No, not a bottle of Old Spice in the glove compartment, but parts and design DNA hailing from the city of Cologne, in Germany. That's where Ford Motor Co. bases its European operations, and that's where much of the next North American Focus and Escape models will be designed.
Ford president and CEO Allan Mulally is on a roll to get Ford's international operations to harmonize -- to share more parts and designs between them. Heretofore, Ford's North American divisions have pretty much been an island unto themselves, not willing to utilize platforms developed in Ford's European or Australian operations (though there are notable exceptions, such as the Ford Contour/Mercury Mystique twins, based on an earlier European Ford Mondeo, or the European Fords imported as Merkurs in the 1980s).
Word ha it that the next-generation North American Ford Focus, set to d?but in 2011, will be based on the next-generation European Focus, which will also see the light of day at that time. (Ford's current North American Focus is based on an older platform that isn't sold in Europe any longer.)
In addition, look for Ford's North American operations to sport a variant of the successful European C-Max small crossover at the same time.
Ford will also be sourcing a replacement for the Ford Escape and Mercury Mariner -- and a new Lincoln crossover-- by mining the second generation of the upcoming European Ford Kuga, which is being introduced in 2008. The new Kuga-derived crossovers should hit the U.S. and Canada by 2012.