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The Ford Brand: Road to Recovery or Irrelevance?
Ford's Feeble Fight for Dominance
4-14-2004
GMinsidenews.com
Anyone who has seen the new Ford F-150 can attest to the effort put in to that vehicle. It is sure to solidify Ford's position in trucks, and help them maintain the best selling truck model status the F-150 has held for so many years. The 2005 Mustang looks promising as well, and is sure to be a hit - at least with current Mustang fans and the pony car / muscle car crowd. But aside from these two cars and the halo Ford GT car, Ford seems to be on a gradual decline that even they themselves have little will to fight against. It's as if they've consigned the last of their fading glory to the likes of Toyota and Nissan.
There are some at GM who might cheer the way Ford is slowly stepping into the shadows, but I see it as a sad thing. A once proud and mighty company - THE company that started it all - is putting on a good show, but the spirit is slipping away, as the engineers in Detroit increasingly throw in their towels and entrust their future to Mazda engineers in Japan and Volvo safety experts, all the while styling Ford product as something only a Rental Car salesman could love.
There are a few reasons I see a decline, while those at Ford are giving sunny Power Point presentations on their future.
Inexplicable actions like denying the US market the next-generation Ford Focus platform because of "costs" seems dangerously close to the way Chevy and Pontiac stuck with the Cavalier/Sunfire J-body for decades - a loss leading and outdated vehicle platform that gave the division a poor reputation with Gen Y while compact cars became more desireable and less disposable.
This decision Ford made to "save money" has killed the respect in the auto media the Ford Focus earned over the past few years - after finally putting behind it all of the recalls. Europe was good enough for the new platform-based Focus (shared with the Mazda 3), but the US isn't. What message does that send? What educated buyer will choose an old platform with some tweaks over the all new Mazda 3 platform with its attractive, modern design? Discount shoppers and rental fleets, that's who. Call this the marketing bungle of the decade for Ford. They are letting the Focus tread the same sorry path as the Taurus.
Yes, the Taurus, once the dominant sedan in the market, has become a pale shadow of itself, and seems to get a refresh once for every two complete redesigns of the Toyota Camry. At the very least, Ford appears to have given up on the Taurus, and sullied a name that once was more recognized as the "car of choice" than the Toyota Camry or Honda Accord. And with the way Ford has ignored the vehicle, preferring instead to pawn them off on rental car agencies or with heavy incentives, its no wonder.
The problem as I see it is that Ford's people don't seem to realize that Ford is no longer the automatic choice for many Americans. A majority of buyers today don't think "Ford First", unless perhaps they are thinking about buying an SUV - the Explorer or a Pickup - the F-150. These are the two powerful models that just manage to keep Ford relevant. In other words, people go to a Ford dealership with a pair of vehicles in mind - they don't go to a Ford dealership to "shop around and buy a Ford". It's not the Ford brand itself that gets people into an Explorer by chance. That's because the brand is no longer recognized as being a brand that can offer you a top notch vehicle of every type - no matter what you are looking for. You settle for a Taurus because your company offers a discount. You settle for a Focus because you have the discount and your son or daughter wants a car (but they really want that new Scion or Honda). And you aren't even sure you are getting the best deal even with discounts - with the prices and standard equipment those Korean manufacturers are offering these days.
Ford has plans for the brand's future. The Five-Hundred, Freestyle, and concept vehicle formerly known as "Futura". These seem like noble efforts, but none of these cars seems to aggressively take on the Camry and Accord. The "Futura" is in fact a restyled Mazda 6, and yet it will take years from Mazda 6 launch until the "Futura" hits Ford dealer lots. By that time, the Accord and Camry will have undergone yet another transformation, no doubt raising the bar further. And the Mazda 6, excellent vehicle though it is, isn't winning 1st place in all of the auto magazine comparos. So the Futura, unless it is a radical departure from the Mazda 6 by its time of release, is doomed to be second-rate; and an also-ran from the start.
Ford has been on a Bland Restyling Crusade for the last few years. The Explorer, Crown Victoria, Expedition and Freestar minivan all draw heavily from styling cues of their pre-redesign versions, and in the case of the Crown Vic and Freestar, its hard to even guess that they were redesigned by looking at the exteriors. The Freestar looks so much like a Windstar that Ford had to change the name to ensure that people would recognize that it wasn't the same vehicle. Was the Windstar so hot and popular that Ford felt like making the redesigned version look like a clone? Doubtful.
The Five-Hundred and Freestyle that looked so great as concepts look a little more bland as production vehicles, and are two new names that buyers will not automatically have on their lists. They will need to fight an uphill climb for name recognition, and without standout styling - styling that the 1980's Taurus rocked the market with - this will be difficult.
The customer has little in the way of innovative and fresh design to draw him or her into a Ford dealership, and yet Ford execs seem to think that slightly above average looks, and slightly above average equipment and power are all they need to maintain market share.
GM's Chevrolet is undergoing a clear "revolution", dumping outdated product for new, fresh styling. Ford, on the other hand, seems content with "evolution". But evolution alone, isn't going to keep Toyota and Nissan from nipping at their heels, and at best may only keep the status quo - a gradual, if slow, decline. Ford needs new breakthrough product, and strong bolstering of known names like Focus and Taurus, but they just don't have it. Essentially they have given up on Focus and Taurus, in the name of "cost reduction". In the pipeline and on the lots is product that looks much the same as what was there last year, and restytled Mazda engineered products are coming far too slowly.
Ford execs seem willing to let Mazda, Volvo, and Jaguar have all of the attractive, inspiring vehicles, while Ford appeals to fans of conservative, demure styling. In an attempt to be as Everyman, Blue Collar, Plain Jane as possible, Ford is fast becoming the Vanilla brand that you buy only because you have to - and unless you plan to buy a 2005 GT or Mustang, certainly nothing to brag about.
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Ford's Feeble Fight for Dominance
4-14-2004
GMinsidenews.com
Anyone who has seen the new Ford F-150 can attest to the effort put in to that vehicle. It is sure to solidify Ford's position in trucks, and help them maintain the best selling truck model status the F-150 has held for so many years. The 2005 Mustang looks promising as well, and is sure to be a hit - at least with current Mustang fans and the pony car / muscle car crowd. But aside from these two cars and the halo Ford GT car, Ford seems to be on a gradual decline that even they themselves have little will to fight against. It's as if they've consigned the last of their fading glory to the likes of Toyota and Nissan.
There are some at GM who might cheer the way Ford is slowly stepping into the shadows, but I see it as a sad thing. A once proud and mighty company - THE company that started it all - is putting on a good show, but the spirit is slipping away, as the engineers in Detroit increasingly throw in their towels and entrust their future to Mazda engineers in Japan and Volvo safety experts, all the while styling Ford product as something only a Rental Car salesman could love.
There are a few reasons I see a decline, while those at Ford are giving sunny Power Point presentations on their future.
Inexplicable actions like denying the US market the next-generation Ford Focus platform because of "costs" seems dangerously close to the way Chevy and Pontiac stuck with the Cavalier/Sunfire J-body for decades - a loss leading and outdated vehicle platform that gave the division a poor reputation with Gen Y while compact cars became more desireable and less disposable.
This decision Ford made to "save money" has killed the respect in the auto media the Ford Focus earned over the past few years - after finally putting behind it all of the recalls. Europe was good enough for the new platform-based Focus (shared with the Mazda 3), but the US isn't. What message does that send? What educated buyer will choose an old platform with some tweaks over the all new Mazda 3 platform with its attractive, modern design? Discount shoppers and rental fleets, that's who. Call this the marketing bungle of the decade for Ford. They are letting the Focus tread the same sorry path as the Taurus.
Yes, the Taurus, once the dominant sedan in the market, has become a pale shadow of itself, and seems to get a refresh once for every two complete redesigns of the Toyota Camry. At the very least, Ford appears to have given up on the Taurus, and sullied a name that once was more recognized as the "car of choice" than the Toyota Camry or Honda Accord. And with the way Ford has ignored the vehicle, preferring instead to pawn them off on rental car agencies or with heavy incentives, its no wonder.
The problem as I see it is that Ford's people don't seem to realize that Ford is no longer the automatic choice for many Americans. A majority of buyers today don't think "Ford First", unless perhaps they are thinking about buying an SUV - the Explorer or a Pickup - the F-150. These are the two powerful models that just manage to keep Ford relevant. In other words, people go to a Ford dealership with a pair of vehicles in mind - they don't go to a Ford dealership to "shop around and buy a Ford". It's not the Ford brand itself that gets people into an Explorer by chance. That's because the brand is no longer recognized as being a brand that can offer you a top notch vehicle of every type - no matter what you are looking for. You settle for a Taurus because your company offers a discount. You settle for a Focus because you have the discount and your son or daughter wants a car (but they really want that new Scion or Honda). And you aren't even sure you are getting the best deal even with discounts - with the prices and standard equipment those Korean manufacturers are offering these days.
Ford has plans for the brand's future. The Five-Hundred, Freestyle, and concept vehicle formerly known as "Futura". These seem like noble efforts, but none of these cars seems to aggressively take on the Camry and Accord. The "Futura" is in fact a restyled Mazda 6, and yet it will take years from Mazda 6 launch until the "Futura" hits Ford dealer lots. By that time, the Accord and Camry will have undergone yet another transformation, no doubt raising the bar further. And the Mazda 6, excellent vehicle though it is, isn't winning 1st place in all of the auto magazine comparos. So the Futura, unless it is a radical departure from the Mazda 6 by its time of release, is doomed to be second-rate; and an also-ran from the start.
Ford has been on a Bland Restyling Crusade for the last few years. The Explorer, Crown Victoria, Expedition and Freestar minivan all draw heavily from styling cues of their pre-redesign versions, and in the case of the Crown Vic and Freestar, its hard to even guess that they were redesigned by looking at the exteriors. The Freestar looks so much like a Windstar that Ford had to change the name to ensure that people would recognize that it wasn't the same vehicle. Was the Windstar so hot and popular that Ford felt like making the redesigned version look like a clone? Doubtful.
The Five-Hundred and Freestyle that looked so great as concepts look a little more bland as production vehicles, and are two new names that buyers will not automatically have on their lists. They will need to fight an uphill climb for name recognition, and without standout styling - styling that the 1980's Taurus rocked the market with - this will be difficult.
The customer has little in the way of innovative and fresh design to draw him or her into a Ford dealership, and yet Ford execs seem to think that slightly above average looks, and slightly above average equipment and power are all they need to maintain market share.
GM's Chevrolet is undergoing a clear "revolution", dumping outdated product for new, fresh styling. Ford, on the other hand, seems content with "evolution". But evolution alone, isn't going to keep Toyota and Nissan from nipping at their heels, and at best may only keep the status quo - a gradual, if slow, decline. Ford needs new breakthrough product, and strong bolstering of known names like Focus and Taurus, but they just don't have it. Essentially they have given up on Focus and Taurus, in the name of "cost reduction". In the pipeline and on the lots is product that looks much the same as what was there last year, and restytled Mazda engineered products are coming far too slowly.
Ford execs seem willing to let Mazda, Volvo, and Jaguar have all of the attractive, inspiring vehicles, while Ford appeals to fans of conservative, demure styling. In an attempt to be as Everyman, Blue Collar, Plain Jane as possible, Ford is fast becoming the Vanilla brand that you buy only because you have to - and unless you plan to buy a 2005 GT or Mustang, certainly nothing to brag about.
