Filed under: Economy, Etc., Marketing/Advertising, Crossovers/CUVs, Ford
Ford's "effing" problem needs a fix
Towards the end of 2003, Ford unveiled the Freestar. It was a lousy minivan, and its name wasn't much better. From there the f-bombs started pouring in with the Freestyle, Five Hundred, and Fusion. Ford had a Shakespearean stranglehold on alliteration, but outside of the decent success of the Fusion, Ford's effed-up naming convention brought little name recognition to the Blue Oval's car lineup. When Allan Mulally came to town, he scrubbed the Freestyle and Five Hundred names for the much more recognizable and respected Taurus and Taurus X, but unfortunately the basic shape of the family haulers didn't change enough for customers to want them.
Detroit News Columnist Daniel Howes accurately points out that Ford is back to effing up the names of its vehicles. The Flex arrives this summer, and the Fiesta arrives in 2010. The News says Ford marketing head Jim Farley questioned why the Flex name would adorn Ford's full-size crossover, but even the ex-Toyota wunderkind is unable or unwilling to lose the F. We don't understand the fixation Ford has with the sixth letter of the alphabet. The Dearborn automaker's two most successful cars of the past 40 years are the Taurus and Mustang, both of which are decidedly sans F. As a matter of fact, the Camry, Civic, Accord, Impala, and Malibu are all alliteration-free. Sure, if the Flex and Fiesta are great products they'll sell no matter what they're called, but we'd like for Ford to give us an effing break.
[Source: Detroit News]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)
Dausman 7:22PM (2/18/2008)
How bout an effin' Fireball
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Benfolio 1:39PM (2/19/2008)
"How bout an effin' Fireball"
That'd be the Frown Victoria.
Max Fun 7:24PM (2/18/2008)
Maybe because the 'Fiesta' name is already well established in Europe and around the world? Duh. Don't forget the best selling 'Focus' as well, another eff car.
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geo.stewart 9:03PM (2/18/2008)
just as the man makes the suit, the car makes the name
what's the difference between a Chevelle and a Chevette?
one letter, and worlds apart in people's mind.
fiesta will be a terrific little runabout. cant wait.
EVan 7:27PM (2/18/2008)
"The Dearborn automaker's two most successful cars of the past 40 years are the Taurus and Mustang, both of which are decidedly sans F."
Yea, but they have sold a lot of trucks adorned with the 6th letter of the alphabet. (understatment)
Ford doesn't just stop at cars with the alliteration theme: Edge, Escape, Explorer, Expedition, Excursion. One would have thought that the Flex would have gotten the "E" treatment as well. Maybe they're trying to dissassociate the Flex with the increasingly less popular SUV bodystyle and associate it more with the car bodystyle that customers are, willingly or not, showing more interest in.
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Frank 10:11PM (2/18/2008)
EVan,
You mentioned the trucks starting with 'E' like Edge and Explorer. The F150 is like an 'E' designation because the letter F is pronounced with an 'E' as in 'Eff-150'. Then there is Mercury - Milan, Mariner, Montego, Marquis. The whole company is under this spell.
I remember reading a book about the auto industry (can't remember the title) and Henry Ford II wanted to name a new car the 'Phoenix' (starts with an 'F' sound). He was disappointed to learn that that name was taken by a GM car (Pontiac Phoenix). One of the executives at the meeting muttered under his breath to another that maybe they should call it the Ford Phuck.
Joshua 7:30PM (2/18/2008)
'Fiesta' screams cheap, bottom of the line, economy box. Which is too bad because this car looks like it deserves better.
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phil 10:09PM (2/19/2008)
Festiva?
Shakatar 7:32PM (2/18/2008)
As long as the product is good, the name shouldn't matter. "Pacer" is a great name for a car, but it was attached to gawdawful models from both Edsel and AMC.
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Franz 7:32PM (2/18/2008)
What the eff? lol
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Yipcanjo 7:33PM (2/18/2008)
Man...those are some NASTY wheels....
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Robert 7:45PM (2/18/2008)
OK... this has been going around the blogs, and let's clear something up here and now: Ford did not name the Fiesta because it is "F" or because they are trying to rekindle love for the car from 30 years ago. They called it Fiesta because that's what it is called in every market in the world. We keep asking for everything from Europe, and then they bring something over, basically unchanged, name and all, and we crap on it. It just baffles me. Howes' article is absolutely devoid of recognition of what brought the Fiesta here in the first place - the type of leadership that Mulally gave to make sure we had the car, and had it mostly unchanged from the Euro version, not to mention the products that are following it from Europe, Australia and being developed in the U.S. Leading into the future, indeed. Just idiocy.
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Mallory 8:46AM (2/19/2008)
Maybe it's different in other parts of the world but in the U.S. Fiesta means cheap crapbox. The new euro Fiesta can be great but why saddle it with a name that makes anyone over 40 cringe when they hear it? Like it or not, names matter and when you have a tarnished brand like Fiesta or Taurus you're not doing yourself any favors by taking a great product and handicapping it with that bad name.
I'm all for bringing over all of Euro Fords cars but there's no reason why you can't give it a good name at the same time. Calling it Fiesta merely because that's what people in other countries call it is not really a sound argument. That shouldn't be baffling to anyone that understands both human nature and automotive history. That's just being smart and using common sense.
jgp 8:04PM (2/18/2008)
2000s models aside, Ford has a long and proud history of F'ing names: Falcon, Fairlane, and Fairmont come to mind. Not to mention the F-Series...
C'mon Ford, add one more F'ing name to the US lineup and bring over (back?) the Falcon.
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Rick 8:07PM (2/18/2008)
A whole article dissing Ford's F-car names and no Focus mention!?!?
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enigmanuma 8:11PM (2/18/2008)
Does it come in another color.. like my favorite "any other color but that". Oh and definitely not copper colored. Why don't they color it green and call it the "F"rog. Kind of has the squatty appearance of a sleek frog. White would look especially good with white wheels (not those wheels).
http://www.vprojectcar.com
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Timsvtgen1 8:15PM (2/18/2008)
Is it just me, or is Ford under really effffffin ridiculous criticism for the dumbest S*it ... yet again. I mean come on.. Im not a Ford guy…but I wouldn’t mind being one if my company would buy me one instead of a Peterbilt…., but jeez... isn’t there way better things to pick on , from wayy worse car companies?.. i mean there def are some that are worse. Don’t really see the point here… it is just a name.
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Das Boese 8:31PM (2/18/2008)
WTF?
They can call their cars whatever the "eff" they want, success comes through superior design and economy, not through nameplates.
Hell, some of the big car companies like VAG, Merc, BMW, Volvo, Peugeot don't even name their cars, just numbers, yet I haven't met anyone who ever had a problem with that.
Most hilarious of all, the Fiesta name has been around for over 30 years, a fact that I think you're well aware of. So, seriously, what the hell is the point of this article?
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Matt Keller 8:36PM (2/18/2008)
Sheer idiocy maybe?
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dylagan123 8:39PM (2/18/2008)
they tried that one, it was called a pinto
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