Posts Tagged ‘Ford’

Ford’s New Escape

Posted: December 17, 2010 in Ford
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The Ford Kuga, as sold in Europe.

The next generation Ford Escape is turning into a Ford Kuga.  It will come to the US in the 3rd or 4th quarter of 2011 as a 2012 model. The Kuga is built on Ford’s new generation global C1 platform that underpins the new Focus as well as the upcoming Grand C-Max (think Mazda5) small minivan.

The Grand C-Max is coming to the US late in 2011 as a 2012 model. It can haul up to 7 people; but I think that you have to be a small child to fit in the third row seats.

Ford is still mulling over the name for the Kuga/Escape. There is a good deal of brand equity in the Escape name, but given the radical change from a truck-look to a crossover look, Ford may want a fresh start with the Kuga name. Then again, Ford likes to keep the names uniform – at least in the US.

For a long time now, SUVs and crossovers have to have names starting with an “E” while passenger cars are supposed to have a name starting with an “F.”

SUVs and CUVs:

  • Escape
  • Edge
  • Explorer
  • Expedition

Cars:

  • Fiesta
  • Focus
  • Fusion
  • Mustang (hey, they are never going to change this one)
  • Flex (it could be considered a crossover or SUV, but with an “F” name, Ford must consider it a car)
  • Taurus (again, a name with much brand equity. When Ford ditched the Taurus nameplate in favor of the “Five Hundred” nameplate, the car dropped like a rock.)

The outgoing Escape is riding on a small car platform – I think it’s the same one used for the current Focus. Ford really is bringing world-class cars to the US market. Finally.

The 2011 Ford Escape is getting a little tired, but I still think it has a decent small truck look.

Focus on the top-selling cars in the UK

Posted: December 8, 2010 in Audi, Chevrolet, Citroen, Ford, Honda, Hyundai, MINI, Nissan, Peugeot, Renault, Toyota, Vauxhall, Volkswagen
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From the 24 November 2010 issue of Autocar magazine:

The US’s top 10 list remains festooned [love the Brit’s use of the English language] with cars from the Far East. The number one best-seller Stateside between January and September was the Toyota Camry.  This was closely followed by the Honda Accord, Toyota Corolla, Honda Civic and Nissan Altima, giving a clean sweep to the Japanese car firms for the entire top five.

The highest placed home-grown, so to speak, was the Chevrolet Malibu [6th place], while in seventh was Ford’s Fusion (a Mondeo-sized ‘sedan’ not to be confused with the ungainly Fiesta descendant that wears the same badge over here). Hyundai’s Sonata was eight, the aforementioned Focus was ninth and the Chevrolet Impala rounded off the top 10.

In the UK, the top 10 for the same period of time was:

  1. Ford Fiesta
  2. Ford Focus (not the same as the one sold here, yet)
  3. Vauxhall Astra (GM-Europe)
  4. Vauxhall Corsa (GM Europe)
  5. Volkswagen Golf
  6. Volkswagen Polo
  7. Peugeot 207
  8. Renault Clio
  9. MINI
  10. Audi A3

The only car in common was the Ford Focus and even that isn’t the same unremarkable Focus sold here. It’s the 2nd generation European Focus.  The 3rd generation Focus will be sold worldwide, including in the US, early next year with US MSRP beginning at $16,270 for the sedan.

2012 Ford Focus Hatchback. MSRP for the base SE hatch: $18,065

Also, the UK list is almost exclusively small cars, by US standards, with smaller gasoline or diesel powertrains. The hop over the pond and the different taxing schemes on cars and gasoline/diesel fuel  (not to mention the impossible parking and clogged traffic of London) really makes a big difference.

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