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Originally Posted by igor
^^^I think it will hinge on whether the Name recognition of Escort is negative or not .. if in peoples minds Escort=P.O.S. like echo" then a new name will be chosen as Ford will be able to start from ZERO there, instead of NEGATIVE .. if the Escort has a neutral or positive recognition - Mulally will say "screw commonality" and call it the recognized name.
and you are right - recently Automakers have been eliminating name commonality ... Fit is Jazz in Europe, Corolla is going away in Europe, Nissan still has Almera (Sentra) in Europe, and the Vera will be Tiida in Europ ( Versa's Japanese name).
Hoverver GM did bring the Astra .. and that might be a precedents - we are talkig about cars where the general public has no preferrence, but the enthusiasts have been salivating over these Euro models for a long time - so keeping the name is one more satisfaction given to the enthusiasts ...
I personally would prefer the Fiesta (for the Astra reasons), but we shall see .. ford needs to do it the most efficient way.
Igor
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Good points all around as usual Igor. You're right in that it depends on how the Escort name is perceived...that's a key point. Nevertheless, listening to Mulally and Fields, you'd never know that the Taurus and Sable names weren't really all that well regarded before the products were originally axed. Don't get me wrong, I think the new versions will do much better and are better-total-vehicles overall than the Five Hundred and Montego they replace, but still the point remains: when is a moniker "damaged"?
Still I agree with you and would rather see commonality; having a Fiesta here would be rather nice. Just like you piont out with the Astra, etc. I'd much rather see one-name/one-product to build a greater sense of awarness for a brand's lineup.
But if they decide to split the names per the vehicle type (as I suggested) or just reuse a known moniker to save money (as you suggested) the product needs to be done right. No more excuses.