What exactly does Mark Fields do? apart from lots of love for his own hair.
He just spouts platitudes

Shouting meaningless platitudes with zero substantiation is what most senior managers do best.

bingo!

btw
bold moves is gay

I agree that bold moves is gay but the Edge seems like it might(and i use that word losesly) be a good car.

I wonder how fast it will be with that new 3.5 Duratec. If the car is fast and has a nice interior then that will be a deciding factor if i would consider it as a possible next car for me.

It’s not good enough to be gay

That was a very optimistic clip for a very optimistic vehicle.
Its style is good, its pricing is competitive, it’s got a solid engine and transmission…this *should* be a big hit.

So Jesus and Ricardo: aside from thinking that Mark Fields is full of hot air, what do you think of the CAR? I think it’s a great looking car, and if it drives as well as it looks, I think Ford’s going to sell a bunch of them. I’ve been down on Ford for several years now after my ‘95 Taurus, with only 50K miles, needed a new engine after the head gaskets failed in its 3.8 V6.

But I do believe that a company can “change its colors” for the better, and at first glance, the Edge appears to be evidence that Ford is doing just that. Ford is literally fighting for its survival, and it’s amazing what a company can do when its back is against the wall. What they need to do next is introduce a new Focus, and a replacement for the ancient Crown Victoria, that are truly inspiring.

This better than some of the recent clips – the edge looks like a good competitor too – i wish they showed more of the Edge’s features. Like does it have a fold flat 3rd row? How many airbags come as standard?

-Hal- Head over to fordvehicles.com and build and price one, the prices and options are all legit at this point.
On a sidenote, It’s amazing how immature and biased this place has become.

Hal — it actually doesnt have a third row seat (they want you to buy a freestyle or an explorer for that). additionally, with the people mover coming out, they’ll want the 7 passenger vehicle to be different. They have studied whether people want a 3rd row seat or not but it’s definitely not designed for that.

From an evolution perspective, they want the Edge to be the CUV for Double Income No Kids or us (Double Income and an infant) and then when the baby gets older or gets a sibling, you’ll move to a Freestyle or a People Mover.

From a product placement, marketing materials, and advertising placement viewpoint, they want late 20s/early 30s to take this out to a nice dinner but be able to carry a stroller if they need to… I don’t want grandparents to drive it…

I really don’t like this car. To me it lacks edge (no pun intended) It’s not enough of anything, bland styling, bland interior, probably bland driving experience. It may sell well, i don’t think it will save Ford on its own. By the way what happened to all the money Ford made out of SUVs?
Smartrix, Opinion by its very nature is biased. The immature comments and the way the self-righteous respond to them are one of the main reasons for using this site.

Gro – how can you say it’s not enough of anything. It appears to be the right amount of everything for the market. The styling is not bland. If this is bland then so are GM’s new trio, Toyota’s new Camry and the 300C causes the drivers to fall asleep at the wheel. What’s your definition of not bland? The Element? It has to be attractive first.

The driving dynamics are probably spectacular. The one thing Ford does well is dynamics. The Focus was, until maybe this year with the launch of the Civic, the standard by which small cars were judged for driving dynamics. The Fusion is stellar. The Five Hundred despite the flack it gets is the best driving large car I’ve ever driven; extrememly responsive and handles very well. Even Ford’s Explorer has stellar driving dyanmics. And if your definition is power, the Edge seems to have it.

Everyone thinks that one vehicle needs to save Ford and unfortunately that will not happen. This is not the 1980s. The market is SO competitive. It will take a line-up of vehicles with the same quality of the Edge to compete. I guarantee that this vehicle alone will not save Ford, but this vehicle with a continually improved Fusion, a continually improved Mustang, a good Super Duty (yes, even in our gas paranoia), a nicely redone Escape and a new Focus could.

Finally, all of Ford’s SUV money went to pay pensions and health care for its tens of thousands of retired workers. Ford’s (and GM’s and Chrysler’s) cost structure is the disadvantage. Less money went to products and R&D because labor costs were astronomical. Less revenue came in because good R&D wasn’t done. And so on. There are other factors like high cost of quality, but manufacturing quality over the last 10 years was often a reflection of more difficult cost environments. Product quality was a reflection of less R&D.

Robert I want an s-max or new Mondeo or Euro Focus ST,
I prefer the upcoming GM trio. Throughout the 50s and 60s GMs styling reigned supreme and their products were always superior to the competitions, i think GM will regain that supremacy soon. Next CTS looks promising, I wouldn’t mind an Acadia and next Malibu is shaping up nicely.
If I were in the market for a crossover i’d take one of the great lease deals on an R class

Scott, I’ve said before on this site and will say again that I love the Edge. I drive an F150 and love it, and if I needed a new vehicle next year the Edge would be at or near the top of the list right now. Cool, good (I hope), practical, stylish, fair power, good price point even well optioned.
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Doesn’t change my mind, though, about senior management at any company. All a load of wankers.

Bold moves isn’t gay…

It’s ghey.

Ricardo–yeah, I think I agree with you about senior management at most companies. But I must say, that they have so many different hats they have to wear, I don’t know why more of them don’t go crazy. I can’t even begin to imagine what it must be like to be the CEO of Ford or GM right now.

But getting back to the Edge; I think Ford has a hit on its hands, and I really hope they do. As much as I’ve bashed them for several years now, I don’t want to see them go down the tubes, and if they don’t get something going soon, I’m afraid that’s a real possibility. I actually prefer the look of the Edge to Lincoln’s version. The front end of the Lincoln just looks too “fussy” to me, whereas the Edge is very clean and modern, without being weird.