Fiesta is definitely a car which will do wonders for Ford, not necessarily profit, but rather volume and especially brand recognition.

In Europe, Ford is perceived on par with Volkswagen, here in US Ford is perceived as a value brand. Ford has too much brand equity to stoop down to that level, they need to go up and not down. If someone wants a rental car feel let them go out and buy a soulless Camry, Impala, or a Sonata, if someone wants a proper midsize sedan then have a product to keep them from buying a Passat, such as a Mondeo. It is is absolutely stupid that current generation Mondeo never made it to States.

Logic should always be, "One brand, one world, one message"...as in minimize region-specific products...I just hope they won't go Nissan's route and give Europe better quality plastics and leather, while offering cheap stuff in US.

Only remaining worry now is the value of US dollar.

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I pretty much agree with you (and products like the SHO show that upward trend).

I just know that in the past many cars brought from Ford of Europe to the U.S. have been met with almost dismal results.

The FWD Mercury Cougar (A.K.A. Ford Cougar in EU) did terrible here in sales. The Contour (A.K.A. Mondeo in EU) did ok intially, but sales tanked soon after. The Focus was the only one that did well.

I'm not saying it will happen again, I think Fords products overseas are far better now, however, I can see where Ford can be once bitten and twice shy.

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1) Ford Cougar didn't do hot in Europe either.
2) Remember that Mercury and Lincoln dealerships are separate from Ford ones. Do young people walk into Mercury/Lincoln units? No
3) Lack of advertising
4) Chassis was made way too stiff to feel sporty, reality car was neither comfortable nor fun to drive.
5) No manual gearbox, nor enough power.

Ford Contour failed because it didn't offer anything special in respect to Ford Taurus, and yet it was priced very similarly. The SVT spec was the only one that offered some entertaining driving dynamics.

As far as I'm concerned it was Nasser's lackluster attempts to gain volume, and market share. GM repeated same mistake with the de-contented, out-dated, lacking with options Astra with ZERO marketing.

Always got to dig a little deeper rather than just blaming it on US tastes.

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Noidor,

Like I said, I'm not disagreeing with you. I'm just saying that I understand why Ford has not imported cars here for a while. We can all agree poor execution was part of the reason these cars did ehhh in the past. The Cougar was seen as an over priced womans car (Mercury stigma anyway).

As for the Contour, I think the car was too small compared to it's target audience and quality was a bit shaky.

I don't feel a lack of a manual holds back any car sales in the U.S. Manuals are not anywhere as prevalant here in the U.S. as it is overseas. Enthusiasts like them (myself included), but it maybe acounts for 2% or less of sales in each vehicle category (with the exception of the Mustang).

P.S. If my Fusion Sport had a manual, I would have gotten it.

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@Noidor

What are you talking about? Both the I4 and V6 offered a manual as well as an automatic

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"I just know that in the past many cars brought from Ford of Europe to the U.S. have been met with almost dismal results.

The FWD Mercury Cougar (A.K.A. Ford Cougar in EU) did terrible here in sales. The Contour (A.K.A. Mondeo in EU) did ok intially, but sales tanked soon after. The Focus was the only one that did well."



The Ford Cougar was imported from the US. It used the great chassis from the Mondeo but felt underpowered and was poorly built. As a result, after three-four years it fetched less money than the smaller Ford Puma coupe. The Cougar was a huge flop in Europe, and was quietly dropped only a few months after the 2002 facelifted model debuted.

The Contour was based on the Mondeo but was in no way an "a.k.a". It used the chassis, some interior parts, door mirrors, door handles, front doors, and two of the Mondeo's engines. The rest of the bodywork was completely different although they shared the same bonnets on post 1997 models. Bumpers, roof, and the entire car aft of the B-pillar was different, as was much of the interior trim, the brakes, suspension, etc. The Cougar however did share the Mondeo's brakes. The Contour was horribly built compared with the Mondeo, and unlike the European car, came with no hatchback or estate variants, and no 4x4 option.

Apart from the bumpers, the option of an 8v engine, and trim/material quality differences the North American Focus was essentially the same as the European model.

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It's also worth noting that the (American-made) Cougar actually did sell well for its first two years...we're talking 60-70k annual units in '99 and 2000.

Problem was that the Cougar needed a little more development, which Ford didn't really give it, AND they flat out refused to advertize the damn thing after 2000. It was the essence of "launch and abandon".

L-M dealers in 1999 and 2000 were actually very happy with the sales of the Cougar, as well as the number of younger people coming into their dealerships.

At any rate, the Fiesta looks good and will probably do well here. I just hope that the sedan version doesn't end up looking as ridiculously under-tired as pics of it so far indicate.

It's also worth noting that Ford's market share wouldn't have increased because of the scrappage schemes. Overall sales would have. But so would everyone else's.

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"It's also worth noting that Ford's market share wouldn't have increased because of the scrappage schemes. Overall sales would have. But so would everyone else's."

Well, that's not necessarily true, because the breakdown of sales per segment for the overall industry typically doesn't mirror the same breakdown for each automaker. If Ford has a strong line-up of well-made fuel efficient, inexpensive cars that account for the majority of its sales (which it does in Europe), then it would have benefited more from scrapping programs than some other automakers (like BMW, etc.), and the increase in market share is reasonable.

Second, What's with all the bickering over the Cougar?

First, the North American Cougar WAS offered with manual transmission, but as for most cars in the US, it never accounted for a large percentage of sales.

And inline6 is correct, the Cougar actually did sell well during its first two years. I remember seeing quite a few of them around where I lived at the time -- usually driven by teenage girls around the high school.

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I did get the manual option wrong, however my other points appear to be valid. Being underpowered, over-sprung, poorly built, not enough advertisement and so forth. As for dealer traffic, well as soon as marketing stopped then I'm sure the younger traffic to LM dealers decreased as well. If it had been a Ford instead then perhaps it would have been different. Also two years of decent sales is not enough to say that it was a strong contender in its segment.

Contour story is just plain sad.

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You're on drugs!

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Oh You! Always with the jokes (although most people consider that BULLSHIIT)

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Wow...I praise FoE products (Mondeo, Kuga, Focus) and get voted down...classic...I love it.

You cheerleaders really need to take the blinders off.

(now, quick...vote me down...)

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Fusion being mistake? Are you crazy? This car sells like hot-cakes. It is also a leader quality-wise.

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Yaroukh,

He is refering to the Europe Fusion, not the U.S. Fusion. I think in europe the Fusion is a wagon style crossover if I recall correctly.

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Well, I don't think I'm crazy. EUROPEAN Fusion was and still is a slow-selling car. That's why Ford will replace it with this B-Max.

http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/news/autoexpressnews/231081/ford_bmax_enters_space_race.html

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