http://www.autoblog.com/2007/11/23/meet-the-production-ford-kuga/ Autoblog Comments for Meet the production Ford Kuga http://www.autoblog.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://www.autoblog.com en-us Copyright 2008 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://www.autoblog.com/2007/11/23/meet-the-production-ford-kuga/http://www.autoblog.com/2007/11/23/meet-the-production-ford-kuga/Nov 23rd 2007 4:09PMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2007/11/23/meet-the-production-ford-kuga/http://www.autoblog.com/2007/11/23/meet-the-production-ford-kuga/Nov 23rd 2007 4:13PMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2007/11/23/meet-the-production-ford-kuga/http://www.autoblog.com/2007/11/23/meet-the-production-ford-kuga/Nov 23rd 2007 4:13PMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2007/11/23/meet-the-production-ford-kuga/http://www.autoblog.com/2007/11/23/meet-the-production-ford-kuga/
The Focus is OK, but old, and the Fusion is a Mazda 6 variant nobody needs if there's a nearby Mazda dealer.
The 500/Taurus is a good car, but an ugly klutz.

No reason to visit a U.S. Ford dealer unless you're truck-hunting. Lame!]]>Nov 23rd 2007 4:14PMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2007/11/23/meet-the-production-ford-kuga/http://www.autoblog.com/2007/11/23/meet-the-production-ford-kuga/I don't know man, I don't know of any company (at the moment, I'm looking fwd. to the Camaro and Challenger too, but they're not out yet), that offers a V8 powered, rear driver with only two doors and a pretty rad looking exterior, enough descent interior options, and an insane sounding exhaust note, for under $30K bucks. This is a cool car - sure, it's not as sophisticated as an AWD Subaru or a new a G37 - but its cheaper, and actually a little cooler from a styling/character stand point - I mean, the Mustang appeals to a much wider swath of people, car people and non-car people alike, than say, an AWD Evo or WRX, and perhaps even a 350Z too. It's bad-ass, and deserves credit as being not only a great car, for a Ford - but one of the coolest cars out there for the price. ]]>Nov 23rd 2007 11:45PMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2007/11/23/meet-the-production-ford-kuga/http://www.autoblog.com/2007/11/23/meet-the-production-ford-kuga/
But I am pretty sure we will be told that this is not coming to US!]]>Nov 23rd 2007 4:15PMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2007/11/23/meet-the-production-ford-kuga/http://www.autoblog.com/2007/11/23/meet-the-production-ford-kuga/Nov 23rd 2007 4:19PMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2007/11/23/meet-the-production-ford-kuga/http://www.autoblog.com/2007/11/23/meet-the-production-ford-kuga/Nov 23rd 2007 4:27PMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2007/11/23/meet-the-production-ford-kuga/http://www.autoblog.com/2007/11/23/meet-the-production-ford-kuga/
Seriously. Get a life folks. I am so sick of reading the same crap. Ford has said they are going to go global with the next Focus and Fusion and they are working on bringing other products over. So they are going to bring a lot of these products over here it just takes time. A company that is struggling for it's survival can't afford to just dump all it's current products and get the modifications and certifications done to bring a whole new line over from Europe overnight.

The reality of the situation is when they do you will all probably be bitching that they are not roomy enough or the engines are not powerful enough since the rest of the world tends to go for smaller more efficient cars. Personally I would love to test drive one of these with a diesel engine.]]>Nov 23rd 2007 4:27PMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2007/11/23/meet-the-production-ford-kuga/http://www.autoblog.com/2007/11/23/meet-the-production-ford-kuga/
I am not saying they should bring all vehicles over right now, but when they do design new ones, design with US market in mind as well. I don't have any bias towards imports - they sell a lot of common models right? then why cant ford? esp when people want fuel efficient vehicles.

Personally I like the looks of this, lets see how it compares with VW Tiguan.]]>Nov 23rd 2007 5:44PMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2007/11/23/meet-the-production-ford-kuga/http://www.autoblog.com/2007/11/23/meet-the-production-ford-kuga/Nov 23rd 2007 6:52PMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2007/11/23/meet-the-production-ford-kuga/http://www.autoblog.com/2007/11/23/meet-the-production-ford-kuga/Nov 23rd 2007 7:14PMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2007/11/23/meet-the-production-ford-kuga/http://www.autoblog.com/2007/11/23/meet-the-production-ford-kuga/
2) The Fusion is currently in production in a plant in Mexico as is tools and dies paid for etc. It will cost major $$$ to retool that plant to build a completely different model which is why they only do that every so many years. I would doubt that the European Modeo factory has the capacity to supply North America as well.

3) For all the bitching around here the Fusion has been a big sucess for Ford and is competitive in it's segment. So why would Ford spend money fixing something that isn't broken when there are other products that are not selling that desperately need attention. Best possible outcome is likely that after spending all that money they end up with a vehicle that sells as well or a bit better than the Fusion. Hardly an outcome worth the investment.

4) Both the Fusion and Focus are due for a major platform change in a couple of years. At which time they have told us the global platform (euro Focus and Mondeo) would be adopted. So they are on there way.

Like it or not Ford is making the right buisness decision. Leveraging the most profit out of the investment it has in the existing and sucessful Fusion while preparing to switch to the Mondeo platform with the next platform change.

That said the Focus is not doing as well. I would expect to see it switched over first.]]>Nov 24th 2007 12:19PMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2007/11/23/meet-the-production-ford-kuga/http://www.autoblog.com/2007/11/23/meet-the-production-ford-kuga/I'm liking the name and the look. If for some reason I couldn't pick up a CX-7 or RDX (stupid alphabet, numeral soup) - I'd take one of these pending the inside quality.]]>Nov 23rd 2007 4:43PMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2007/11/23/meet-the-production-ford-kuga/http://www.autoblog.com/2007/11/23/meet-the-production-ford-kuga/Nov 24th 2007 1:59AMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2007/11/23/meet-the-production-ford-kuga/http://www.autoblog.com/2007/11/23/meet-the-production-ford-kuga/Nov 23rd 2007 4:45PMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2007/11/23/meet-the-production-ford-kuga/http://www.autoblog.com/2007/11/23/meet-the-production-ford-kuga/Nov 23rd 2007 4:47PMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2007/11/23/meet-the-production-ford-kuga/http://www.autoblog.com/2007/11/23/meet-the-production-ford-kuga/
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There are a lot of European models which would be available here in modest numbers, but, due to all the regulations, are unavailable. It seems to me that if it's safe/clean/etc., enough to sell in EU countries, that ought to be good enough to sell in the U.S., at least up to a certain limit (say 20,000 per model per year).]]>Nov 23rd 2007 5:28PMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2007/11/23/meet-the-production-ford-kuga/http://www.autoblog.com/2007/11/23/meet-the-production-ford-kuga/
I leave Volvo out of that statement as I do find the new C30 and XC70 nice designs.]]>Nov 23rd 2007 5:21PM