Original URL: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/05/19/ford_hybrid_email_hoax/
Ford crushes half-price hybrid hoax
Credit crunch car sale nonsense quashed
Posted in Spam, 19th May 2009 12:19 GMT
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Ford has stepped forward to debunk a hoax email suggesting the motor firm was selling new models of a hybrid car at half price in response to the global financial crisis.
The bogus emails, ostensibly from a Ford sales manager in Michigan, claim 500 Ford Fusion Hybrid cars are on offer at the bargain price of $15,500, instead of the real "on the road" price of a 2010 model hybrid car of $27,270.
The email is sent in the name of Gary Settles. Someone, perhaps coincidentally, called Gary Settles works as a sales manager in a Ford dealership; but this sales outlet is in Lexington, Kentucky rather than Detroit.
The real Settles has no idea how his name came to be used in the hoax, AutoblogGreen reports (http://www.autobloggreen.com/2009/05/15/15-000-fusion-hybrid-not-real-ford-issues-warning-on-email-hoa).
Ford's denial (http://www.ford.com/about-ford/news-announcements/press-releases/press-releases-detail/pr-a-2010-ford-fusion-hybrid-for-30379) of the dodgy email (extract from Sophos blog here (http://www.sophos.com/blogs/gc/g/2009/05/18/ford-debunks-15000-fusion-hybrid-email-hoax)) takes the opportunity to punt the benefits of its eco-friendlier motor. ®