NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — Ford has begun to take orders for its first plug-in passenger car, the Focus Electric, in New York, New Jersey and California.

The car’s price will start at about $39,995, about the same as General Motors’ (GM, Fortune 500) Chevrolet Volt. But unlike the Volt, the Focus Electric is a purely electric car. While the Volt can only go about 35 miles on a fully charged battery, according to EPA estimates, it has a gasoline engine to provide power for driving longer distances.

Because purely electric cars’ driving range can vary depending on weather conditions and driving style, drivers may worry about getting stuck without a charge, something that has been called “range anxiety.”

Everything old is new again — especially when it comes to the classic 1964-1/2, ’65 and ’66 Mustangs.

Like many makers, Ford has a catalogue full of parts for those original pony cars, everything from brakes to seats. But now, it seems, you can even order all-new, factory-approved Mustang bodies rather than having to scrounge up rusted and dinged-up originals.

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“The 1964-66 Mustang is the most restored vintage vehicle,” said Dennis Mondrach, Ford Restoration Parts licensing manager. “But the number of original 1964-66 vintage bodies is shrinking every year. Most of the original Mustangs left in scrapyards are rusted or wrecked beyond repair.”

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — The last Ford Crown Victoria rolled off a Canadian assembly line Thursday, marking the end of the big, heavy Ford cars that have been popular with taxi fleets and police departments for decades.

Since 1979, almost 10 million Crown Victoria, Mercury Grand Marquis and Lincoln Town Cars — so-called Panther Platform vehicles — have been sold.

Demand for better fuel economy and performance have choked off sales over the years. The Crown Victoria and Town Car get just 24 miles per gallon on the highway, a figure matched by some large three-row SUVs today.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — Ford will soon produce a competitor to General Motors’ Chevrolet Volt.

The new van-like compact car, due out next year, will be available in the U.S. in two hybrid versions. One of those, the C-Max Energi, will be a plug-in hybrid with capabilities similar to those of GM’s (GM, Fortune 500) Volt but with a much longer total driving range. The other version, the C-Max Hybrid, will be a standard hybrid, similar to the Toyota (TOYOF) Prius or Ford’s (F, Fortune 500) Escape Hybrid.

SAN FRANCISCO — Ford Motor Co will increase production for deliveries to its U.S. dealers by 13 percent in the first quarter of 2011 and may add third shifts to some of its plants, Ford sales executives said on Sunday.

Ford, which increased U.S. sales by 19.5 percent in 2010 to 1.93 million, said many of its plants are working overtime and can further ramp up production with more shifts to respond to higher sales.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — Perhaps more iconic U.S. companies should consider government-sponsored bankruptcies.

Shares of General Motors (GM) are up about 15% since the new GM went public in mid-November. By way of comparison, the S&P 500 and top rival Ford Motor (F, Fortune 500) are both up about 8%.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — Ford Motor company said it will create up to 1,200 jobs in the distressed state of Michigan as it ramps up its engineering and manufacturing operations to produce more fuel-efficient cars.

Lured by state tax incentives, the automotive company announced Monday it plans to invest $850 million in new fuel-saving technologies between 2011 and 2013.

DEARBORN, Mich. — Ford Motor Co. posted a strong second-quarter profit Friday but trimmed its U.S. sales forecast and predicted weaker results in the second half as the economy slowly recovers.

The automaker surprised Wall Street, making $2.6 billion in the quarter as it continued to grab sales from rivals. Ford’s U.S. sales rose 28 percent in the first six months of this year. That’s almost double the pace of industrywide sales.

“Overall, our performance this year gives us great confidence going forward,” Ford President and Chief Executive Officer Alan Mulally said in a conference call with analysts and media.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — Ford Motor reported its first full-year profit since 2005 and said it expects to be profitable again in 2010.

The automaker, which has outpaced the turnaround at both its domestic and some overseas rivals, said Thursday that it earned $2.7 billion in 2009. The company was helped by special items that added $2.6 billion to its bottom line during the year.

(Fortune Magazine) — Carroll Shelby’s life has always been tinged with an “against all odds” flavor. In the 1950s the young racecar driver shot to the top of his field, until a potentially deadly heart condition ended his career.

In the ’60s he channeled his competitive edge into a business that took European sheet metal (the AC Ace) and married it to powerful Ford V-8s — and the Shelby Cobra was born.

In 1964 he helped Lee Iacocca launch one of the most important American cars of all time: the Ford Mustang GT350. In ’66 and ’67, he oversaw Ford’s two Le Mans wins.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — Ford Motor Company unveiled a new small car at a press conference in Delhi, India on Wednesday. The subcompact, which is called the Figo, will be produced in India for the Indian market, as well as for export to other Asian countries and Africa.

The Figo’s launch “signals Ford’s intention to compete in India’s largest and most important small-car market segment,” the Dearborn, Mich.-based automaker said in an announcement.

A little over 1 million passenger cars are sold in India each year, according to Ford spokesman Mark Schirmer. The automaker expects India to become the third largest market for small cars, behind the U.S. and China, by 2030.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — Have you invested in Ford lately? A lot of investors have.

The stock of the only U.S. automaker not to file for bankruptcy this year has shot up like a rocket in the past few months, rising 376% from its February low.

Still, there are significant doubts about how much higher the shares could go. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters have a 12-month target price of $8, only 6% above Thursday’s closing price.

“There’s definitely risks to the Ford story. They’re not out of the woods yet,” said Efraim Levy, auto equity analyst for Standard & Poor’s. “Relative to General Motors and Chrysler, they’re benefiting from newer products and preference by some consumers to avoid companies that needed to be bailed out. But how much longer does the good news of market share gains continue?”