You're wrong...plain and simple. No other way to state it.

You've avoided most of my salient points by getting bogged down in statistics. The most important statistic to keep in mind is that Ford of North America is slowly going under while buyers flock to import cars...and import designs.

Meanwhile, you offer no solution other than the status quo. How's that workin' out so far?

As was mentioned above: it doesn't matter one frak whether it's Euro/Jap/Kinetic or Martian - the 2010 sketch looks hot, and if it's well executed, it will sell. That it happens to have been designed in Europe won't actually matter in the final analysis. End of story.

 

Ok.....considering your so sure the price will go up, what if they do what i said they might do in my last post; bring the fiesta in to replace the focus in the small subcompact market. With all new styling and a good market campaign introducing the "all new" focus and "completely new" fiesta......Ford really has a chance to reintroduce itself for those markets. And dont bother using your current stats on the current Focus's sales because lets face it, the new one is nothing like the current one; its miles ahead and that will affect its future sales.

 

In essence that is what they're planning. The current NA Focus is maximized for the entry-level/bargain-basement new car segment. The FoE Focus is more of a bridge from that market to the Mondeo midsize market, with the Fiesta (and Ka) as the foot-in-the-door models. The plan is to get NA as close to FoE as the market will allow. IN reality the Focus likely won't sell in monstrous numbers, but the hope is that it and the Fiesta combined will do quite well.

 

Guys, I lived in Europe for 15 years and I've spent last 9 years in the States and I can tell you this: there is no way in hell that Ford (or anyone else) can satisfy both European and American buyers with one same car. It's just not gonna happen.

 

BMW satisfies the entire world with the entry level 3-Series. And that car comes in different trim levels, configurations and price levels for different applications and budgets.

The Golf is effectively the same car in Europe and North America.

Same with a number of Japanese models - like the Honda Accord, for example, which over here is the Acura TSX. Both of those cars have sold extremely well in their respective marketplaces.

Give it up, dude. Your argument doesn't wash. Sorry.

 

Like I said before, luxury cars like BMW and Mercedes are doing well in the States. Problem are cars like Volkswagen, Saab and Volvo.
Golf is the same car in Europe and N. America. That's why it's doing so poor in the States.

If you're so confident that Europeans and American's wanna a same thing from cars and that's why global Focus will succeed, let me ask you this: why do you think Ford (and pretty much every successful non-luxury company) has different models in Europe and N. America? Why not have same models? Why did Ford develop Fusion when they could easily import Mondeo? Or why did Ford develop Kuga when they could import Edge or Escape? Or why do we still get a crappy Ranger when Europe, Asia and Australia get a great one?

Being born and spending 15 years in Europe, I think I know little more than you what Europeans want from a car.

There is a reason why Fiat, Peugeot, Citroen, Alfa, Renault ... left US market. And that reason is that they couldn't satisfy American buyers with their cars (same cars that are doing really well in Europe).

 

Ok I see your point and I can understand it given that you lived in Europe for however long. But your missing the point; cars like Volkswagen, Saab and Volvo are EUROPEAN cars. The Focus IS AMERICAN.... despite where this new generations influence came from. People IN AMERICA view cars like Volkswagen, Saab and Volvo as foriegn cars. People IN AMERICA view the Focus as A FORD FOCUS and they always will. The difference now is that it looks better and is overall a better car. Like I said before, how Ford plans to price this car will determine how it will do. As long as they market it in accordence with the price they set, it will do just fine.

As for cars like cars like Volkswagen, Saab and Volvo......your right, the EUROPEAN market is different from the US. Which is why you have a fluctuation in sales among international markets. Thats a marketing flaw if you ask me.

 

Name will definitely help Ford, but it can also ruin Focus since Focus doesn't really have a reputation like Civic and/or Corolla.

I'm still against this idea. I think Ford should develop Focus for USA only (and then develop different one for Europe, Australia ...). GM did that with Cobalt and Cobalt is a very successful small car.
Take this new 2008 US Focus for an example, everybody is saying that it's ugly and crappy, but sales are up by 22% so far this year.

 

Volkswagen in North America is doing just fine, thank you very much. Go back and re-read my posts.

Saabs are crap, and Volvos show mediocre sales performance because there are Japanese alternatives that offer better style / performance / quality for similar money. So those are bad examples to cite.

You're hung up on the whole "luxury" equation - even BMW and Mercedes offer reasonably priced entry level models that are fully competitive with their Japanese equivalents.

 

You still didn't answer my question: If you're so confident that Europeans and American's wanna a same thing from cars, why do you think Ford (and GM and Toyota) has different models for Europe and N. America?

 

Its not a question of American buyers and European buyers wanting the same thing or different things for that matter......its about saving money. The whole purpose of car companies utilizing global platforms is to cut down costs and R&D. By having one global Focus, Ford now only has to produce one car rather than two indivdual cars. The trick after that is marketing. By marketing it properly and pricing it strategically (like ive said several times so far but you just dont seem to get it) Ford will be able to sell it internationally. The biggest point in any goods business is the product. Essentially if you have a good product and market it well, its gunna sell. Now in this case, if you take what we have from both Focuses now, put them together with some great styling.....market it in America for Americans, and market it in Europe for each of the countries in Europe.....you baisically have a great car that is positioned well (granted Farley does his job right)......thus you have ONE car that SELLS INTERNATIONALLY.

There, marketing lecutre over. Accept it because thats how it works.

 

There will always be certain select models that are tailored to a given market, i.e. Mustangs in North America, S-Maxs in Europe.

But you can now buy essentially the same Opels you get in Europe in North America - they're called Saturns. Toyota has several models common to both continents, as does Honda, an example of which I already gave you with the Honda Accord/Acura TSX.

A "global" car is just that - one designed to be optimized for all regions. And again, it works for several manufacturers, including BMW with their 3-Series...and soon to be released 1-Series, neither of which are "luxury" cars in their basic incarnations.

And I see TONS of Golfs and Jettas around these parts - another example of common models.

But you're missing the overriding point here: If the new Focus is a hot looking car, properly spec'd and priced, it will sell...just like anything else. It won't be targeted at rednecks who just want to drive rusted out Galaxy 500s, so the crowd leaning towards those sorts of "tastes" don't really matter at the end of the day.

As to sales on the new Focus being up 22%, sales were so poor on the previous year's model there was really no other place to go but up...and a big part of the reason for the sales is reportedly the Sync feature. Over the long haul, I expect sales of the "new" North American Focus to fall off sharply again, because it truly is a horrid vehicle.

 

I really wanna be wrong about this because I wanna see Ford succeed, but I'm not optimistic. I hope Mulally knows what he's doing.

 

So you think making the Focus look good and have class leading features and interior will hurt it? Am I reading that right?

One thing I do know for sure, you have no clue what Americans want, we want a car just as good as the one sold in Europe and the rest of the world as the current C1 Focus is, we don't want mediocre "just good enough" crap that Ford has been peddling.

Nobody will force you to buy one either when it comes out, and for the record, the Euro styled new Fiesta is a smash hit over here which we'll get in 2 years, so you're 100% wrong.