http://www.leftlanenews.com/ford-rel...in-europe.html

 

Excuse me while I grind my molars to dust while I gaze upon yet another fantastic Euro-Ford model while contemplating the unrelieved visual horror that is our Focus coupe.

 

Even their Focus gets a 6-speed. Why can't we get that in the new Mustangs? Grah.

 

I just don't get Ford sometimes...Do they not think that we would like some of this stuff here in the colonies???

 

No, they just think we wouldn't pay 28,000-30,000 euros ($44,000-$47,000) for them like European buyers would.

 

I think they'd be correct in that assumption.

 

And why would North Americans have to pay that? That's an erroneous assumption - or, to be more blunt - yet another excuse.

 

And yet again I'm in the middle here. Would the retractable hardtop Focus be expensive? Oh yeah. Too expensive to sell in numbers good enough to justify brining it here? Maybe...I think it would be pushing it. Would it be a 40k car? No.

If I were a betting man I would venture a guess that a North American take on this car with the likely 2.5L Duratec four under hood would ring in at 28-29k to start. Not bad for a foldaway hardtop but I think most people here would have a hard time dropping that kind of coin on a compact vert.

My vote...take the car more or less as is, engineer a very nice ragtop for it...cloth only please....slap a Cosmopolitan nameplate on it and sell it as a Mercury product for 23-24k. Under those circumstances it should easily appeal to the young coeds Mercury desperately wants to attract anyway.

 

Why would Ford sell it for less when they can easily sell it for more?

Especially now when dollar is so weak compared to euro.

 

Well, the very mechanically-comparable VW Eos starts at $30K, so are we seem to be left to assume that Ford is somehow uniquely not competent or capable enough to bring over the Euro Focus here? Or better yet, build it at a factory here? This is to say nothing of the rest of the VW lineup and even GM's Saturn seems quite capable of bringing over the (Opal/Vauxhall) Astra at competitive pricing. And don't forget the Minis either, they're built on the other side of the pond too and they aren't ruinously expensive either, even if targeted slightly upmarket of the Focus.

I think Ford's whine about not being able to bring over their fine Euro wares speaks more about Ford's management and executive abilities, or the lack thereof, rather than any basic inability to bring over Euro cars due to currency value differences. Yes, there are obviously challenges in doing so, but many other manufacturers other than Ford seem fully up to meeting that challenge. It really is inexcusable that Ford can only seem to make money against these fully up-to-date European small cars, with all the extra shipping and exchange rate costs added, with a clumsily rehashed out-dated platform built right here and but a relatively short train/truck ride to the dealership Ford. Is it any wonder then that Ford is in such horrible straights?

And just why has the dollar's value gone down the loo to begin with (another day's discussion)?

 

Ask yourself this: Why would Ford force North Americans to pay the 17.5% VAT tax...?

Though I will agree the weakening dollar makes this an increasingly less attractive option.

So here's what you do: Take the design and engineering specs that are already completed for the vehicle and set up another run for them in Mexico...amortize those costs internationally, instead of just across Europe.

God these execs are brain-dead sometimes, I swear.

 

Moreover, ask yourself why Ford vehicles are more successful, popular and profitable in Europe than their Ford counterparts in North America...?

 

I guess that's why the Volvo C30 starts at 22k here??

Nothing like just talking out your ***..

 

They'll do that with Focus in 2010 or 2011. We'll see how well that will work.

 

Saturn Astra March 08 US sales -- 720
VW EOS March 08 US sales -- 1330

Ford Focus March 08 US sales -- 21,168

Man, those superior European masterpieces sure are burning up the US sales charts compared to the "unrelieved visual horror" on a "clumsily rehashed out-dated platform" that is the US Ford Focus

No wonder they are not going to the expense of bringing the hardtop convertible Focus here. It wouldn't be worth it, sales wise.
Yeah, that Ford management in the US sure is incompetent.

 

Moderately successful and ugly is still ugly. And so far, we're only three-and-a-half months into the year. Let's see how the "new" Focus does on a longer curve: say over the entire year. That will give us a much more accurate snapshot.

Meanwhile, Civic sales for March totaled 32,740 (WITHOUT INCENTIVES). The Civic is still the benchmark to beat sales-wise in this segment. So while the current Focus is turning in decent numbers so far, imagine how much better those numbers might be with a more compelling car.

You seem to keep forgetting that survival for Ford won't be found in playing "catch up" with the imports or "good enough"...the only way for Ford to be truly successful in North America again is for them to lead the market segment with compelling products that make people look at a Civic or Corolla and think, "Meh, why would I buy one of those when I can have this amazing new Focus."

You can't see the forest for the trees.

 

Civic's success didn't come overnight.

And Ford would like to become competitive just by bringing a different car from Europe? It doesn't work like that. Take Chevy Malibu as an example. It's just as good as Accord and Camry, but are people trading in their Camrys and Accords for Malibu? I don't think so. It's gonna take a long time for Malibu to become competitive with Accord and Camry even though its just as good.

 

Who said anything about the Civic or beating it in sales? Can you say "red herring"?

I was talking about the Saturn Astra, which is exactly the same car sold in Europe as an Opel. This car is the epitome of what you pro-Euro guys want , which you say should be smash hits here in the US. And it sold all of 720 cars last month.

Then there's the VW Eos, VW's competition for the Focus retractable hardtop sold in Europe. It has a ~$30K pricetag in the US. It sold all of 1330 cars last month.

Meanwhile, the car you've been trying to top each other's in finding ways to insult, the car you predicted will never sell, actually sells 1591% more cars than the EOS. This is understandable, as there is not that big of a market for retractable hardtops. But "unrelieved visual horror" Focus also sells 2940% more cars than the Euro Fan poster child Saturn Astra. The Focus has also increased market share in its segment.


Face it, you guys don't know what real American buyers want, you're off in your own little elitist world.

 

So lemmie get this straight: you think it's OK for the Focus to continue to lag behind the Civic in sales; to keep being 'second best'; to keep trying to play 'catch up' with the segment leaders? Ah, yeah, good strategy there, slick.

I never said a word about the Astra. Fact is, the Astra was a very unimpressive vehicle to begin with...and is in no way the epitome of what I want. Now the G8, that's another story. But, then, it's not European. Hmmm... how do you explain that, I wonder?

The EOS is a niche vehicle; never intended to be a volume seller, and not an example I personally would quote as a mass market success.

You're obsessed with three months worth of numbers. Three months worth of subsidized numbers (which are good, but again, not breathtaking) do not portend for the ultimate success of this "new" Focus, nor will they relieve Ford's overall woes, which have traditionally come from always going for the short term tactic instead of adopting a long term strategy. Remember how the company satiated themselves - and the market - on SUVs during the '90s and made record profits? Meanwhile, import manufacturers began building smaller, more fuel efficient cars because they effectively prognosticated where the market would go over the long haul - something Ford failed to do as it allowed its passenger cars to languish after the Taurus debacle.

Face it, you hardly speak for all of "real America". If you did, Ford could carry on blithely doing what it's been doing the past 20 years and continue to rack up record profits. Oops, I guess that's what we call a "fantasy world".

Fact is, you have no tangible strategy or suggestions for how Ford of North America can stop hemorrhaging money and losing sales overall, year after year. Meanwhile, Ford in Europe seems to have no trouble designing and building cars that satisfy its market - cars that are generally similar to the sorts of vehicles that sell well in North America - you know, the ones people buy over here INSTEAD of Fords, hence why Ford is losing money and market share?

 

That car looks dumb to me, why would i want a fwd 143hp convertible. talk about boring. That car should cost no more then $17k US.