Our contacts at Ford tell us there's big trouble brewing for The Blue Oval Boys. Two independent sources report that FoMoCo is ceasing production of the fresh-out-of-the-box Flex in their Oakville, Ontario plant. Apparently, the factory has built some 13k xB-shaped CUVs since production began on June 3- and sold [a lot] less than a [...] Read More:
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no big surprise: what looks "cute" as a little car doesn't work on something that big.......and I understand that typical curb weight is
4600+ pounds: not exactly what everyone is looking for these days. the target moved. since they like to build "new" cars with badge engineering, maybe they can rename it Edsel.
what next? FoMoCo's good sellers are based on Mazda designs. isn't the Flex another spinoff from the Five-Hundred/Taurus, which is based on a Volvo design. with Volvo up for sale, who will design new Ford products?
I guess there will be more details of latest Ford plans on Thursday.
They answered that question today - Ford of Europe. And Volvo is not up for sale - yet. Also, my contacts at Ford of Europe have said that the Mazda 6 was based on the previous generation Mondeo. I tend to believe this because the vehicles are quite similar, and at the time it was designed, Mazda had little spare money. Ford North America adapted the Mazda version for the US because it had already been upgraded for US safety and emission standards.
They answered that question today - Ford of Europe. And Volvo is not up for sale - yet. Also, my contacts at Ford of Europe have said that the Mazda 6 was based on the previous generation Mondeo. I tend to believe this because the vehicles are quite similar, and at the time it was designed, Mazda had little spare money. Ford North America adapted the Mazda version for the US because it had already been upgraded for US safety and emission standards.
I live in the middle-of-nowhere and just saw a Flex in person for the first time, last night on the interstate. Not offensive, but too bland......not "quirkie" enough to be cute.
I have a friend who is an exec with FoMoCo who's always saying: "the best cars we make were designed by Volvo". hope they don't sell it off.
Derek, remember the Capri? a Mazda, built in Australia and shipped to the US. another bright idea, lol.
previous discussion reminded me a laugh from long, long ago.
At college, we had a great guy on our floor in the dorm from Sweden......as nice a guy as you could ask for.
The Volvo 144 was popular (and respected as a "safe" car). A lot of professors had the older models (the ones that looked like '48 Fords). So one day I asked the kid from Sweden if his family drove a Volvo or Saab back home........
"Oh no. I don't like to brag, but my family is pretty well off financially, so we have an American luxury car. My parents have a Valiant!"
Unfortunately, he's a tiny bit wrong. The highest quality auto made by Ford is Lincoln MKZ. It is performing at better than Toyota levels (better than its Lexus competitor last I looked). The data from JD Powers and Consumer Reports supports that. The other platform twins, Fusion and Milan, are about as good.
The Volvo-based Taurus/Sable/Five Hundred/Freestyle/Flex is performing at Toyota levels. I note in reviewing the quality data that the actual Volvo's are worse in quality than the Ford/Mercury product. A friend of mine who just switched from a Toyota Camry to 2008 Taurus told me it's the first car he's ever owned that did not have to go back to the dealer for any adjustment right away. He's absolutely delighted with it.
It actually would have been a good idea if the quality problems hadn't delayed the release by a year. It would have gathered up all those sales that Mazda Miata took. Unfortunately, Ford of Australia was never really ever able to clear up all the problems and Miata took all the sales for that niche.
I don't think it's a misconception. I've corresponded with German FoE engineers who claimed they turned the Mondeo blueprints over to Mazda. Mazda adapted that design for the 6, and Ford in the US took Mazda's upgrade, dumped it into the design programs, and reworked it some more. Given that Mazda was in dire straights at the time, I believe their story.
The new full size Taurus/Sable are fantastic cars for the price, that should be compared to the Avalon in size not the smaller mid size Camry, although the Camry cost several thousand dollars more. One can drive home a Taurus/Sable for almost $10,000 less than an Avalon
What about the early '60s Consul Capri?? Nice little car, and then there was the other Capri, the '70 to '77, Great cars for the money, I own 4 of them...
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