Interesting indeed. I didn't know my Celica history well enough to make that connection but that seems far more valid to me than the Fusion coupe whining. I would love to know how much (or how little) that Celica came up in the design discussions at Ford because that's obscure enough to almost make me think it's a coincidence. But not quite.

 

Its obvious that the 2015 front end is designed with the current Ford corporate design language and that is why the comparisons have been made to it looking like a Fusion or a Taurus and rightly so. The Fusion, Taurus, Focus, Fiesta and now Mustang all share the same basic design language across the front end. For that matter we could throw in the Escape as well. In the case of the Mustang, it just doesn't work and makes the car look ugly. Why car corporations insist on making everything in their lineup look like everything else in their lineup is beyond me. The "one size fits all look" idea just doesn't work. Jeep has been trying it for years and as a result have come out with some truly ugly vehicles. You don't see Dodge trying to make the Challenger look like the Charger or the Viper. Let the car have it's own unique style and quit trying to make it a corporate clone to all the other cars.

 

Even though Mulally is a great businessman and I have great respect for him, apparently his "all Boeings look the same so why not Ford?" mindset infected Ford's design department.

 

If anyone looks at the front of these two cars and tries to claim that they can't see both of them share the same design language that person is just either being willfully ignorant or they are truly ignorant. To everyone else with a modicum of common sense its obvious. If you can't see it then I guess you also don't believe that all of Mazda's cars are using the Koda design language on the front end as well.

So when people make comparisons between the two it is not whinning, it's just stating the obvious. I don't want a 2 door Fusion. I wanted a Mustang.



PS, both of those front ends are ugly.

 

That degree of mimicry is disappointing. At this point, why don't they just adopt one body style and change the name of the vehicle based on engine size.

 

Meh.

Ford will still make the Sync system standard.

Make the 2015 available without that headache and they'd sell a few more.

 

Agreed. It's pretty obvious. Even the creases in the hood are close. Not a fan of the Mustang front end but I do like the look of the Fusions.

 

Agreed, obvious the two front ends are similar but that's where the similarities stop. I saw a fusion comming up behind me a few days ago and thought it looked nice. So I will be happy if I get a,"fustang".

 

Also, maybe they did that because some parts of the mustang and fusion front ends are interchangeable. Or is that obvious?

 

and I think you hit the nail on the head. The similarities are startling. I personally don't mind the Fusion look. I actually like it. But on a Fusion, not the Mustang. The 2010-14 looks nothing like any other Ford products. With the 2015 you won't know if it is a Fusion or a Mustang behind you. And that's not a good thing.

 

hey, just be happy they don't share headlights

 

Maybe not exactly but pretty close.

My complaint with this front end design is that it's just bad symmetry. It has those narrow high set headlamps and a large low set grill opening. It's just bad flow, bad symmetry. It looks okay on some cars like the Fusion but it is not a design that you can just stick on the front of any old car and have it look good. On the Mustang it just doesn't work. It looks like they took the headlamps from a whole other car and stuck them on the Mustang and they don't belong. It makes me think the car is squinting at me when I look at it. At the very least they need to lower the headlamp position on the front end so that they are more in line with the grill in stead of stuck up high. Either that or just make the headlamps the same shape but larger overall so that the bottom of the headlamps comes down further and lines up properly with the grill. The current design is just ugly and poorly done. I'm sure there are plenty of design experts who would argue with me but I know what appeals to my eye and what doesn't. This thing is just all wrong. It's like a Picasso impressionist front end. Yuk!

 

It's all opinion and I don't agree with yours. We can agree to disagree

 

If you can't tell the difference between a Fusion or a Mustang coming up behind you .... Get glasses.

 

You disagree that the Ford is using the same design language on all of its cars? I'm sorry but that's not opinion that is just fact so disagreeing with it is to disagree with reality itself. Now as to weather or not it is an attractive look is surely a matter of opinion and if you disagree with me that it is unattractive I fully understand that. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and I know plenty of people think that the current design language is attractive. I am not one of them. But there is no denying that the Fusion and the Mustang share the same design language across the front of the car.

 

Every Fusion comment aside, I don't really care. I didn't buy my car because I fell in love with the way it looks other than it's the best of the classics ques that make it a Mustang. I bought it to DRIVE it around a track on the weekends and make going to work every day way more fun than the boring C300 Mercedes I was driving. I don't drag race but prefer to road race. The GT Track Pack was such a great value I couldn't pass it up. I can't say that I'm not a little irked with Ford for putting so much of the common design architecture into the new Mustang that it takes away from what we all love about it. I'm holding on to what I have until I can't get any more performance out of it. This should take me a while so maybe when my current Mustang is a track only car I will buy a new one. MAYBE.....

 

Right. Just look at the Ford magazine/brochure they send out with the pics/prices in the last few pages. We're down to just 3 front end styles across the entire fleet: gaping mouth, 3 bar in your face, fish mouth.

Then we could go on to Lincoln's horrible toofy grills that bear no resemblance to Lincoln's of old (that's Ford's excuse).

Ford is in serious need of a new front end design team.

 

Pre-Tax profit on $8.6B and Net Income of $7.2B in 2013 would argue with a need to change styling.

I like the styling and have purchased FMC vehicles in the last 24-36 months because of the styling . . .

 

That is a false correlation to claim that Ford's choice to "brand" the front end of their cars (showing little innovation in front end design) somehow equates to billions in profits.

That F profit needs to be put in the context of the rebound in auto sales for most all manufacturers - not just Ford - due to the historically extreme age of America's fleet combined with pent up demand post Great Implosion combined with historically generous loan interest rates. Not to mention continuing and unprecedented Fed intervention (QE 1,2,3,?) which has propelled corporate (paper) profits to record levels across numerous industries. My investment accounts are at record levels too. Aren't yours? Which of course has nothing to do with Ford's choice of 3 basic front end designs.

I'm glad you like your cars.

 

I shouldn't have to. And that's the point.