the best way for Ford to rebound.... ?

make another 1990's type of taurus, thats it. that was a sharp car an
sold a ton.bottom line is develop a car that appeals to the masses an
they will buy, to me ford has alotta pinto's an vegas,nothing that is
a sharp american car, and i will buy ford regardless but i would love
to see another taurus type of car. so the newer version of taurus just
doesnt cut it.
_________
Used Car Donation
Car and Autos Zone
http://www.zone-car.com

going back to the Contour: it was a cute little car that appealed to a
lot of buyers, but was so trouble prone that it soon developed a
reputation that killed it. I had one of the first Taurus.....it wasn't
even the top-of-the-line, but had a luxurious interior and was a great
car --- but they had to start cheapening it and in a couple years even
the best version had a depressing interior.......the restyle was change
for change sake and where the original was groundbreaking, the restyle
was just plain weird. Likewise, the Thunderbird was billed as "retro",
but ugly as sin: like a T-Bird designed by Citroen.

Now, we have the Focus which just sez "this is all I can afford". The
Fusion (a Mazda design) is wildly popular, but too small for many. The
Mustang COULD have been more successful, but they didn't prepare
sufficient production capacity and gouging dealers killed initial sales,
leaving a bad taste in everyone's mouth. The Five Hundred/Taurus is a
great car (I have one) but for some reason doesn't catch-on
(marketing?). The Crown Vic/Marquis/Town Car is based on 1979
architecture.....obsolete and not space efficient.

Considering Ford's inability to design or build something the majority
of people want, I guess all we can hope is they will take the
Jaguar/Rover cash and buy a company that designs cars people
want.......everything follows the product.

Personally, I'd like to see them build a modern, rear drive sedan (one
would think they've gotten their money's worth out of the Crown Vic
tooling after 29 years). And wouldn't it be nice to have an interior in
something besides black or gray?

Pretty said when their flagship line, Lincoln, is comprised of a bunch
of gussied-up trucks, a glorified Mazda and a stretched 1979
Ford.......they hoped to make Jaguar their premium line: think what
great cars could have been designed with all that money that went down
the drain!

my thoughts...

Focus coupe - redesign it to get rid of the butt-ugly butt that is,
ugly. Have never, ever, liked the ass-end of a Focus coupe. The front
is nice, the overall size is OK, could use some trimming on the height
of the body panels, but still cannot get over the ass of that thing.
But Ford needs to take some design cues from Honda to sculpt the
bodylines far better than they have on the Focus, it's rather plain and
the fender-blobs are overdone, always have been.

Focus sedan - kill it. It's a laugh. This "new" design is a little
chrome badge on the side and not much else. Keep the coupe and redesign
the sedan and give it a new name to separate them. The coupe is sporty,
the sedan is a joke. Test drove it when it first came out, have avoided
it like the plague since then, doubt it has improved because it's still
an upright, uptight, boxy-looking little blob.

Fusion - gutless wonder, even the six is a waste, needs to be
redesigned with a tighter body, less overhang, less ugly front lights,
I test drove one 1.5 years ago and it was roomy but too roomy, like it
was trying too hard to be luxurious, but that's best left for Lincolns,
or the 500.

Freestyle - what a horrible mistake this was. The initial designs
looked like a cross between an Audi and a Subaru - didn't the designer
come from Audi? The design is great but it is oversized for what it is
- it's supposed to be a wagon, yet it's a squashed Escape - same
wheelbase, probably the same platform if I remember correctly. Trim it
down to the size of a Forrester or Outback and you'd have a kickass
little Ford wagon that would be amazing. The Freestyle as it is now is
too large.

Escape - careful not to overdo it Ford, and price it out of range of
the entry level SUV buyer - me. I have had three of them, loved each
one, but am leery of the newer design being too high-end. Will find out
in mid-2009 when my current lease is up. I'd buy a Freestyle if they
redesigned it like I have requested - above.

Mustang - stop selling low-end versions. Seriously, the car is too
bulky looking to have anything but 16-17" rims and half-decent rubber
on it. Doesn't mean they all have to be GTs - keep them affordable
which is the reason the Mustang has been so successful for so long.

Explorer - finally starting to look nice with the Expedition front end
and no longer has the upside down headlight/indicator configuration -
never liked that and one of the main reasons I chose an Escape over the
Explorer, besides cost. But it is still a little too large, too tall,
too top-heavy. Needs a trim to cut down on overall weight and lower the
centre of gravity, making it a safer all-round vehicle.

EDGE - needs trimming down, it's too bulky. I do like the newer grille
making its way onto the other vehicles like the Freestyle. But can the
EDGE compete with the higher end Nissan and Lexus? Probably not, so why
not trim this puppy down and make it a bit more realistic? That's not
to say Ford can't compete in the luxury SUV market, but they're going
to have to design something a lot better-looking if they plan to do so.

Expedition - very nice, have always liked it, just can't justify
wasting that much money on a truck. Love it when I see these things
bling'd out like Escalades - 22"+ chrome rims, YEAH!

Still, IMHO, Ford has a nicer stable of vehicles than GM. I saw the new
Malibu up close yesterday. It looks good in the ad where the guy moulds
it from a truck, but that's because they don't show the entire car.
It's too low, fat, long, and the ass it just incredibly ugly. Didn't
help that the one I saw had plain rims and boring rubber - nothing like
the rims and rubber the one on TV had.

I can honestly say that every time I see yet another butt-ugly GM thing
pass by, that Ford is still on the right track, just needs little
nudge here and there!

AC


In article >, Itsfrom
Click > wrote:

> going back to the Contour: it was a cute little car that appealed to a
> lot of buyers, but was so trouble prone that it soon developed a
> reputation that killed it. I had one of the first Taurus.....it wasn't
> even the top-of-the-line, but had a luxurious interior and was a great
> car --- but they had to start cheapening it and in a couple years even
> the best version had a depressing interior.......the restyle was change
> for change sake and where the original was groundbreaking, the restyle
> was just plain weird. Likewise, the Thunderbird was billed as "retro",
> but ugly as sin: like a T-Bird designed by Citroen.
>
> Now, we have the Focus which just sez "this is all I can afford". The
> Fusion (a Mazda design) is wildly popular, but too small for many. The
> Mustang COULD have been more successful, but they didn't prepare
> sufficient production capacity and gouging dealers killed initial sales,
> leaving a bad taste in everyone's mouth. The Five Hundred/Taurus is a
> great car (I have one) but for some reason doesn't catch-on
> (marketing?). The Crown Vic/Marquis/Town Car is based on 1979
> architecture.....obsolete and not space efficient.
>
> Considering Ford's inability to design or build something the majority
> of people want, I guess all we can hope is they will take the
> Jaguar/Rover cash and buy a company that designs cars people
> want.......everything follows the product.
>
> Personally, I'd like to see them build a modern, rear drive sedan (one
> would think they've gotten their money's worth out of the Crown Vic
> tooling after 29 years). And wouldn't it be nice to have an interior in
> something besides black or gray?
>
> Pretty said when their flagship line, Lincoln, is comprised of a bunch
> of gussied-up trucks, a glorified Mazda and a stretched 1979
> Ford.......they hoped to make Jaguar their premium line: think what
> great cars could have been designed with all that money that went down
> the drain!
>