Ford is prepared to take design risks, J Mays says
By AUTOMOTIVE NEWS
NEW YORK -- Ford Motor Co.'s design staff is ready to become more daring, says J Mays, Ford group vice president of design. He spoke with Automotive News Staff Reporter Amy Wilson at the New York auto show this month.
Consumers and dealers have criticized some recent redesigns - the Explorer, Expedition and Freestar - because they haven't been different enough on the outside.
And we've agreed with them. On subsequent models we bring to market, we've turned up the volume significantly not only on differentiation but on creating more futuristic designs as well.
A lot of what we've done over the last five years is what I call our homework in order to learn how to simply design and build and execute quality into an automobile. We know how to do that now. So now we're at the stage in the experience level of our designers that we're able to go back in and say, "OK, let's become more risk-taking in the designs." And I'm glad we've done it that way.
The F-150 and Mustang redesigns were departures from previous models. From this point on, should we expect that kind of differentiation on redesigns?
Yes, you should expect on both freshenings and new cars that there is going to be a far greater level of differentiation than we've had in the past. We're working on a freshening already for the Five Hundred and Freestyle that I think will surprise you.
Are those the new front ends that update the grille to the three-bar style, which you are adopting for the Ford line?
Yes.
How soon will we see those?
It's a little early to talk about that.
So we'll see different looks for the F-series Super Duty and Explorer Sport Trac redesigns?
Yes, you'll see those very soon. I can't tell you exactly when. But you'll see a very different look to them.
Why does the coming Lincoln Zephyr have a waterfall grille instead of the egg-crate grille you've talked about for Lincoln?
We'll have two grilles for the foreseeable future on Lincoln. We imagine that we will probably migrate toward the egg-crate grille in time. That again will give us a chance somewhere down the road to do a very nice freshening.
Is there a place for a minivan in the Lincoln lineup?
I can imagine a significantly more upscale minivan. Whether that has a Lincoln badge on it or not is a bigger question. There's definitely a more upscale, seven-passenger people mover lurking.
Would you call that a minivan?
I'm of the opinion that a minivan shouldn't look as though it smells like diapers. Minivans can be sexy, and minivans can be aspirational. And I haven't seen one that does that yet.
NoOp Comment: Let's just hope all this doesn't mean a bunch of [Pontiac] Aztek, Transport, and [AMC] Pacer designs are in our Ford's future...
Patrick '93 Cobra '83 LTD