AND ……..
Ford’s North American CEO expects sales to suck wind.
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Don’t these morons see the pattern?

First time I am considering buying a Ford jeep especially after the problems they had with the explorer. Looks great can’t wait to put a order in.

It would probably sell out production in the US also! We need more inspired Fords, Mercury’s & Lincolns in the good O’ USA!

This should destroy rav4play sales in europe

This looks like a logical replacement for the Ford Escape/Mazda Tribute in the US.. so logical, in fact, that we’ll likely never see it.

Ford would be ahead of TOYota right now if they gave us stuff like this :/

Done blame ford, blame your monkey commander in chief for killing the dollar. Now its too expensive to import these gems.

Looks a bit like a mondeo SUV and theres NOTHING wrong with that. Screw you NA ford, we want euros.

those mondeo inspired headlights are awesome…this would be the 1st ford in my driving history I’d actually buy as a family vehicle (their commercial stuff is solid)

is it just me, or would this car look really good with a messenger’s head on the grille where the blue oval is, and a big “mariner” badge on the back? and preferably at your friendly local L/M dealer next to a navigator.

but of course, that would make too much sense.

what happened to the lln format for a minute there?

04focus with all the R&D wasted on the Edge/MKX this would destroy both models, so ford wants the stupid part of the population to buy them while this sits overseas.

illwill – yes, blame it on america. maybe its just the euro thats way too strong? Having a strong currency isnt neccessarily a good thing. The Japanese yen is extremely weak which actually HELPS toyonda, nissan, etc. because they can import their cars into the US very cheaply at current exchange rates.

By the way, GM is importing Opel’s as Saturn’s so why can’t Ford?

Commodore, he’s blaming it on America because the dollar is the currency that is changing. Sterling has remained pretty consistent relative to the Euro, but the dollar has devalued massively in recent history against both. Its either a decision made by the US or financial policy meltdown, but either way, the situation is the US’s fault, nobody else’s.
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It is fun to watch as the US realises that your cars are pants compared to the rest of the world. The GM boys are crying out for Holdens and Opels, the Ford boys are spitting the dummy because the Europeans took all the good ones, meanwhile we\re actually buying Beemers, Benzes and Audis because the cars you are pining for are thought of as pretty ordinary to us. Its especially heartening when we realise that you can’t afford our cars and the ones you can (VW) seem to be built to a lower standard for your market.
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How’s that expensive war in Iraq looking now?

Ford can’t sell those in US cause the prices will be too expensive and they won’t be able to sell that much. You want them but you won’t be willing to pay them.

Before you euros all jump on chimp-boy, remember that 12 years ago under bubba the dollar was as weak as it is now (against the D-Mark, then). At current rates it is about 1.40DM/$ converted back thru the euro, and in June/July 1995 it hit 1.35DM/$, so bubba was just as bad, but you haters have to bitch about something. The dollar fluctuates up and down. It happens.

Got Handling, most europeans buy Fords, Opels, Fiats, VWs, Renaults, SEATs, Skodas, etc. If it were not for the massive company car incentives, Bimmers, Benzes, and Audis would have a far tougher time of it on the continent, but even then the luxury marques offer a bevy of smaller engines and minimal option packages to move a unit in Europe and make it affordable, but here in the states they import typically well loaded and powered units. They could offer that here also, but it would conflict with their “high-end” image so they don’t.

And Ford doesn’t need to import these. They can configure a plant and source parts here and build them and the WILL sell. They choose not to for internal political reasons, not marketing ones. Internal politics can kill a company and Mullaly needs to deal with this soon.

As for Saturn Astras, GM will either break even or lose a little on each unit stateside, but they are doing it intelligently. Bring it here, test the waters, if it sells, then configure a plant and build them here at a profit. The total of the little bits they will lose on each “test” unit is nothing compared to the outlay to configure a whole plant should the experiment fail, so it is a cheap trial. Smart move.

Got Handling – don’t make this a war debate. I think the housing market problems have much more effect on whatever is happening than the war. Even though I’m against it, I’m not gonna waste my time debating you over it. You are just a classic example of someone abroad (you don’t sound like you’re from the US) that hates America for…whatever reason. Because we are richer and better than you? Probably

Also, its bad for Europe that the euro is strong because their companies have a difficult time exporting things…this is just one instance when an American company is affected by it. Japan has a VERY weak currency, and they use it to their advantage. But you keep bashing the US for a sinking dollar.

Ricardo has it right when it comes to the fact that it doesn’t matter if you lose a little money. An example is Toyota with their Prius which made them a poster boy for eco-friendliness.

Commodore, I think you will find that the “classic” reason for hating the USA (the rest of America does not engender the same antipathy) is your government’s arrogant, self-serving foreign policy and definitely not some form of jealousy.

The dollar is DEAD … .80 USDX is the new ceiling and everything will get more expensive as it continues its fall. Get used to it.

Yeah, but the war is the 600 lb. gorilla in the room that no one talks about. Commodore, I’m not an economist or finance guy, and I don’t align myself along party lines (I vote for men and women, not their parties) but I think the war is affecting *everything*.

The conservative cost of the war right now is half a trillion dollars. That’s *conservative*. Now, Clinton had a balanced budget, but Bush Jr. does not. That means, even with no war, that half a trillion bucks is money the U.S. doesn’t have to begin with. The U.S. finances, to a large degree, its trade and budget deficit with loans from other countries. Check the NASDAQ, S&P 500, etc. and find out why that’s smart. The U.S. needs foreign money to strengthen its dollar. The U.S. needs strong foreign economies to shoulder its burden.

Tell me how this won’t affect U.S. competitiveness on the world stage?

Of course, Ricardohead and others probably right too–there are other logistical and marketing concerns to prevent car companies from building whatever cars they want wherever and hoping they’re successful, but easy to import foreign cars, and hard to export U.S. cars is a big problem.

The White house is totally corrupt, there are Ford and GM execs in the cabinet as well as Exxon suites. Any idiot with half a brain can figure out why we are in the middle east, why our own govt pressured by oil and axed by the big 3 killed the pure electric car. GM, Toyota and Honda produced excellent EV cars because they were forced by the California EPA. Our own govt shut it down, and when the Auto and Oil execs were in the white house the Big 3 gave up on hybrid tech, leaving the Japanese to proceed unknowing to them the Big 3 not moving forward. They now hold the lead. Bush, VP and friends are all corrupt. They will go down in history as the absolute worse administration in US history, and the fact that we dont have the balls to stand up as Americans, and be real Patriots, to impeach the Press and VP. I am ashamed to be an American. Its no wonder the rest of the world hates us. I would too.

With the money spend on the war we could have designed installed and PAID for a complete Solar and Wind Electric grid to power the entire US. Add to that the all electric car, of which we have had a fine example of such as the EV1 in the 90’s. We have the infrastructure in place now. Thats why Oil spent untold dollars pressuring, sweet talking, the govt, (dont forget Bush is big oil). Fact of the matter is the oil companies have been keeping the American autos afloat. That is why we get crap cars here, because they dont need to spend the dollars to produce good cars. As a CEO of an Oil company would you not fear the Electric car. I certainly would. Cheaper to run, 90% less maintenance, more reliable because there are almost no moving parts, your power infrastructure is already in place, faster and more powerful than gas, and of course its better for the environment. I think Oil has reached its peak, and the Oil guys know this, they in turn are telling/allowing the big 3 they will be cutting or reducing the money given to them, in turn they are now having to compete for real.

“CarLord”, I don’t disagree with everything but why would GM or any other carmaker build an electric car that only needs, say, 100 parts in total versus the thousands now needed to employ all those line workers? Not to mention the service jobs lost as mechanics would be twiddling all apendages. You know the unions and society in general wouldn’t accept such downsizing in such a short period of time.

ALL THE BEST