid drive experience for media (and bloggers) in various cities across the country. I think they hit VT before I got involved. :(
We’re going to be tweaking the program and throwing out more ideas – looking to make it as interactive/participatory as possible. Thanks for your suggestions.
Scott Monty
Global Digital Communications
Ford Motor Company
That’s awesome, Matt. Make sure you stop by TechCrunch HQ when you get out here.
Very cool. I’m feeling bullish about Ford as well. Let us know what you think of the car. I’m thinking about making a purchase in May. Also, swing by Boulder, CO and visit the tech scene there. Have a great trip.
you should stop by Lawrence, KS home of KU and the Jayhawks!
Stop by the Dallas, Texas area if you can.
I like the bit in the story about how he never gets out of the basement.
First stop should be Ann Arbor, right off of I-94 about an hour west of Dearborn. University of Michigan Engineering and B-school students would love to see the car and get a chance to meet one of the tech/crunchgear writers!
Maybe we can arrange something separately, Michael. DM me on Twitter @ScottMonty
Definitely stop at Minuteman Missile National Historic Site in South Dakota, that would be a great contrast of technologies and eras.
Ford’s marketing is too in your face. It makes the brand too desperate and cheap.
41 mpg? thats 11 liters per kilometer… thats still massive compared to other hybrids, or am I missing something here?
Yeah, I thought 41mpg was easily achievable by a standard motor… what’s the benefit of the hybrid here?
Looks like the car industry still just isn’t interested in moving with the times… big cars & big music will eventually end up a couple of big nothings if they don’t wake up.
You can’t compare a US fuel cycle to a European fuel cycle – it’s a different calculation. The equivalent of US 41 mpg in Europe is about 60-63 mpg.
And at 41 mpg, the Ford Fusion Hybrid is now the most fuel efficient mid-size sedan in America. It’s more than 6 mpg better than the Toyota Camry hybrid. Ford also has the most fuel efficient SUV on the planet in the Ford Escape Hybrid which gets 34 mpg.
Plus, Ford has an entire electrification plan well under way that will bring a variety of electric vehicles to the market by 2012. You can read more about it at http://ford.digitalsnippets.com/electrification
Scott Monty
Global Digital Communications
Ford Motor Company
I’m torn with Ford right now — having owned numerous previous Explorers that all performed exceptionally well until the 9-10 year mark, I’ve “moved on” to Toyota where I’ve been nothing but happy. The things just keep running. BUT, I would switch back in a heartbeat if I thought the reliability was on par with Toy/Hon.
By the way, the best press Ford is getting right now, IMO, is the fact they haven’t taken a dime of my tax money with the other guys. Kudos to Ford for that one. That might be reason enough to come back next time I’m in the market.
Scott-
I’m not sure about Ford vehicles, but I love that you are getting involved with the crowd on TC.
I don’t see how anyone could argue this car, the press, etc is ANYTHING but a step in the right direction.
Right on man.
Boris
indeed arjen, 41mpg is still pretty bad …
Plus, I crunched the numbers, and you lose money overall. by the time you are through with the car, the extra price paid for the hybrid features is not hcovered. That’s weak considering it doesen’t really save the environment. You’ll just be paying for an image and some self deception to comfort your conscience.
What a great adventure! Please stop by Amsterdam. Haha can u give us some insight about how u got this opportunity? I’d love to convince a car company in Europe to do the same thing. Congrats Matt!
awesome car! very cool!
In my research last year it seemed that nobody was doing better than 42mpg with a true long-distance, high-speed hybrid. Fully electric maybe, but not hybrid. I ended up buying a Prius and all I heard was “You pay so much for the car that you don’t end up saving on the price of gas!!!”
That may be true, but when I sit at a stop light or slow down in normal traffic I always smile, knowing that at least for that short moment I’m polluting the air just a little bit less than the guy next to me. Some people will never learn that it isn’t all about the money…
Hybrid is not the ultimate answer any way you cut it, but it is definitely a step in the right direction and worth supporting if it will help fund the next step.
That’s just two cents from one long-time TechCrunch reader who doesn’t usually see fit to post.
Bill,
I’ve got one of those premium gas drinking rotary engine Mazda RX-8 sports cars. When I sit at the light next to a hybrid, I might be polluting the air just a little bit more than the hybrid but in the long run, the Hybrid has actually done more damage to the environment through the production process and extra materials used to make the car. Plus I always have this huge smile when the light turns green, and I’m a dozen car lengths ahead of the hybrid. :)
I know that this is just a PR stunt, but a real cross-country test of a Hybrid would be to see how quickly it could make it to California. My RX-8 typically gets about 25 mpg, but with the rotary burned in and cruising on high quality Shell / BP gasoline, I was making about 29 – 32 mpg consistently down I-40. The rotary was burning very little extra fuel between 55 mph and 75 mph, yet you were going 20 mph faster.
It took me just 2 days to get to California from South-East Ohio driving solo, would be interesting to see how well a Hybrid would do on that kind of trip, especially where its flat and the regenerative breaking systems aren’t a factor in recharging the battery.
Sorry if you smile a little less at lights now! :)
You have to stop by San Diego, If Ford pulls this off, they’ll have a huge following here. We have a lot of Military folks that only buy American (Well at one time that was the case). I think they’d be thrilled to see that American Car Companies are actually trying to build vehicles that are worth buying.
Well said Bill!
Is it a coincidence that Ford is the only one of the big three car companies that has not taken any money from the Government loan assistance program? I think not.
Everyone wants more than 41 mpg, but it should be obvious by now that getting a reasonably priced car to deliver 100 – 200 mpg is major challenge that will not happen overnight. If it was so easy why isn’t the Prius already there since it has been out for 8-9 years?
Granted all the US car companies could/should have started this effort much earlier, but Ford has clearly made a commitment and this car is just the first indication of the success they will hopefully continue to have. IMO they should get some kudos at this stage.
Not good enough? Absolutely, I bet even Ford would agree, but the company and their cars are on the right track and will hopefully continue to make progress to the ultimate goal of eliminating the use of gasoline powered cars.
Who would have thought an old school US auto manufacturer would reach out to communities like TC, Twitter etc even a year ago? I think they are finally starting to “get it” hopefully the other car companies will follow.
Though I do like environment-friendly technologies, I don’t particularly like blunt plugs of any products.
Driving a hybrid car is better than driving a normal car. But using public transport, particularly in rural areas, is even better.
Europeans: 41 mpg is about 6 liters/100 km, not 11 liters. I doubt though that this Ford actually achieves this.
Hey you’re already driving on I-90 come to Rapid City South Dakota and visit Mt Rushmore and Crazy Horse, if you let me know a head of time, I’ll be you guide.
If you never been here before, you might as well check it all out and have a little fun in South Dakota.
There’s nothing more American than Ford, unless it might be Mount Rushmore.
Just South of Rapid City, SD it would make for a great photo opp! Nice place for a great ice cream cone too.
Hit up the Elkhart/Mishawaka/South Bend area! (Northern Indian)
Hey Matt – Ever seen 15 petabytes up close and personal? We would be delighted to host you at Mozy HQ and give you a tour of one of our state-of-the-art datacenters.
I’m assuming you’re driving Highway 80 to San Francisco and we’re roughly halfway through the 1,000 mile stretch between Denver and Reno.
While you’re at it, throw your skis or snowboard in the back of the Fusion ’cause there’s still plenty of good snow to be had up in the Utah mountains!
Dave Robinson
VP Marketing
Mozy
Ford = Garbage.
When they learn how to build cars like the big boys then i can get excited about an interesting technology from Ford.
I see no compelling reason to buy an American car. I see every reason to buy German or Japanese.
Obviously you should stop by Springfield, Missouri and get invited to dinner at my place!
Daniel Larsson
Marketing Manager – Spdieroak.com
I love the fact that everyone is celebrating this American breakthrough in hybrid technology – based on a refinement of the Ford Escape.
Do you think we patriotic Americans could convince Ford to bring the Fusion manufacturing back from Mexico to MI or somewhere in the USA?
I’d love to buy a Fusion, but not while it is built in Mexico. I’m pretty sure the new Chevy hybrid is made in my country — and the money I spend on it will employ American workers. And their paychecks will help get us out of this serious recession.
lucky!
If you’re using a BlackBerry and you want to update everyone online with pictures, video, audio, and your GPS location you should check out the new BlackBerry app vPost. It’ll save you serious time while adding context to messaging from the road.
Have fun on your incredible jouney!
-Kyle Kemper, Vayyoo
que??
>You can’t compare a US fuel cycle to a European fuel cycle – it’s a different calculation. The equivalent of US 41 mpg in Europe is about 60-63 mpg.
How do you figure this?
Well, gee whiz guys, I loved my little red PT back in 2001, despite the fact that it was made in Mexico. But I’ll not be buying a Fusion after learning that it, too, is made in Hermosillo and not the Detroit area. I’m very interested in seeing and trying out the new Honda Insight.
Why manufacture in Mexico? When I think of Mexico, quality DOES NOT come to mind. If Michigan doesn’t work, how about Kentucky? Seems to work for Toyota.
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