Re: the best way for Ford to rebound.... ?

going back to the Contour: it was a cute little car that appealed to a lot of buyers, but was so trouble prone that it soon developed a reputation that killed it. I had one of the first Taurus.....it wasn't even the top-of-the-line, but had a luxurious interior and was a great car --- but they had to start cheapening it and in a couple years even the best version had a depressing interior.......the restyle was change for change sake and where the original was groundbreaking, the restyle was just plain weird. Likewise, the Thunderbird was billed as "retro", but ugly as sin: like a T-Bird designed by Citroen.

Now, we have the Focus which just sez "this is all I can afford". The Fusion (a Mazda design) is wildly popular, but too small for many. The Mustang COULD have been more successful, but they didn't prepare sufficient production capacity and gouging dealers killed initial sales, leaving a bad taste in everyone's mouth. The Five Hundred/Taurus is a great car (I have one) but for some reason doesn't catch-on (marketing?). The Crown Vic/Marquis/Town Car is based on 1979 architecture.....obsolete and not space efficient.

Considering Ford's inability to design or build something the majority of people want, I guess all we can hope is they will take the Jaguar/Rover cash and buy a company that designs cars people want.......everything follows the product.

Personally, I'd like to see them build a modern, rear drive sedan (one would think they've gotten their money's worth out of the Crown Vic tooling after 29 years). And wouldn't it be nice to have an interior in something besides black or gray?

Pretty said when their flagship line, Lincoln, is comprised of a bunch of gussied-up trucks, a glorified Mazda and a stretched 1979 Ford.......they hoped to make Jaguar their premium line: think what great cars could have been designed with all that money that went down the drain!

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Itsfrom Click
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my thoughts...

Focus coupe - redesign it to get rid of the butt-ugly butt that is, ugly. Have never, ever, liked the ass-end of a Focus coupe. The front is nice, the overall size is OK, could use some trimming on the height of the body panels, but still cannot get over the ass of that thing. But Ford needs to take some design cues from Honda to sculpt the bodylines far better than they have on the Focus, it's rather plain and the fender-blobs are overdone, always have been.

Focus sedan - kill it. It's a laugh. This "new" design is a little chrome badge on the side and not much else. Keep the coupe and redesign the sedan and give it a new name to separate them. The coupe is sporty, the sedan is a joke. Test drove it when it first came out, have avoided it like the plague since then, doubt it has improved because it's still an upright, uptight, boxy-looking little blob.

Fusion - gutless wonder, even the six is a waste, needs to be redesigned with a tighter body, less overhang, less ugly front lights, I test drove one 1.5 years ago and it was roomy but too roomy, like it was trying too hard to be luxurious, but that's best left for Lincolns, or the 500.

Freestyle - what a horrible mistake this was. The initial designs looked like a cross between an Audi and a Subaru - didn't the designer come from Audi? The design is great but it is oversized for what it is

- it's supposed to be a wagon, yet it's a squashed Escape - same wheelbase, probably the same platform if I remember correctly. Trim it down to the size of a Forrester or Outback and you'd have a kickass little Ford wagon that would be amazing. The Freestyle as it is now is too large.

Escape - careful not to overdo it Ford, and price it out of range of the entry level SUV buyer - me. I have had three of them, loved each one, but am leery of the newer design being too high-end. Will find out in mid-2009 when my current lease is up. I'd buy a Freestyle if they redesigned it like I have requested - above.

Mustang - stop selling low-end versions. Seriously, the car is too bulky looking to have anything but 16-17" rims and half-decent rubber on it. Doesn't mean they all have to be GTs - keep them affordable which is the reason the Mustang has been so successful for so long.

Explorer - finally starting to look nice with the Expedition front end and no longer has the upside down headlight/indicator configuration - never liked that and one of the main reasons I chose an Escape over the Explorer, besides cost. But it is still a little too large, too tall, too top-heavy. Needs a trim to cut down on overall weight and lower the centre of gravity, making it a safer all-round vehicle.

EDGE - needs trimming down, it's too bulky. I do like the newer grille making its way onto the other vehicles like the Freestyle. But can the EDGE compete with the higher end Nissan and Lexus? Probably not, so why not trim this puppy down and make it a bit more realistic? That's not to say Ford can't compete in the luxury SUV market, but they're going to have to design something a lot better-looking if they plan to do so.

Expedition - very nice, have always liked it, just can't justify wasting that much money on a truck. Love it when I see these things bling'd out like Escalades - 22"+ chrome rims, YEAH!

Still, IMHO, Ford has a nicer stable of vehicles than GM. I saw the new Malibu up close yesterday. It looks good in the ad where the guy moulds it from a truck, but that's because they don't show the entire car. It's too low, fat, long, and the ass it just incredibly ugly. Didn't help that the one I saw had plain rims and boring rubber - nothing like the rims and rubber the one on TV had.

I can honestly say that every time I see yet another butt-ugly GM thing pass by, that Ford is still on the right track, just needs little nudge here and there!

AC

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Andrew Croft

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