Ford picks Austin as new testing grounds for self-driving cars
Austin, Texas joins the list of cities taking part in autonomous car testing. Ford and its autonomous vehicle subsidiary Argo AI will first develop detailed maps of the area to ensure safety for the self-driving vehicles.
The oldest utility vehicle in Ford's lineup is being discontinued after a decade.
(Ford)
The Flex has been one of the automaker’s lowest selling family car offerings since it was introduced as a 2009 model. Despite many positive reviews, including being named a finalist for the 2009 North American Car of the Year award, the utility vehicle’s offbeat boxy design never really caught on with consumers, and its head designer left the company just a few months after it debuted. It was the first Ford brand model to offer one of the company's now-ubiquitous EcoBoost turbocharged engines.
The Flex received a slight redesign for the 2013 model year. (Ford)
Sales of the Flex peaked at 38,000 in its first full year on the market, but it was soon overshadowed by the arrival of an all-new Ford Explorer in 2011 that featured a more conventional SUV look. Ford sold 250,000 Explorers in 2018 alone, while less than 300,000 Flexes have been sold during its entire run.
Ford hasn’t announced the exact date this year that the last Flex will come off of the line at its Oakville Assembly Complex in Canada, but a spokeswoman told Automotive News that it would be the week of Nov. 25 and that the facility built the last Lincoln MKT that shared its platform earlier this month. Approximately 450 workers will be laid off at the facility.
The Explorer has been fully redesigned again for 2020.
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This story has been updated with additional details about the end of Flex production