jsaylor

Rumors say Mulally has greenlit the conversion of at least three Ford assembly facilities from trucks to current generation European models and that his desired timeline for completion of the changeover is 'yesterday'. The vehicles mentioned include the recently revised C1 Focus, the Focus C Max crossover, the Kuga (likely to be called Escape here), and the Ford Transit Connect. Other models reported to be confirmed for production are the F100 mid size pickup and the standard Transit van.

Previous plans saw the Transit Connect, C2 Focus, and recently released Kuga coming online in roughly 24 months. This newer plan would broaden the variety of models which are to be brought over and shortens the timeline until their debut significantly. Also, according to the source the current North American Focus will continue to be sold alongside the new C1 Focus as a B segment place holder until the Fiesta arrives.

http://www.autosavant.net

Moosetang

Let the product Blitz begin.

watchdevil

If all that is true then Ford is really on the ball and is reacting fast! A lot of the time spent on new models is product design and development. With most of the work already done it's just a matter of tweeking the cars for the NA market and getting the tooling and parts sourcing in place which is really about the same time it takes to tool up a car for production after the design and development work has been completed.

All this is an appropriate reaction to the shrinking big thirsty truck market. People will keep their jobs and Ford will have products that meet current market demands. Everyone will be a winner this way.

Hollywood_North GT

'Bout time.

Amazing what imminent death can do to light a fire under one's ***. And I think this definitely answers the question about Mercury's sustainability (or more precisely, lack thereof).

Dunno about the C-Max, though. We already have the Edge and a new, more efficient Explorer on the way (unless the latter gets cancelled).

watchdevil

Funny when I first read the topic title for this thread I was thinking it meant they are doing away with the red lighting found in the Euro models and making it slime green for NA consumption... LOL!

jsaylor

C Max is a lot smaller than either of those, smaller in fact than the Mazda 5 and even a little smaller than the current generation Escape. That said I still worry about this cars chances for success if only because hard to define MPV's like this tend to get lost in our market. IMO the C Max's saving grace may be the fact that it uses four convential doors which gives Ford the opportunity to pitch it as a crossover. The new Kuga based Escape will be nearly identical in size, but they are rather different in character and the Escape will be noticeably more expensive.

jsaylor

Also worth noting is that, despite the large influx of European sheet-metal, the Mondeo looks unlikely to make the trip across the Atlantic until the Mondeo and Fusion merge in 2012. The Problem? She costs too much to make fellas. And I'm guessing stuffing engines under the hood Americans would be likely to approve worsens that problem.

Hollywood_North GT

I see no problem waiting for the Mondeo and Fusion to "fuse" in 2012. The Fusion is getting an update right now, and that ought to carry it forward for the following three years until these two cross-pond siblings become one.

rhumb

Hallelujah! Having just come back from two weeks in Italy, Ford's European wares are hawt and getting hotter. It is just ridiculous that Detroit has not taken advantage of the goldmine of excellent small to midsize cars over there. Sure, they've rationalized why not for eons, but in the end, I think it was primarily corporate intransigence and "not invented here" syndrome.

Hopefully, Detroit won't try to "Americanize" the Euro cars and just end up messing up what makes them so great in the first place, typically softening the suspension for big, soft American butts and ruining the handling and chassis dynamics that are the primary highpoint of so many European cars.

Vermillion06

There are probably two factors that made this possible. The falling value of the dollar has made it more attractive to manufacture in the US than Europe. Exporting Focus based products from the US plants to the rest of the world could be feasible.

There has also been a lot of development work on the C2 done in Dearborn to make the existing C1 chassis components inexpensive enough to build in the US. The other part of the C2 program was that it was also getting new exterior sheetmetal, probably designed in Europe. What is probably happening is that Ford is putting the C2 chassis changes together with the recently face-lifted C1 sheetmetal to move the global Focus project to production faster.

watchdevil

What is old in Europe will still be new to most US consumers for a while. It's not a bad thing to go ahead and pull what they have now and implement changes later to coincide with the redesigned models in Europe. When it comes to Ford's smaller cars I think it is best they are truly a One Ford globally. Meanwhile, North America can continue to develop specific Living Legend models that appeal to the traditionalists and export them if the choose for those who admire them abroad.

It's just good now that Ford has committed to an aggressive plan to become competitive. Unfortunately it took the doom and gloom of falling SUV sales for anyone to act on this. History usually repeats itself. I am sure many of us remember the downsizing trend starting in 1977 where virtually ever car model was downsized one size down or new and existing nameplates were moved to restyled models of existing mid-size platforms.

Evil_Capri

It will be interesting to see if the process engineering practrices that have been implemented under Mulally will continue to improve in the 'new' plants. As much as interesting and eye catching designs are needed by FMC they must strive to continue improving their quality standards.

Zastava_101

My buddy here is Serbia took me for a long drive in his 2003(?) Focus 2.0 (131 hp) yesterday. This Focus has only 22,000 km (under 10,000 miles) on the odometer and after drive I can tell you this: that Focus is a lot better car than my brand new Fusion.

Vermillion06

Better in what ways?

Zastava_101

Pretty much everything. Interior is much better quality, car feels a lot more faster and powerful than 130 hp, there is barely any engine noise (I wish I could say the same thing about Fusion) ...

AnotherMustangMan

While I was also impressed with the Fusion, I gotta agree with you. I've got the same Focus as your buddy (2.0 Zetec, 5-speed) and it is an amazing little car. I just wish it got the gas mileage a 2600 pound, stickshift, 4 valve per cyl/DOHC, econo car should. Getting 24 miles out of a gallon with conservative city driving just isn't cutting it.

Vermillion06

It probably feels faster because it's a lighter, smaller car with a 2.0L while the Fusion is a bigger car with almost the same size engine (2.3L)

Zastava_101

My buddy has a same problem. 10+ liters is too much. He's installing a natural gas system soon in his Focus. Fuel economy should remain the same, but natural gas is more than twice cheaper than gasoline (here in Serbia one liter of a natural gas is less than $1).

Knight

I bet my 2007 US Focus with 2.0L 136hp and 5-speed manual is faster then you fusion.

Zastava_101

Probably.

I'm pretty disappointed with Fusion. I liked 2000-2006 Taurus 3.0 a lot more.
Fusion is a nice car, but not that nice.