Ford

Ford and Mahindra have agreed to form a joint venture valued at US$275 million ($406 million), which will be based in India and focussed on making vehicles for "high-growth emerging markets around the world". Mahindra will be the dominant partner in the relationship, owning 51 per cent of the joint venture and running day-to-day operations. Ford will own the remainder of the company, and will transfer its Chennai and Sanand factories and employees to the new company.

The new Ford Transit Custom Plug-in Hybrid van and Torneo Custom Plug-in Hybrid eight-seat people mover have been detailed for the European market this week. Both are technically a range-extended electric vehicles, despite the 'Plug-in Hybrid' naming, as the 93kW electric motor is the only thing driving the front wheels.

We talk at length about the importance of driver training to reduce the counterintuitively growing road toll — about reaching young drivers before bad habits become ingrained. Enter Ford Australia, which is expanding its five-year-old subsided driver-training program called Driving Skills for Life.

The Ford Bronco could be available with removable doors, as well as minimalist tubular doors. Patent filings uncovered by AutoGuide show Ford is working on ways of incorporating side airbags into tubular doors (above) with the inflation mechanism mounted well away from the doors themselves. Ford has also submitted a number of designs to improve side impact protection when the car's doors are removed completely.

The Ford Puma ST crossover has been spied undergoing testing in Germany. Although the prototype has camouflage all over its body, the ST looks like it will have a unique front bumper treatment. It also features dual exhaust tips at the back, and a restyled diffuser-style element. The plastic protectors for the wheel arches also look a little broader and chunkier than the ones fitted to standard Puma models.