I think part of that was a marketing blunder. They sold the U.DS. Mondeo (the Contour) as the replacement for the Tempo, when it was really a much better car. They should have sold the Tempo another year, so customers could see the difference between the two.

You’ll notice that the Escort and Focus were sold side-by-side for a few years in the U.S.

A4: a mirage? is that a joke?

Comment by spud, posted on July16 at 5:52 am ”

I owned one of Ford’s first world cars, a 1996 Ford Contour SE. It was a V-6 with a 5 speed manual. I loved that car – it was a blast to drive, and pretty much was a poor man’s 3-series the way it drove. It was on Car & Driver’s 10-best list for several years, and received numerous favorable reviews, especially for the SVT version which came out two years later. Yet, it never caught on well here. Part of the problem was Ford had watered down the U.S. version of the Mondeo so much that it was only about 80% of the Euro Mondeo – smaller brakes, softer suspension, no quaife differential option, smaller wheels, etc. Ford felt the Euro Mondeo was too much fun for American tastes so they softened it up and cheapened it since they felt Americans don’t know how to drive anyway. Idiots.

Then, they made the base model so weak and pedestrian that it quickly became a default rental car for Hertz. However, a stripped base 4-cylinder automatic model that you would drive at Hertz was basically an entirely different car from a loaded V-6 SE with a manual. Yet few people knew that. They thought a Contour was a Countour – weak boring rental car.

Size was another issue – it was a bit smaller than its competition which included the Altima, Accord, and Camry. Then Ford completely failed to market the car. Three years after it came out, most people still didn’t even know what a Contour or a Mystique was. Nobody knew about the SVT unless they were car nuts and read the reviews in car mags. I don’t think Ford ever marketed that car.

If Bob Lutz was at Ford, you could guarantee the Mondeo would be sold in the U.S.

Ford is a global company. It’s time they started operating like one.

Exchange rates are one factor not under the control of Ford, at the moment they are not favourable to Ford, and may well be the one major factor which would kill any profitability in bringing the cars over…

btw the 1st Mondeo (in 1991/ 1992?) was supposed to be Fords first stab at a “World car” – Monde means world in many European languages. I can;t say why it wasn’t a hit i the states – too bland a styling if I recall… and not sold as a Ford?

That’s going to change as they both move towards worldwide platforms that will be basically the same underneath, share styling cues on top, but have different levels of luxury, features, etc. In 2010 or ‘11 when the C2 Focus comes to the U.S., it will probably start around 15k (in 2007 dollars), but because they’ve built for different markets, it will be the same platform that goes for 20k-22k in Europe, just with different equipment and maybe less costly components in some areas.

Unless you’re GM, and you want to lose money on every car you sell (the Saturn Astra) just so that you’re not stuck with the Aura and the Ion in the same lineup.

Exactly why I don’t like to drive Bimmer and MB unless I really have to.

Very few pickups are sold here, thank God.