It’s not just durability but also choice of interior materials down to to the feel of the buttons. If Ford can match that Toyota quality, then I’ll give it a try for personal use.

About 75% of the way through the video, JD Shanahan is giving a talk sitting at his desk. In the background is a next generation MKZ/Zephyr that looks great. Although it has the unrealistic wheels/tires, the body lines look great and that’s exactly what they should be building.

Worth watching just to get the sneak peek. I hope it’s a viable next generation option and not just a stretch goal that will never be achieved but acts as “inspiration of a design language.” What did you think of my J Mays impersonation just then?

I suppose any new car that’s statistically compared to a hovercraft Camry is thought of as great these days. The Fusian has an AWD option, right?

Veda, have you felt the buttons in the new Camry? I really believe that even though the center stack looks awesome, it really feels cheap and plastic-y. I think it’s because the plastic feels really thin. I haven’t felt up the Fusion so I can’t judge there.

davidg, I’m not seeing any differences between the current MKZ and that picture other than the wheels.

I’d like to see some Ford ads in the style of the “Hyundai Challenge” campaign, where they directly compare their product to the competition. Fusion has some solid selling points over the Camry, yet I haven’t seen any advertising other than the “Life in [D]rive”.

I am glad the Fusion was not a huge failure like the 500 was.
But once Ford starts placing the three bar grille to every car they make, what will be unique about the Fusion?

In the video, one has to wonder how severe the durability test drives are if the driver isn’t wearing a safety helmet.

Would the buyer of this car be wearing a helment if they hit a curb a 50 mph? No so for testing you better be able to do it fealing safe with out a helment. But I am sure they do harder testing than that. But there not going to show it for a video theres no point.

Brendino… I see a big difference in the backend and also the roofline…looks a bit Audi A4-esque to me which is a dbl edged sword as wasnt the 500 supposed to be an A6 and we know how that went over.

Additionally, Ford tends not to do too much “versus competitor” stuff in their ads for two reasons: 1) they think it’s not classy to shoot down their competition but would rather prove their abilities and 2) if they make claims such as “faster, stronger, more fuel efficient than X,” it opens up to litigation and also to having to edit if the next gen of something changes… Superlatives are great but traditionally don’t last long but someone elses widget will improve on it 6 months from now.

They do have some great materials that they give to dealers on A vs B vs C stuff which highlights differentiators… These are traditionally training materials that the zone mgrs provide to the store sales teams.

I’ve seen the stuff on the F150 versus Chevy/GMC and it’s pretty impressive differentiation. Also good tip sheets available on the forthcoming Edge vs Murano vs Pacifica, etc. Just have to ask the dealers for the info as I’m sure they’d be more than willing to provide.

I am tired of hearing and, in this case seeing, manufacturers, Domestic and Import alike, tout initial quality. WalMart stores when they first open look great. They’re fresh, clean, and friendly. Give’em a year and they look like dog crap! (similar smells, too!) I want to see how a car drives and feels at 50,000 miles. Lets hear how tight it is then. That’s where you really see the quality of materials used and how well a car is assembled.

Chris – I believe that’s why they have the JD Power long-term quality ratings which track the vehicles after 3 years of driving. In 2005 GM, Toyota and Ford did quite well in the survey – better than the IQS would suggest for the Americans. I didn’t see the 2006 survey.

The problem with saying “this car will be great at 50,000″ or “this car will fall apart by 50,000″ is that model lines change all the time. Consumer Reports does a long-term average to “predict” quality, but unfortunately, that disadvantages car lines that have had past problems or whose line quality has improved significantly. The 2000-2001 Ford Focus was a disaster in terms of quality, but the 2002- models have been good (the 2002 model was #2 in the JD Power long term quality survey). However, Consumer Reports says that a Focus you buy today will be bad and falling apart in a few years because they incoporate 2000 and 2001 data in there when the car is different and even the plant they’re produced at is different. My current car is an ‘05 Focus with 30k, and it drives better than the day I bought it and looks as good (save a couple small scratches here and there) I don’t have kids to destroy it anymore, though, which helps.

This method also smooths over bumps of new product launches. When the Toyota Avalon, a traditionally good quality product, was updated in 2005, it suffered from a number of quality issues that would have made it a bad vehicle to buy in 2005. However, because its average reliability was good, Consumer Reports said it was good quality, which was false. My last car was an ‘01 Civic which had any number of electrical issues. To Honda’s credit, they basically rewired my car for free, and it still runs fine at 90k, although it’s starting to show (and feel and sound) its age.

What I like is when a car has been on the road for 5 years and you can still look at it and think its a good car. Some cars become dated very fast.

FORD has a VERY LONG way to go in the quality department thats for sure. It’ll take them years and years to catch up.

Zan: couldn’t have said it better myself.

Brendino, I did. If the buttons in the Fusion feels like the much praised european Focus sportback, then they are still in a lower class than the new Camry. Both which I had a chance to keep and test drive for a whole week.

Not really sure what the appeal is to the exterior look of this car. It has a traditional body with nothing new about the design. Clear taillights will look dated soon, and the grill just looks like a simple last minute idea that seems to have caught on within Ford. I’m glad it’s doing well, since I want to see Ford thrive again.

It must come down to being the default choice for the “buy American” types. DC has yet to replace the dated Stratus and GM has the Colbalt (enough said). The one to watch will be Saturn, with it’s new Aura.

The Fusion looks so old already, even a camry looks more modern. I want the new Mondeo

Knock the 3 razor blade grill all you want, guys. It sure as hell looks better than that hideous schnahhhz Toyota pastes onto the front of most new Camrys (except the SE) or that on the front of the Mazda 3, plus at least the Ford front looks different and not so bland and boring as hell like most all its competitors pretty much all the way up to cars costing twice as much.

Let me see if I’m anywhere near the average American demographic:

1. I think the Fusion is a good car with a good start
2. I would consider buying one
3. I would test drive a Honda or Toyota first and consider it first

I’d like to think I don’t have a bias toward any auto manufacturers in general (After owning a few, I despise all Korean made cars,) especially domestics. I like the Fusion, but I’d prefer a compact sedan anyway, cause I’m not very tall or fat. But Ford doesn’t have a sporty compact worth talking about. Mazdaspeed3 looks much better, if you’ve caught any comparos between others like the WRX and the Mazdaspeed3. And yes I know Ford owns Mazda, but I’m still waiting for a Focus RS to show up in the states… wouldn’t it be nice if they made another SVT Focus actually for the US market and throw it on the Volvo chassis that the Euro is on? That would be nice. Perhaps an SVT Fusion, arranged like a Mazdaspeed6 without the pig-dog weight that slows it down… ahhh. That sounds relaxing.

That Lincoln in the background could very well be the large Lincoln sedan to debut after the MKS. Those proportions shown in the video could fit a large sedan.

yeah quality my ass. why don’t they just bring in the euro focus, the euro mondeo, and the aussie falcon. there’s a model range that looks better, drives better, and is better quality then any of the crap ford produces. i mean look at how well chrysler is doing by globalising its cars.

DCX just posted big losses, for the record.

Every post about Ford brings this up: bringing in the Euro Focus is NOT PLAUSIBLE. It’s a 30,000 dollar car there, so you’d have to cheapen it and bring it to American regulations, which would mean that it costs Ford a lot and either the interior suffers or FoMoCo loses money on every car.

The Fusion is much more American than the Mondeo, in a good way. And I think the Falcon’s platform is good, but the vanilla styling wouldn’t fly here…it reminds me of the GTO (in terms of blandness), and, quality of the vehicle nonwithstanding, we all saw how the GTO did in America.

All I know is that I loved the halo Ford GT, am *marginally* interested in the new Mustang and am rather not interested anything else Ford Motor Company sells on U.S. shores.

We keep TELLING YOU we want your European and Australian models, Ford… why don’t you take a hint?

To: Brendino

The European Ford Focus is indeed a $30,000 vehicle… but then, so is the European VW Golf.

Yet VW can sell the European Golf (as the Rabbit) in the states for a base price of $14,900. And they manufacture it in Germany.

So Ford should be able to manufacture the European Focus in a stateside factory at a lower cost… Which means it should be possible to sell the European Focus for a base price under that of VW’s German-made Rabbit.

I would think that a $13-14,000 Euro Focus would sell like hotcakes.

yawn ive driven the 06 fusion and i dislike it id much rather have a inpala or hhr or evan a cobalt but this thing is a bunch of crap!! for a big car this thing rides like crap my lesabre is about the same size and u cant evan feel the bumps but what happend this thing also looks like crap the grill sticks out way to much!!

y does everybody want the mustang everybody has one no one looks oput and says wow a mustang thats just like saying hey look a camary!! they look way to plastic i was looking at the convirtable gt i think it was 06 might have been 05 but when the guy closed the door the hole windshiel moved the pillar’s and all, it was a good 2 1/2 wabble!! i sed crap so i bought an hhr!! let me just say that thing is one sick car that car has a hella good stearo it bumps!!