My friends will tell you I've already complained enough about the new U.S. Ford Focus since it was debuted a long time ago. I just have to restate the obvious.
I was in such anticipation for the new Focus having owned a 2000 hatch. When I bought mine, I was like WOW! Finally a cool, European designed Ford I can buy right here at home. When I bought it, they were actually hard to find - not many people knew what they were. But I was in need of a new car and I was going to get one. It was the best car for the money - period! I paid just over 13,000 for mine and it was cool looking, fun to drive, solid, had nice build quality and it was European (with an American name).
So as I started to get glimpses of the new Euro Focus, I got excited because I thought it looked pretty good. It kept a similar aesthetic and of course was from Europe again. But then they started talking about how it wasn't coming to the US and we were going to get our own Focus. Well, we all know what that means. CRAP! We're going to get CRAP!
And I was right. Can anyone say Rental Car? This car is so ugly and so not a Focus that I was infuriated. I still don't understand why Ford for one does this. They have great designers, great design directions yet they keep doing this to the American consumers as if we're all total idiots. But one thing is for sure - this car was not designed by designers. There is no guy or gal going, "Yeah, I designed the new Ford Focus". No, this was designed by bean counters, skewed focus groups, marketing people of which all have more power than the designers. Even that "old lady" from the focus group who said the Euro Focus looked like a "space ship" has more power than the designer. That's sad.
I don't know what the sales numbers are for this thing but they can't be good. I know this because their WHOLE marketing campaign has been hinged on Microsoft's voice program. Not how fun it is to drive, not how cool it is, not anything that relates it to a car. This could be a consumer electronics device if you didn't know better.
It makes me even more mad because Ford has some other strong offerings - the Fusion and the Edge for example. These are American looking AND quite handsome. They aren't as forward as the Mondeo, Euro Focus and Coupe, S-Max, C-Max - or even the Fiesta but solid, handsome designs.
Please, please Ford, GM and Chrysler. Stop giving us crap. Stop listening so much to your focus groups and take a lesson from Apple:
TELL THE PEOPLE WHAT THEY'RE GOING TO BUY.
2 comments:
When I first saw this car at the Detroit Motor Show unveiling, I was shock by its lack luster design and polarizing headlights. But the design has grown on me and know I don`t find that design as bad. In fact sales of the new Focus are doing quite well for Ford in this current high priced gas economy.
It was the restrictions of creating the new 2008 Focus using the old package and maintaining SO many hard points on the old cars. Designers were severely limited on what they could change. The biggest problem is that Ford does not commit itself to invest in great design with new platforms and packages. This problem has been with the American manufactures for a long time. If they don`t change they will become extinct.
I agree it is natural for a design to grow on us. And for sure there are limitations on any design and they are often insurmountable. But I would like for someone to explain to me why it is necessary for a European car (within the same brand) to be so much nicer than it's American counterpart? I understand that often certain types of models are brought in and not others. But aesthetics? I see no excuse other than that the American studio wanted some of the action and a political game played out. And any time that comes before design, you get a compromise in your product. Remember the phrase, "Can't we all just get along"? If everyone was actually serving the best interest of the company, these things would not happen.
This is what frustrates me - the fact that in America with all our might and expertise, we cannot make an equal product to the Germans, Italians, Japanese and soon the Koreans too. As much as American cars do not excite me, I don't want to see them extinct. This is why I'm nonetheless passionate about what they do.
I fear hearing this in my lifetime , "Remember the days when Americans made cars?" This is one of the last things we actually make in the states.
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