That Ford in your future could soon have a lot more Cologne in it. 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.
via Auto Week
I’ve got to agree. Ford has practiced “launch and abandon” way too many times. The first-gen Taurus and first-gen Focus are two prime examples. Subsequent models were never as good as the original, and if they re-hashed the original, they got passed up by more agile and ambitious competitors that simply passed them by.
HInts that Ford will increase the involvement of its European arm for US cars has been coming for as long as I can remember. Yet, precious few have actaully evolved into cars that compare with their European counterparts. The Contour slipped away while Europeans saw two more well received and well engineered models. The new one is a dynamic knockout! Finally, the excellent but now aging Focus set a benchmark for ride and drive dynamics in both Europe and the US.
Now, with great consternation, we know that the current Focus platform will continue in the US into the next decade. By that time, Europeans will be enjoying the third generation Focus! The current US Focus, as good as it is, is being surpassed by new models from other makers, a mistake Ford has made over and over again with successful cars; a tragic mistake it seems destined to repeat. Worse, while other makers rediscover its usefullness, for 2008 Ford will abandon the very attribute that makes small cars work – the hatch!