Offspeed Pitch: Richard Petty joins Ken Block, AJ Allmendinger in marketing Ford Fiesta?

Filed under: Motorsports, Budget, Sedan, Etc., Marketing/Advertising, Hatchback, Ford, Celebrities

Brace yourself, race fans. Things are about to get a little weird. Ford has decided to meld the seemingly unmeldable worlds of NASCAR and rally to help promote the 2011 Fiesta. Ken Block, Richard Petty and AJ Allmendinger have joined forces as an unholy trifecta of motorsports action, unified by their common love of the number 43. We don’t need to tell you that Petty famously campaigned old four-three in the heyday of NASCAR, netting 200 Sprint Cup wins and a total of seven championships in the process. Meanwhile, Block has established himself as one of America’s flashiest rally drivers, while Allmendinger has inherited Petty’s 43 throne in the current NASCAR series.

The three unlikely amigos will be campaigning for the Blue Oval’s new ’43 Fiestas’ sweepstakes, where entrants will have the opportunity to lay their hands on a bevy of prizes. A total of 43 first-place prize winners will walk away with a 40-inch LED-LCD HD flat-screen television, while another 43 grand-prize winners will receive airfare, lodging and tickets for two to the Ford 300 Nationwide series and the Ford 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. If that wasn’t swank enough, one of the 43 grand-prize winners will drive home in a 2011 Fiesta.

But wait, there’s more. Should Allmendinger happen to take the checkered at the end of the race, all 43 grand-prize winners will win their very own Fiesta. Head over to the 43 Fiestas site to enter for you chance to win. You can also hop the jump for the full press release.

Gallery: Review: 2011 Ford Fiesta SES

Photos copyright (C)2010 Drew Phillips / AOL

[Source: Ford via 43Fiestas.com]

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Offspeed Pitch: Richard Petty joins Ken Block, AJ Allmendinger in marketing Ford Fiesta? originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 16 Aug 2010 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Obama working to pitch success of auto bailouts to American public

Filed under: Etc., Government/Legal, Hirings/Firings/Layoffs, Chrysler, GM, Earnings/Financials

You don’t have to be a pollster to know that for the most part, the American public remains none too happy about the federal government handing over the people’s hard-earned tax dollars to pull General Motors and Chrysler out of the fires of insolvency. Despite the fact that both companies have managed to keep their lights on, doors open and paychecks flowing due to their generous federal loans, Joe Plumber still can’t stand the thought of paying the price of the two companies’ failures. With midterm elections right around the corner, President Obama is in Detroit to attempt to sway that opinion.

The Commander-in-Chief will speak to crowds at Chrysler’s Jefferson North plant about the positive side of loaning close to $85 billion to two of our country’s largest automakers, including the fact that in 2010, the Big Three have re-hired a total of 55,000 of the 334,000 workers it sent packing a year prior. That may seem like a fraction of the total, but the President is certain to point out that without the loans, that job loss figure would have been much higher.

And then there’s the matter of getting the federal government’s money back. President Obama is also focusing on sharing his belief that a large majority of the country’s money will be returned once GM and Chrysler go public once again.

Interested in keeping tabs on Obama’s visit to Motown? The Detroit Free Press has a liveblog that you can follow along with (including live audio) by clicking here.

[Sources: Bloomberg, Detroit Free Press | Image: Jim Watson/AFP/Getty]

Obama working to pitch success of auto bailouts to American public originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 30 Jul 2010 13:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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