LONDON, Jan. 12, 2016 – Ford today announced a new multi-year partnership agreement with Team Sky as the elite cycling team’s exclusive supplier of cars and vans.
Team Sky, which has won the legendary Tour de France three times in the past four years with Chris Froome and Sir Bradley Wiggins, will be using Ford’s latest vehicles to support its racing programme from the start of 2016. This will include the three annual Grand Tour events comprising the Tour de France, Giro d’Italia and Vuelta a España.
“Our new partnership with Team Sky is a fantastic opportunity to embrace this vibrant sport, and to connect with a new audience of passionate cycling fans,” said Anthony Ireson, director, Marketing Communication, Ford of Europe. “This partnership enables us to showcase Ford’s latest products right at the heart of the action to both the avid cycling fans that line the route of these incredible road races and those that tune in from around the world.”
The partnership agreement affords Team Sky access to a range of Ford vehicles to provide specific support for all key areas of the Team Sky racing and non-racing programme.
Liveried in the distinctive blue and black Team Sky colours, the most visible cars in the peloton will be the Ford Mondeo wagons used by the team’s sports directors and team mechanics. These will be joined by a range of other Ford vehicles with the in-car technologies for any race and any environment.
All Kuga sports utility vehicles and S-MAX sports activity vehicles, as well as two of the Mondeo Wagons will be equipped with Ford’s Intelligent All-Wheel Drive technology ready for tough Belgian cobbles or Alpine descents. This technology measures how the car’s wheels are gripping the road surface and can adjust torque delivery between the front and rear wheels in under 20 milliseconds.
“Ford is the perfect partner for Team Sky, sharing our core values of combining technology and innovation to meet the specific and often varied demands needed in any high performance environment,” said Sir David Brailsford, team principal at Team Sky. “As we embark on our racing programme, Ford’s range of vehicles will play a vital role for Team Sky delivering the right car for the right environment as we strive towards even greater success and more race wins in 2016 and beyond.”
The Ford-Team Sky partnership kicks off in late-January in its first race of the European season at the Majorca Challenge races, starting on Thursday Jan. 28
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NOTES FOR EDITORS
See table below for details of Ford vehicles to be used by Team Sky.
2016 Team Sky – Ford vehicle fleet
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Team Sky role |
Specifications |
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About Ford Motor Company
Ford Motor Company, a global automotive industry leader based in Dearborn, Mich., manufactures or distributes automobiles across six continents. With about 197,000 employees and 67 plants worldwide, the company’s automotive brands include Ford and Lincoln. The company provides financial services through Ford Motor Credit Company. For more information regarding Ford and its products worldwide, please visit www.corporate.ford.com.
Ford of Europe is responsible for producing, selling and servicing Ford brand vehicles in 50 individual markets and employs approximately 53,000 employees at its wholly owned facilities and approximately 68,000 people when joint ventures and unconsolidated businesses are included. In addition to Ford Motor Credit Company, Ford Europe operations include Ford Customer Service Division and 24 manufacturing facilities (16 wholly owned or consolidated joint venture facilities and 8 unconsolidated joint venture facilities). The first Ford cars were shipped to Europe in 1903 – the same year Ford Motor Company was founded. European production started in 1911.
