An art car is a vehicle that has had its appearance modified as an act of personal artistic expression. Art cars are often driven and owned by their creators, who are sometimes referred to as “Cartists”.

Art Car

Art car artists or owners often dress in a matching motif when displaying their cars. Art cars and car artists come from all walks of life, uphold a wide range of personal philosophies and beliefs and come from all political groups.

Art car with beauty

An important aspect of art cars and car artists is the general belief that there are no standards. Ideally, there are no super stars nor is any car better than any other.

Art Car

Art cars are unique in that no art car is a “bad” or “wrong” art car. There is more of a sense of inclusion than in other car groups which focus on standards, specific historic periods or makes and models of car.

Art Car

Most car artists are ordinary people with no artistic training.

They are largely self taught and self funded, though some mainstream trained artists have also worked in the art car medium. Some consider their art to be created as a source of income or as “professional” artworks. Most others agree that creating and driving an art car daily is its own reward

Art cars can be driven as daily drivers. Others are hauled around the country on trailers and have never driven anywhere but within art car shows.

Others are found everywhere from the local grocery store, to formal museums to organized shows. Some are predominantly functional whereas others are considered primarily art works. Some car artists would never rent their car out while others build cars to make money.

The list of techniques highlighted here is far from complete. Art car artists are creative and experimental types.

They have used every crafting technique from sewing to stapling and every material from wallpaper to wax, with some attempts being more successful than others.

Camouflage is a property of avoiding close observation-blending with the backgrounds as some animals possess this great property to catch their prey or to run out of the scene to avoid danger. Here are some great camouflaged cars that are hard to observe sometimes.

MUMBAI (Bloomberg) — Tata Motors Ltd., owner of Jaguar and Land Rover, hired Credit Suisse Group AG and Citigroup Inc. to raise as much as $1 billion from selling securities, two people with knowledge of the matter said.

The carmaker may tap capital markets in the next month, the people said, declining to be named before a public announcement.

The Mumbai-based company is considering options including a private placement, shares with differential voting rights and foreign currency convertible bonds, they said.

Tata Motors, India’s best-performing benchmark stock in the past year, said in June it plans to raise as much as 47 billion rupees ($1 billion) to pare debt and expand operations.

Standard & Poor’s on Aug. 13 raised its rating on the automaker’s debt for the first time in two years as the global economic recovery boosted sales its luxury-vehicle unit.

The company hasn’t determined how it will raise the funds, spokesman Debasis Ray said by telephone, declining to comment further.

Adam Harper, a spokesman for Credit Suisse in Hong Kong, couldn’t immediately be reached for comment. Debasis Ghosh, a spokesman for Citigroup in Mumbai, declined to comment.

The automaker may sell shares, convertible bonds and other securities in India or overseas, Tata Motors said on Aug. 10.

The funds may be raised at one time or in separate tranches, the company has said. Investors also approved a proposal to raise borrowing limits for the automaker.

Source: Auto news

General Motors Corporation, the home for rebadged Chevrolet trucks is preparing to increase its lineup suddenly with a compact car aimed at young buyers. It’s expected that General Motors Corporation will bring the GMC Granite to market in 2013. The Granite has its front passenger seat pivoted up and toward the console. You can even transport a bicycle without removing its front tire, when the seat is up. GM gave away the turbocharged concept, the upgrade on the Chevrolet Cruze.

GMC’s future products for the 2011-13 years are:
Terrain: In 2012, this five-seat crossover may get a high-end Denali version model. A freshening will come in the 2013 model and a hybrid version will be launched in 2014.

GMC Terrain

Acadia: In 2012, this model gets a freshening with a 3.0-liter V6 engine instead of its current 3.6-liter version.

GMC Acadia

Yukon, Yukon XL: General Motors has decided to introduce a truck-based Yukon SUV, instead of putting the vehicle on its Lambda crossover platform. The truck based Yukon model will be launched in 2014, which might also share some sheet metal with Sierra to reduce costs.

Until that time, GM is planning to upgrade the Yukon’s two-mode hybrid to a four-mode version, to improve efficiency in a wider range of driving situations.

GMC Yukon

Canyon: General Motors will stop its working in Shreveport, La., by June 2012, thus stopping the production of Canyon. There will not be any plan to reintroduce this model at least for a couple of years.

GM will be selling the Canyon’s sibling, Chevrolet Colorado outside United States, and that vehicle would come here. But GM is planning for a smaller design.

GMC Canyon

Sierra 1500: A compressed natural gas version probably will appear in 2012, and the pickup will be re-engineered and restyled for the 2014 model year.

Sierra 2500, 3500: GM re-engineered its heavy-duty pickups for the 2011 model year. A restyle is expected in the 2014 or 2015 model year. These pickups also will get compressed natural gas versions in about two years.

GMC Sierra 2500

Savana: This van gets compressed natural gas capability in the 2011 model year.

GMC Savana

Will 2030 be a brighter life for us with “Zero emission, zero traffic accident, no dependence on petroleum, automatic drive”? Can even blind people also be able to drive cars? All these were shown in SAIC-GM Automotive Exhibit Hall in World Expo — the green cars shown and running in Expo park make us believe that maybe all of them will be true.

I. April 11, the Expo Park public-traffic program was published. In the Expo Park, two bus lines among of the three adopted pure electric buses, and another one used super capacitance bus, meanwhile, two tourist lines were equipped with hydrogen fuel tour bus. After the Expo Park was open, bus lines would be added to 6 from the current 3 ones, and the total running distance reached 19 kilometers.

On the same day, the concept vehicle, “Leaf”, researched and developed independently by SAIC, made its world debut in SAIC-GM Automotive Exhibit Hall in the Expo Park. Besides fresh design, “Leaf”, with a giant “green leaf” on its head, steps across “zero emission” and realizes “negative emission”, and shows people the brighter city traffic life in 20 years.
 
Four days later, Shanghai Word Expo science and technology — green cars delivering ceremony was held with the theme “Green commuting, let Expo cleaner”. The delivered 40 different-model clean energy vehicles represent the highest level of current China green cars, most of which were researched and made by SAIC.

May 1, the Expo opened. A pure electric concept car E1 was shown in low-carbon area in China Pavilion. The car is a pure electric car developed independently by SAIC aiming at the international advanced level, whose body design adopts One Box concept and expands its inner space by the greatest extent. Mass production of the car is planed to be achieved at the end of 2012.

Low-carbon Expo

II. The concept, “low-carbon Expo”, was proposed By Shanghai World Expo. Organizer promised that traffic “zero emission” would be implemented in Expo Park and “low emission” around the Park.

More than a thousand green cars run in and out of Expo Park. This is another concentrated display of our green cars technology and achievements after 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, and is also the demonstration of the largest-scale green car commercial operation in the world now.

It is reported that those more than thousand vehicles can be divided into three categories including approximate 300 pure electric vehicles (contain super capacitance bus), about 200 fuel cell vehicles and 500 hybrid electric vehicles.

For the three-category green cars demonstrate and run at the same time, the requirements of vehicle safety, reliability and cost in connection with them are high, as well as little time and heavy tasks. At the beginning of this year, reporter had an interview with Chen Hong, president of SAIC. He expressed that as far as technical difficulty, at present, for the automobile companies at home and abroad, there were many technical difficulties in the green car’s industrialization, especially key parts technology, and hard work is necessary to reach the function of traditional fuel vehicle.

Under the support of Shanghai Municipal Commission of Economy and Information, SAIC makes “battery + electric motor + electric control” and other key parts the breakthrough, speeds up the formation of independent industrial system and industry cluster with leading domestic and international competitiveness.

In order to make the operation in the Park achieve high effective and low consumption object as well as “zero emission”, in addition to the development of more than one thousand green cars, other programs are being implemented synchronously, such as buildings of hydrogen refueling station, charging station, green parking lot and other subsidiary facilities, conceiving of intelligent transportation network, formulation of operation plan and integration of related resources.

There is such an estimation made before Expo Opening that 10,000-ton traditional fuel will be saved, 118-ton hazardous substance and 28,400-ton carbon dioxide emission will be reduced through operation of more than one thousand green cars in the whole Expo period. These figures are really inspiring.

Ma Jing, the general engineer of Shanghai Municipal Commission of Economy and Information, is always paying close attention to the safety running of green cars. He said that from starting preparation in Expo Park in the last ten-day of April to now, the general running situation of green cars in Expo Park was very well without any safety issue, and survived the test of large passenger flow over 500,000 people in Expo.

According to Wan Gang, minister of the Ministry of Science and Technology, green cars in Expo, no matter the most advanced fuel cell vehicles in the world, independently researched and developed by Shanghai, or the pure electric vehicles generalized as national strategy, or the hybrid electric vehicle which has formed the largest scale industrialization in industry promotion, all would become the demonstration of large scale commercial operation of green cars and the new milestone of advanced automotive technology.

The success of large-scale demonstration operation of green cars in Expo will greatly promote the development of green cars of China.

Ferrari is one of the most popular car brands worldwide and its sports cars are undoubtedly one of the pinnacles of sports cars. With its huge engine, sleek body and speed, Ferrari has won millions of hearts among car lovers. Here you can find the the top 10 Ferrari makes and models throughout history.

Ferrari Testarossa: The Ferrari Testarossa is a 12-cylinder sports car which went into production in 1984 by Ferrari. The word Testarossa means “redhead” in Italian. The reason behind the production of Ferrari Testarossa was to fix the issues in the cabin that got heated from the indoor plumbing which ran between the front-mounted radiator and the midships-mounted engine and a lack of luggage space. Ferrari and Pininfarina designed Testarossa to fix these problems which were found in its predecessor, the Berlinetta Boxer. Hence Ferrari Testarossa was created with an extra storage space behind the seats and an inch taller than the Boxer.

Ferrari Testarossa

Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa: The Ferrari TR or 250 Testa Rossa was built by Ferrari during the 1950s and 60s. This was a race car model which dominated their arenas and won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1958, 1960, and 1961. This model was closely related to the rest of the Ferrari 250 models, especially the most popular 250 GTO model. The 250 Testa Rossa is the second most valuable model among all the ferrari’s which costs more than US$8,000,000. This car created a new world record on May17th, 2009 for being sold at $12,100,000.

Ferrari 250 Testarosa

Ferrari 250 GTO: The Ferrari 250 GTO is a sports car which was manufactured by Ferrari in the early 1960s. The term GTO stands for “Gran Turismo Omologato” in Italian while its numerical part denotes the displacement of the cylinders of its engine in cubic centimeters. The GTO was sold at $18,000 in the United States, and buyers had to be approved by Enzo Ferrari and his dealer. In 2004, this car was ranked eighth among all the top sports cars of the 1960s by Sports Car International. Motor Trend Classic placed ranked this car as the first on a list of the “Greatest Ferraris of all time”. This car also won the World Manufacturer’s Championship consecutively in 1962, 1963, and 1964.

Ferrari 250 GTO

Ferrari 500 SuperFast: Ferrari America is a series of Ferrari models which were manufactured during the 1950s and 1960s. These were large touring cars with large V12 engines and custom bodywork. The end of these top-line America series cars was the 1964 500 Superfast. These cars were called as ‘Superamericas’ during its production but later it was decided to use “Superfast” instead. It had a 5.0 L Ferrari Colombo V12 engine, with 400 which allows the car to a speed of 275 km/h (171 mph).

Ferrari 500 Superfast

Ferrari 458 Italia: The Ferrari 458 Italia which is produced by the Italian sports car manufacturer Ferrari was a mid-engined sports car. This model replaced the Ferrari F430. This car was unveiled officially on 15 September 2009 at the Frankfurt Motor Show at a cost around £170,000. Though this car was considered as the successor to the F430 model, it had an entirely new design and technology developed from Ferrari’s experience in Formula 1. This car has been designed to be Ferrari’s sportiest V8-engined car.

Ferrari 458 Italia

Ferrari Enzo: Ferrari Enzo has been the craze among car lovers. The Enzo Ferrari uses Formula 1 technology which has a twelve-cylinder engine and named after Enzo Ferrari, the company’s founder. It has a Carbon fiber body, carbon-ceramic brake disks and active aerodynamics. This beautiful car has won the hearts of Ferrari lovers. It costs about $1,000,000.

Ferrari Enzo

Ferrari 599 GTO: The official details of the 599 GTO were announced by Ferrari on 8 April 2010. This car is similar to the 599XX model. Ferrari declared that the 599 GTO is their fastest road car ever, which was able to complete the Fiorano test circuit in just 1 minute and 24 seconds, which is one second faster than the Ferrari Enzo. This car can reach 100 km/h (62 mph) in just 3.35 seconds with a top speed of over 335 km/h (208 mph). The GTO designation was only given to two other Ferrari models; the 1962 250 GTO and the 1984 288 GTO.

Ferrari 599 GTO

Ferrari FXX: The Ferrari FXX is a race car built by Ferrari in Maranello, Italy. The FXX is constructed based on the Enzo model. The Production of this FXX model began in 2005. This car was constructed with a few technologies from the Enzo model and some new developments from Ferrari and its suppliers. Ferrari built 30 FXX models though it was originally planned to be 29. Among the 30 cars, 29 cars was sold to pre-selected past Ferrari customers and the 30th car was retained by Ferrari S.p.A. This car was given as a present to Ferrari’s F1 World Champion driver, Michael Schumacher when he retired from Formula One at the end of 2006. Schumacher’s FXX model differs from others; it is the only black FXX without a stripe and has a red trim on the wheels with his personal logo stitched on the racing seats.

Ferrari Enzo FXX

Ferrari 125: The Ferrari 125 S which is commonly referred as 125 or 125 Sport was the first vehicle manufactured by Ferrari of Modena, Italy. Though this model was preceded by Auto Avio Costruzioni 815 of 1940, this was the first vehicle to bear the brand Ferrari when it debuted on May 11, 1947. This was a racing sports car like the 815 model with a V12 engine, a trait which is shared by most Ferrari cars. This 125 S mode was replaced by the 159 S model.

Ferrari 125

Ferrari GT4: The Ferrari 308 GT4 was a mid-engined V8 powered car built by Ferrari. The 308 GT4 was introduced in 1973 and the 208 GT4 was introduced in 1975. These cars were later replaced by the Mondial 8 after a production run of 2,826 vehicles in 1980. Until 1976, these cars were sold with “Dino” badging and later they were replaced with “Ferrari” badging. The 308 GT4 was a groundbreaking model for Ferrari in several aspects: It was the first production to feature the mid-engined V8 layout and the Bertone bodywork instead of Pininfarina.

Ferrari GT4

Cars are fun and when its a car movie you will be delighted even more to watch it. From American Graffiti to the fast and the furious, all the top best car movies I have listed here. Since the time American Graffiti been made, its still on the top list.

1. American Graffiti (1973)
Stars: Ron Howard, Richard Dreyfuss, Harrison Ford
Star cars: 1932 Ford coupe, 1955 Chevy, 1958 Chevy Impala, 1951 Mercury coupe, 1956 Ford Thunderbird
The story: A memorable last night of cruising for a group of high school friends.
Why it works: Milner’s coupe. Falfa’s ‘55. The Pharaoh’s ‘51 Merc. A cop car leaving its rear end on the street. That ghostly white T-Bird with Suzanne Somers. Plus we like the lesson: When faced with life’s big questions, hit the road.
Quote: “I’ll love and protect this car until death do us part.”

 2. The Blues Brothers (1980)

Stars: John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd
Star car: The Bluesmobile — 1974 Dodge Monaco

The story: The Brothers raise money to save their   childhood  orphanage and put their old rhythm-and-blues band back together. Why? They’re on a mission from God.
 Why it works: Is there any other movie with as much  vehicular carnage? Maybe over-the-top stunts go on too long, but you’ve been talking about them driving through that mall for years, haven’t you? And the music isn’t bad either.
  Quote: “It’s got a cop motor, a 440-cubic-inch plant; it’s got cop tires, cop suspension, cop shocks. It’s a model made before catalytic converters so it’ll run good on regular gas. What do you say — is it the new Bluesmobile or what?”

3. Cars (2006)

Stars: Owen Wilson, Paul Newman, Richard Petty
Star car: Porsche Carrera, Hudson Hornet, Willys MB, Ford Model T, Volkswagen microbus
The story: Racecar hotshot finds himself off the beaten track and learning life lessons from a bunch of small-towners. Did we mention they’re all cars?
Why it works: Tire crumbs flying and roof flaps opening prove this was animated by gearheads. Sharp-eared viewers will dig the insider cameos.
Quote: “Turn right to go left! Guess what? I tried it, and you know what, this crazy thing happened. I went right!”

 4. The Fast and the Furious (2001) 

Stars: Paul Walker, Vin Diesel
Star cars: Mitsubishi Eclipse, Toyota Supra, Honda Civic, Mazda RX-7, Dodge Charger R/T, Volkswagen Jetta
The story: Cop goes undercover in L.A.’s import street-race scene to bust a ring of electronics thieves.
Why it works: It pushed the burgeoning import car culture into the mainstream. The cars were a little cartoonish but earned street cred for having been built by actual import tuners. It’s best during bumpin’ nighttime street races, even though we’ve never seen as much neon at a real import show. As unbelievable as the race and chase sequences are, they’re still pretty cool.
Quote: “I live my life a quarter-mile at a time.”

 5. Gone in 60 Seconds (1974)

Stars: H.B. (Toby) Halicki
Star cars: Many, including a certain Ford Mustang Fastback named Eleanor.
The story: Car thief has to boost 48 cars in a week. Mayhem ensues.
Why it works: The first half is probably studied in film school as how not to write, cast and act in a movie. But the cars on the thieves’ hit list are super-fine, and the final 40 minutes have to be seen to be believed. Yes, Halicki hurt himself hitting that light pole. How could he not?
Quote: “I bet five more cars have been stolen in just the time I’ve been here.”

 6.  Grand Prix (1966)
Stars: James Garner, Eva Marie Saint
Star cars: 1960s Formula 1 racecars
The story: The Euro-cool world of open-wheel racing.
Why it works: A throwback to when men actually drove Formula 1 cars (without computer controls) and stunts were with actual vehicles (without computer controls). The race footage, especially the in-car stuff, is still awesome. Racing purists may think Steve McQueen’s Le Mans is more deserving, but this film’s storyline is more engaging, soap opera or not.
Quote: “There is no terrible way to win. There is only winning.”

 7. The Gumball Rally (1976)

Stars: Michael Sarrazin, Gary Busey, Raul Julia
Star cars: Shelby 427 Cobra, Ferrari 365 GTS/4 Daytona, Porsche 911 Targa, Camaro Z/28, Dodge Polara

The story: Fictionalized account of Brock Yates’ highly illegal cross-country Cannonball Baker Sea-to-Shining-Sea Memorial Trophy Dash.
Why it works: For starters, it features two of the flat-out sexiest cars ever built — the 427 Cobra and Ferrari Daytona — duking it out at high speeds in Manhattan, the L.A. River, and everywhere in between. It’s far more car-centered than the ridiculous Cannonball Run.
Quote: “And now my friend, the first rule of Italian driving: What’s behind me is not important.”

8. Mad Max (1979)
Star: Mel Gibson
Star car: Australian Ford Falcon
The story: Super Cop Max takes on a motorcycle gang in the near future — a tale of revenge driven by post-apocalyptic cars and crotch rockets.
Why it works: Drama, suspense, violence, dark humor, and that wicked, supercharged Falcon screaming across Australia’s empty vastness. It’s simple, low budget and gritty.
Quote: “Look, any longer out on that road and I’m one of them, a terminal psychotic — except that I’ve got this bronze badge that says that I’m one of the good guys.”

9. Thunder Road (1958)

Stars: Robert Mitchum, Gene Barry
Star cars: 1950 Ford coupe, 1957 Ford Fairlane
The story: Noir-ish cops versus moonshiners melodrama.
Why it works: Cheesy dialogue, karate chops, wooden acting make it good-bad, but there’s some jaw-dropping stunt driving. And lots of cars blowing up. One of the best speed traps ever: gasoline on spike strips so the car will careen out of control, flip over and crash — into a nearby power station. And blow up.
Quote: “That hard-headed hillbilly has caused us enough trouble already. Now tonight we’re going to take him out. And I mean really out.”

10. Vanishing Point (1971)

Stars: Barry Newman, Cleavon Little
Star car: 1970 Dodge Challenger R/T
The story: Antihero, with help from a blind DJ, tries to deliver a car in record time.
Why it works: It’s an antiestablishment fable dripping with the Vietnam era’s distrust of authority. A man versus The Man battle waged over a tasty big-block-powered car. Government distrust is still a pretty hot topic. So is the Challenger.
Quote: “And there goes the Challenger, being chased by the blue, blue meanies on wheels.”

You might have seen millions of cars roaming around your city day and night. Have you ever tried to know the top manufacturer among all these cars? Here comes the list of the top 10 automakers in the world.

Fiat: The final car manufacturer on this list is Fiat S.p.A, an industrial group based in the Piedmont region. In 2008, Fiat has manufactured 2,524,325 units.Though Fiat has it’s origin in Italy, Fiat-based cars are constructed all around the world. Fiat group has won ‘The European Car of the Year award’ for 12 twelve times, which is more than any other manufacturer. Fiat 500 has also won the ‘European Car of the Year’ award.

Suzuki: Suzuki Motor Corporation is the 9th largest automobile manufacturer in the world. In 2008, more than 2.6 million units were released. Michio Suzuki started this company as Suzuki Loom Works in 1909. During the first 30 years, the company focussed on the production of complex machines and later they started manufacturing cars based on demand. By 1954, Suzuki produced 6,000 motorcycles per month and changed its name to Suzuki Motor Co., Ltd.

Hyundai: At number 8 on the list comes the South Korean manufacturer Hyundai Kia which produced 2,777,137 cars in 2008. It’s Indian subsidiary, Hyundai Motors India is the second largest car manufacturer in India. Hyundai Motors was founded in 1967. In 1998, Hyundai Motors purchased 51% of Kia motors and hence becam the Hyundai Kia Automotive Group.

Peugeot Citroen: Peugeot Citroen, is the seventh largest automobile manufacturer in the world and the second largest in Europe. Peugeot Citroen produces both Peugeot and Citroen models. In 2008, the total volume manufactured is 3,325,407 units. In 1974 Peugeot S.A. acquired 38.2% share of Citroën and in 1976 they increased their share to 89.95%, thus the PSA Group was formed.

Nissan: Nissan Motors stands sixth among top 10 automobile manufacturers. Nissan Motors was founded in 1932. It is one among the top three car companies in Asia. In 1999, this company faced severe financial difficulties and entered an alliance with Renault S.A. of France. Nissans VQ engines, of V6 configuration, have featured among World’s 10 Best Engines for 14 straight years.

Honda: The Honda Motor Company occupies fifth place with a total volume of 3,912,700 units released in 2008. The Civic and the Accord were found among the top five sales lists. In 2001, Honda superseded Nissan and became the second largest car maker in Japan. Honda is the world’s largest manufacturer of motorcycles and each year Honda produces about 14 million internal combustion engines. This company was founded in 1948 by Soichiro Honda.

Ford: Ford Motor Company was started on June 16, 1903 by Henry Ford. It is the world’s fourth largest car maker with a release of 2,145,000 units. Ford also has popular vans and other vehicles. For the first time in 56 years, Ford fell from its second place to third place in 2007. As of 2008, Ford was the second largest automaker in Europe. Ford holds seventh rank among all the American-based company in the 2008 Fortune 500 list.

Volkswagen: Volkswagen group holds the third place with a total release of 6,517,288 cars in 2008. Volkswagen Group China (VGC) is the largest automaker in China. This car company was founded on 1937 by Adolf Hitler. Volkswagen Group constitutes various car brands like Audi AG, Automobili Lamborghini Holding S.p.A., Bentley Motors Ltd., SEAT, Skoda Auto and and Scania AB. Recently, Porsche and Bugatti has joined with the Volkswagen Group.

General Motors: General Motors is ranked as the largest automaker in U.S and the second largest in the world for 2008. Cadillac and Chevrolet are the most famous brands for GM’s worldwide. This company was established in 1908 by William C. Durant. GM was the world’s number one car company from 1931 to 2007. Because of economic conditions, this company went bankrupt on June 1, 2009.

Toyota: Japanese car maker Toyota Motor Corporation is largest car manufacturer in the world. This company was founded by in 1937 by Kiichiro Toyoda. In 2008, this company has manufactured 9,237,780 units. The widest produced model for Toyota Motors is the ‘Corolla’ which is one of the most popular and best selling cars in the world. Toyota also owns Lexus and Scion brands and has a majority share in Daihatsu and Hino Motors, and minority shareholdings in Fuji Heavy Industries, Isuzu Motors, Yamaha Motors, and Mitsubishi Aircraft Corporation.

Ford Motor Co. hopes to wrap talks by year end with the dealers for the Mercury brand it is shutting to focus on its mass-market Ford and luxury Lincoln brands, CEO Alan Mulally said today.

Mulally declined to discuss the expected cost for phasing out the Mercury brand, part of a restructuring that includes an expanded investment in the Lincoln brand lineup. Mercury production is expected to halt in the fourth quarter.

“We don’t have a time frame per se, but we are hoping to help everybody through the rest of this year, that is the general time frame,” Mulally said after an appearance at the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce annual meeting.

Company data showed that the broadly improved Ford brand vehicle lineup would meet the needs of Mercury customers, Mulally said of the decision announced last week to phase out the Mercury brand which was created by Edsel Ford in the 1930s.

Mercury has no stand-alone dealerships in the United States and some 1,436 of its 1,712 dealerships are paired in some way with the Ford blue oval brand that has been expanding. That leaves 276 Mercury-Lincoln dealerships that could become solely Lincoln dealers when the phase-out is completed.

“We have the vehicles that people really do want to cover the needs of the customers who were looking at Mercury before,” he said. “The entire Ford product line has moved up.”

Ford has reintroduced a small car to the United States this year in the Fiesta and will add a redesigned Focus compact car and a redesigned Explorer SUV to its brand lineup among other additions and investments. That leaves the Ford brand with a full lineup globally and within the United States, he said.

When it announced the Mercury closing, Ford affirmed its outlook for “solidly profitable” in 2010 and for its 2011 earnings to improve on 2010. It has not detailed the cost to wind-down Mercury or a specific earnings target.

“We have everything associated with what we are doing included in our guidance,” Mulally said.

Ford, which last year posted its first full-year profit since 2005, reported a first-quarter profit of $2.1 billion and raised its full-2010 outlook to solidly profitable. The automaker’s losses totaled $30 billion from 2006 through 2008.

Ford has been working for several years to reduce its dealership network, primarily in some metropolitan areas where consolidations would leave the surviving dealers with higher annual volumes.

“We are pretty much on track with our consolidation,” Mulally said. “We have a few too many dealers in some of the larger metropolitan areas, but we are continuing to work with all of our dealers including the Mercury dealers in a collaborative way.”

Arguably the best-connected member of the Brazilian formula one media, Galvao Bueno, has revealed that Felipe Massa only needs to put his signature on a new Ferrari contract for 2011.

In the wake of strong speculation that the 29-year-old Paulista might lose his seat to a rival driver, it was reported in Turkey that Massa is now closing on a new deal.

Galvao is the influential lead commentator and head of sports for Brazil’s Globo TV.

Ferrari had a bad weekend at Istanbul Park, but Galvao said: “Want the good news about Felipe Massa? Everything is set (for a new deal).

“(The contract is) missing two or three commas, but the signing should happen quickly now.”