http://www.autoblog.com/2007/01/23/m...me-in-7-years/

 

The only thing I worry about is the loss of American car design. The current Mustang, Interceptor and the Lincoln concept all have American styling cues that I love. For their other cars in the line up (Focus, 500, Fusion) this would be great, but A Euro Stang is an ugly thought for me (the Giugiaro Mustang is butt ugly IMHO). I know thats not what he is saying here but this is just what I fear.

 

I don't think its a good idea. I used to live in Europe for almost 15 years and I can tell that European market is completely different. European customers are very different and they're looking for a different things in cars.
For example, in Serbia (where I'm from) yearly registration for the car depends on the engine size. Its already really high (like 400 euros = ~$650) and hardly anyone over there would buy a car with engine bigger than 2L.

 

Designing a car to accomodate a variety of engines shouldn't be an issue. Mazda does it with 6 where it has a V6 only available in NA and a diesel only available in Europe.

 

Engine is just one example.

How about size of cars? People in the Europe are not used to long cars and people in the USA are not used to short cars.

 

Global platform sharing I think is a good idea, but global styling is not. Ford has been applying the European Ford styling theme to some current American Fords and the response has not been so good.

2006 Ford Mondeo


2006 Ford 500



2005 -2006 US Focus sedan



2006 Euro Focus sedan


"Everybody" (on the intraweb anyway) hates the 05 US Focus refresh, even though it looks nearly identical to the non-ST Euro Focus, and they say the 500 is "too bland".

The US Fusion looks a lot like the Mondeo in profile ,

except for the three bar grille and headlights. If you recall, it was reported that the 427 style grille and lights were added to the Fusion at the last minute, so the Fusion probably originally had a similar grille to the Mondeo. Would it be as successful without the 427 style "American" grille? Probably not. Would the three bar grille be popular in Europe?

I think they should share platforms but leave styling to the individual markets.

 

The Acura TSX (aka the Euro Accord) sells quite well here.

This quote is from an Autoweek.com article on this same subject:

It sounds to me like size doesn't matter (at least in regards to NA and Euro cars).

 

Bear in mind that "unified theme" doesn't always mean "clone cars." Differeing crash standars etc all but mandate that their will be differences on either side of the pond. Their aim is simply to close the gap as closely as possible.

 

I don't see this as a problem, frankly. Good design is good design, and god knows we're surrounded by evidence that major European and Japanese marks sell well in North America (in some cases better than they sell in their respective home markets). How far back do you have to go before you no longer recognize the front end of a BMW or Mercedes? Ford NEEDS a global design language that can be subtley tweaked for different regions if necessary.

So I think the key here, again, is GOOD design. Take the best North American designs (such as Mustang, the styling of which most Europeans admire - even if they're less enthusiastic about the engineering) and the best European designs (like the new Mondeo, for example) and go from there.

Besides, it's likely that European and American cars will get subtle differences to things like crash standards, grilles, front fascias, etc, etc.

I have renewed hope for this company... they just need the TIME to do all this...