European Fords in America?

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mgronholm0520

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I am pretty much completely against American cars. I believe that foreign cars are better for a number of reasons (no need to go any further - not really an important part of the question, so I don't want any retaliations to my statements, they are simply my opinion). However, I quite like the Fords that are sold globally. I like the styling, the interior, the powertrains, and from what I've heard, they drive quite nicely. I know that we're getting the Fiesta in 2010, which I think is a great start. People like me who only like foreign cars would actually look at and consider these global Fords. Granted, the current American Fords aren't that bad, so I will give them credit there, but the global ones are still better. I think that it would make the most sense for Ford, as they would save money in manufacturing and design, and probably gain more sales in America. Basically what I'm asking is, are we going to get any more global Fords here, and is Ford doing a program where they're changing all of their cars to "world" models?
 
Ford is, indeed, on track to importing more models from their European operations in the near future. The problem euro-cars have here in the states (at least up till now) is that they are designed for slower speeds, smaller roads and different suspension tuning. I don't understand your preference for European cars vs domestic. Granted, most euros are much, much nicer looking but they ALL fall drastically short of domestics as far as reliability goes. I am constantly amazed at the tolerance Europeans have when it comes to cars that suffer regular break-downs, electrical issues, water leaks, poor build quality and ever poorer grade of materials. Even the lowest domestic built Chevy Cobalt or Ford Focus will go over 100,000 miles without major engine/drive failures. We Americans drive our cars much, much harder, longer and faster than any other country and will totally abandon a whole car company if their products leave us stranded more than once. It's taken the Big Three twentyfive years to overcome the bad taste their crappy cars left in our mouths in the seventies and early eighties and they are STILL suffering somewhat. In all honesty, a Ford MKS is just as good as an Acura but the bad old days of '70's Detroit iron still isn't completely purged from our brains. on the flip side -- Europeans line up to buy Peugeots and Rovers year after year, suffering through the pains of junk electrics, leaking sunroofs, ratty interiors, melted clutches, constant breakdowns, etc, etc. Go figure....
 
The Focus was originally a Ford UK/Germany project that they tapped to replace the aging, oft-maligned Escort - the irony being that the completely-unrelated European Escort was a really good car, sold in huge numbers, and had been a well-regarded mainstay of European roads for thirty years when it was replaced.

The Contour was sold overseas as the Mondeo, and sold very well there, too.

The problem with both the Focus and the Contour is that, while they were EU-engineered and designed, when they built them here, they did a totally crap job of it! Both cars have a bad reputation for reliability here as a result... whereas in Europe they're thought of as "good" cars.

GM has been bringing over EU and Australian models for some of this decade and the results have been *great*: the last two Malibus are basically rebadged Opels using GM Europe engines, and they've gotten progressively better. The Pontiac GTO was a huge, welcome breath of fresh air for the US sports car market, and it was designed and built in Australia. Hell, the Canyon/Colorado was deisgned as an internation market vehicle and thus had heavy input and engineering from GM EU and GM Asia... and it's a good truck.

Ford is finally wising up; hopefully for them it's not too late. The problem with what American companies have been doing for the last few decades is sticking to their guns when Americans have spoken with their wallets that they prefer the safer, better-made, more reliable cars their foreign competition produce. Now they're tapping Ford Europe... but they have to work on their production process in the US to meet the quality standards Toyota and Honda have.
 
welcome to the free market! The traditional american beer were also sold to an European company!

Now, please answer mine!:

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=ApT03c_jGhcRQBM7svbI57kazKIX;_ylv=3?qid=20081003194107AASSO7o
 
If you are in California GOOD LUCK! I have been trying to bring a TVR into Cali. for about a year. It's called "Federalizing" and even though the car will pass the tougher European smog test, and I can bolt on the minor "safety items" , science it is not a "DOT" car I am having nothing but trouble.
Matt J.
 
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