Mulally = Moron!

Why is it that Ford’s best cars continue to only be available outside of the US?

People won’t want the small cars until gas gets to Euro. prices. Till then. Big cars, Cheap gas, Lawyers for every one. America.

too bad… it would be fun to hear how people from different parts try to pronounce Ka!

I think Ka is a smart decision. Since it is re-skinned 500, why bother? As far as Rangers, the people who drive Rangers are not posting here and generally not complaining. They don’t give a poop that their trucks are Regan vintage.

Not importing the Aus Ranger, not having a replacement, and not wanting to abandon the small truck market seems odd for a company that has made some decent product decsions lately.

Funny… subcompacts like Fit, Mini, and Accent are selling quite well. I’m sure both the Fiesta and 500 will do just fine over here too.

Gas prices have been steadily climbing over the past few months, and I’m sure they will continue to do so… despite the fact that retail sales are still down and unemployment is over 10% in many states.

Ranger is the only real entry left in the “small pickup” market. Colorado/Canyon, Dakota, Tacoma, and Frontier are all approaching full-size. As fuel prices continue to climb Ford could sell it like mad if they made a competent offering instead of using a platform that is possibly the most dated thing on the market. The saddest thing is that the new F-150 gets better mileage than Ranger, which weighs probably half as much.

Johnny – your orange Ranger just went up in value. Soon to be a collectible

Hey it is collectible already. In NJ you can put “historic” tags on it – 25 years old.

I believe the Ka is smaller than the Fit and Accent? Can anyone confirm. Also the Mini sells on cool styling ( and sales are down) and the Ka while looking decent enough is not a Mini competitor.

Ka is just too small to sell in any kind of volume.

Good move, the Ka is too small. The Fiesta will serve this segment much better.

Ford is just overlooking things again. It’s a small margin car but it can sell alot in hard times like these.

i can understand there being little of any market for the Ka, but the ranger probably will, and with the mahindra pickup coming would have some competition soon too.

Ford at least recognize that you need to work on getting your (european market) small clean turbodiesels over here, and helping ESTABLISH that market, instead of waiting until everyone else does….

little IF any market **

Mullally must have read the latest issue of Automobile Mag

Ka isn’t a subcompact, its a microcompact. A-class. I’m surprised they’re not offering it here just to please environmentalists. It would struggle to sell 5,000 units annually, so I do see it.

The Ranger decision puzzles me. You can get around the chicken tax by sending kits. Wouldn’t be that big of a seller, but its better than the current 90s dinosaur and not everyone wants a full size.

Ford is smart not to continue trying to compete with GM in the compact truck market. The Ranger is old as dirt and unreliable whereas the Colorado and Canyon (despite ploys by the media to trash them) are the best quality, most reliable trucks in the class.

As for the Ka, well Ford might be waiting to see if the Fiesta fails compared to the Aveo or the Spark.

GM. An American Revolution

Ranger needs an update, there is a market. Look how many Taco’s Toyota and Frontiers Nissan sell.

Ancient or not I’m pretty damned pleased with the orange Ranger so far. It’s funny how we as enthusiasts get so caught up in the latest and greatest, comparing specs and analyzing things to death at times… but when it came right down to it for what we required the vehicle to do and for what we were willing to pay the current Ranger fit the bill better than anything else out there right now.

And DenverGuy you’re actually right. Thanks to the screaming deal Ford gave us during that employee pricing offer I probably could get more for the truck than I paid for it.

RaineMan, mine has the 4.0l with the 5spd auto and the 3.73 limited slip and the mileage hasn’t been that bad. And by not bad I mean I certainly have not been alarmed with its consumption… I mean it’s a truck so I wasn’t expecting Fusion hybrid numbers. Again it’s funny when you look at the numbers and go gee, only 207 horse from a 4.0l V6… but when you hit the skinny pedal and from a seat of your pants perspective she also goes pretty good. Lots of torque… like a truck should have.

Is Ford back to it’s old ways? Let’s hope not!

Of course Ka will never sell in the U.S. — Ford will never want it to succeed here.

Not horribly disappointing. I think I’d rather have the 500 anyway. Lets just hope they keep the global market Focus on track for coming here. Not that the current Focus is bad; it’s just fugly in a really bad way.

Johnny… I got a brand new 2001 regular cab Ranger 4×4 with the 4.0, 5-speed auto, and 4.10 rear my Senior year in High School. It was a good truck… but the gas mileage killed me. I got about 200 miles on a 12 gallon tank, roughly 17MPG out of that 4.0.

All in all though, that was my only real complaint about the vehicle. It was rugged and dependable, the 4WD handled snow, ice, and mud just fine. I sold it in 2005, right before Katrina hit and gas prices went through the roof… and I’m glad I did.

be patien guys, it cost alot to bring vehicle like that in to US. I don’t think anyone want to pay for $15K KA, and just like American cars sold over seas too. look:

2010 Camaro SS in Australia sale for $100K or more
2010 Camaro SS in US sale for $45K or lower (top)

There is alot things need to be change before they get to US, and it takes time and money and I’m sure they already work on it. there also rumor that Ford Falcon is coming back US, however it is, but is still been test to make sure it is suitable for US market.

let fiat go ahead with the 500 and see how it does…if it sells, bring in the ka to compete…if it’s a flop, then fiat did the experiment for you and not bringing it here turns out to be a good move…the decision with respect to the ka is a very solid business move, imo…

on the ranger, no effing clue…i’ve tried hard to ignore that segment of vehicle since the ’80s, although i did like the old toyota pickups of that era…with the obligate light bar and other cheesy addons…

FIAT 500 is actually larger then Mini and if Ka is slightly larger then 500 it is larger then Mini as well. The thing is that Ka is build by FIAT for Ford in FIAT Polish plant. Perhaps it was not Ford’s decision alone.

Borat: Ka is not larger than Mini, only taller.
Ka: 3620 x 1658 x 1506
Mini: 3626 x 1688 x 1416

Do we know for sure not bringing new Ranger means no light/compact truck at all? Is the F-100 dead? Was it supposed to be the Ranger in US?

Leftwing… You watch Back to the Future too much.

@Yaroukh, you are right on external dimensions, but 500 felt more comfortable then Mini, especially in the back seat. I did not measure either one.

I know Ford is going to get a lot of flack for not bringing the Ka over, and while I too am disappointed, I can see that they might be a little cautious about that decision… after all, the Fiesta hasn’t even officially been released to the US market yet and they still need to finish getting the next-gen Focus over there.

I think if both those cars become as big of a hit as many people think they will be, then they might change their minds on the Ka.

I am actually more disappointed with their decision on the world-market Ranger. That pickup is beyond ancient and the world-market version seemed to be a nice update. I think with gas prices going back up again, many people still would like a pickup with a bed in back, but don’t want something as huge or thirsty as the F150 which has been getting bigger and heavier with each new generation.

So in China is that movie called Back to the Footure?

Your Commentboobpo
Boo
I’mstl trying 2 work dis iPhone
Clloradois de bests
All truck,but they all suck

Amazing that the only part of that he got right was “iPhone”.

Not bringing the Ka here would make sense, since it’s too small for “the average American” to live with. I’d go with the Fiesta, 500, or the Mini myself anyway.

I still think the U.S. Focus looks like crap, compared to the Euro Focus.

I threw up when I saw new Ranger.

Look for a new Ranger to be along the same lines as the NISSAN FRONTIER, a midsized truck about based directly on the TITAN. Ironically the FRONTIER is a better seller than the TITAN, expect a similarly derived RANGER, a midsized truck based directly on the F-150, to just own the midsized truck market, or compact truck market if they are really serious about that.

The KA is too niche a car for FORD. Honestly if not for the MINI COOPER’s Boutique status, something the FIAT 500 will likely enjoy as well, The KA might be a good idea. But this is AMERICA and not EUROPE or JAPAN, there is a limit as to how small you can go. If FORD, Mulally that is, feels that the KA is not right for the US market and considering he has been batting 1000 or close to it, it’s hard to seriously doubt his judgment. Also I think the KA would price not far enough away from the Fiesta to be good for sales of either.

Who remembers the last American made or branded mini-car (Sub-sub-compact)? If you said the GEO Metro… you get the silver star. The Gold star goes to the Ford Fiesta. Both were total pieces of Kay-rap built at a time the only people buying were kids whose parents couldn’t convince them to buy a used anything else or numb-nuts who think everything smaller enough to fit in the bed of the Pick-up is awesome. Also in the land of SUVS and Pick ups, a mini car is just a coffin with a motor anyway. I’m still waiting for that new report about the guy who creams a Smart Car in his SUV and says, “I thought it was further away and I had time to stop”.

What I want though, still, is the Australian FORD FALCON brought over to the US ASAP. The Crown Vic is done this year or next, and the MUSTANG is due for another Chassis shift in 2012 or 2013. It would behoove FORD to get the Chassis over here now as a sedan and get the kinks worked out. Make it the new MERCURY MARAUDER, get some wildness out of the ECOboost V6, Crank it 400+hp, and It would also give MERCURY a reason to exist. Being a MERCURY, it would not out and out cannibalize Sales of cars like the TAURUS or the FUSION. Nor would it get in the MUSTANG’s way.

Plus MERCURY’s styling of dressing up a FORD so neatly would give this car a slick and polished look. The MILAN is just a beauty next to the Fusion. Now lets get some best in there. Heck FORD could sell this to people who missed out on buying a G8 and are feeling burned by the IMPALA Cops-only car…

Yeah we can skip the KA and the RANGER better be coming soon.

BTW, one good reason not to sell the KA in the US. The FIAT 500 and KA are the same car and FORD does not want to waste resources on a car that is going to be competing with itself. This aggravatingly, may be why FORD did not roll out he G2 Focus in the US, the MAZDA 3 and the G2 Focus are the same car.

It doesn’t really make sense but that would be the reason they would give…