I like Ford’s progress… Hopefully they will continue in this path.

Ford’s progress? What progress?

Hopefully they will stick with the kinetic design or a variation of it. I don’t think a hybrid of the two would work.

Give us the kinetic visual brand language. Please!! I’m American, proud of it, but I hate our design sensibilities (or lack thereof.) This “in your face, bold” design approach is just dumb.

How many times do we have to say it?? Just bring the euro fords over!

YAY! About time. Let the “Bold American” RIP.

LMAO at May’s statement “Everyone’s focus will be slightly shifted.” Sure, we in the US just need to “shift” our Focus to the NEXT GENERATION!

Kinetic all the way.

FFS stop influencing Ford Europe with Ford US – it is clearly utter balls in the US and Kinetic is doing exceptionally well here!

OK, in US the biggest market Ford does not have certified engine less then 2L in displacement (or maybe 2.3L), they do not sell small cars when oil is at $95/barrel; their last attempt to outsource diesel was a disaster; dealer lots are full of cars and they are shifting design language. Watch out Toyota!

Maybe they’ll at least get rid of the godawful 3-bar grilles. Damn, those are ugly. If that’s “American” style, I’m ashamed to be an American because of just that.

Ford is trying all kinds of stuff to reinvent itself but the stigma of poor quality and unreliability will loom over Ford for many years. People have become afraid and angry at Ford which is the only reason sales are so down. The US designed Fords are just terrible but the European models are nice and much better engineered. I believe all Euro Ford engines are built in Germany. Ford will be struggling for a long time to come, and after that I strongly believe there will be no Ford, but the execs don’t care, they enjoy extremely high sallaries and after they can always become execs for another company. The few loyal Ford customers are the only ones left keeping this company afloat.

Its about time! – Dump the Bold crap!

I have found that three bar design very attractive… on their concept cars. The Trucks don’t seem to have that problem, taking more after the new F-150 or super duty trucks.

It seems to work on the Edge and the Taurus X, but the cars need to be beefier looking overal to carry that grill. It’s a very muscular looking grill and a wimpy liking family sedan just is not going to carry it will. Consider the 427 concept. Big bold, beefy, car and that grill took up the entire front end and, at least to me, looks killer. Try that with the Five-Hundred/Taurus, and you get a car that looks sharp having some measurable chrome, but not really right being so… pudgy or soft.

A single design theme should be a bit more general than just “this grill” and “these fenders”, but rather should be a expressing the concepts you want people to see in the cars that are being sold. The Mustang, for all it’s “flaws”, is pretty much what I mean, Beefy, athletic, obvious, but not garish and loud. Something that melts out of view until you actually look at it and then is a treat to see.

The 427 and that MIB-looking boxy 500 concept are great examples of what FORD had going right. They could have made “four door Mustangs” and easily replaced the Panther-platform cars. We might not even have to discuss the Falcon coming to America, except maybe as a Mercury and/or Lincoln.

For over a decade, FORD had to have seen the writing on the wall. They had to have seen the 300 and Charger opening up the floodgates of a new FR market. They had to have heard regular customers, fans, and the nigh-mindlessly faithful, clamoring for them to build some of those hot concepts. Almost all of which espoused those traits we identify with FORD, even if they don’t all look like versions of each.

FORD has its unifying theme. It’s the way they “dot their I’s and Cross their T’s” in every design they produce. They do NOT need some bland-ifying single design theme. Just better designs. If the Taurus looked sleeker, like many people remember it, or beefier, like being named after a cosmic bull would imply, I think the car would sell much better.

Unifying themes be danged! Just build the cars already. You can shake out the details over time, while you are making money on cars we will buy.

The word “bold” does not belong with “slightly shifted”.

“No time line”…. means… “we know Ford can’t come up with a decent design by ourselves but we REFUSE to let anyone with talent help us design a car people will want to buy”

Typical Ford Design Studio Meeting……

Here are the designs we received from engineering and for some new front ends and a pair of tail lights. Wow these look great.

Hey Blakkarr, the Interceptor Concept was also great and well received but the CEO of Ford was quoted as not knowing why they weren’t going to build it.

PS-Don’t forget the late early 90’s when all Fords had to have the universal design small oval front end opening. Ugh !!

Get real: Killing the interceptor made no sense

I think it was the Verve or one of the other concept cars from Europe that showed a Kinetic Ford with 3 chrome bars in the lower grille. That may be what they mean by one language. Kinetic design looks good, but like it or not they’ve kind of established the 3 bars as the Ford look here, so look for some integration of the bars into the Kinetic grille.

The Verve didn’t have the 3 bar grille. Cars are like women.
Most guys like they way the look first.
secondly, they should at least be on par or close to it “performance” wise.
3rd, they have to be livable day in and day out.

Fords been giving us Average looking, solid women that are no terrors between the sheets, but they have great day to day qualities, and are simply there to satisfy a need.

At the end of the day we want a hot chick that at least wants to perform. If her day to day qualities are lacking, trade her in for another down the road.

The American cars look like the boxes the European cars are packed in.

Ill take a Ford Mondeo turbo 6 manual in gray please =)
Im just gonna have one imported and illegally smogged hehe

WOW they are finally doing what has been obvious to every mag and enthusiast for 15 to 25 years.Cool, but it only matters if the company survives a another product cycle. And the engineering is atleast as important as the styling.

It’s about time J mays gets off his over-priced ass and does something about the failing brand. Or maybe he likes the challenge of waiting until Ford is too far gone to make a move. Now that company’s aren’t offering their employees company cars anymore, Ford can’t rely on annual corporate sales. Now they have to remember how to sell cars based on design and quality. I guess it’s just taking them a while to re-adjust. And the reason that Fords european designs are so much better is because they don’t have a truck division that they pour all their resources into.

Get real,

Sorry I got the two mixed up. The 427 was the boxy MIB-looking concept. The 500 was actually a very cool retro concept.

Jackjimturkey,

Yeah nixing the Interceptor was a very bad idea.

jeremy: “… they don’t have a truck division to pour all their resources into.”
I hope that’s not a joke, because it looks a lot like an insight.