First off, Ford has started aligning its car designs on a global basis. For years I would go to Europe and see all these cool looking cars and ask what they were. "Fords" was the reply. Really? They didn't look like any Ford's I knew about. These were...cool. Well, now Ford's lower end cars, Fiesta and Focus, are quite European and pretty darn cool looking. Fiesta looks down right fun.
Next, Ford started to push a "technology" angle to their cars. SYNC, MyFord Touch other cool dashboard connectivity tools. I think this was smart because up until this point the battle ground has always been over the elusive word "quality". That is a tough perceptual war for North American car manufacturers to win on. But connectivity technology is new and open to be claimed. Ford has been focused on this message and it has at least sunk into my brain. And, I'm a person who until this point would not even consider a North American car. This brings me to my question...
Ford has done several things to shift my perception about some of their cars, but my perception of the brand is still...well its just not a relevant brand to me and brands play a strange role in car buying. I've seen a few new Hyundais on the road and really liked them and thought "Too bad its a Hyundai." Car brands are such a personal label.
As Ford restyles their entire lineup, their will be the growing pains of some cars looking like they just don't fit, and they might feel like a stretch for the brand. With the Fiesta, specifically, it needs the new Focus to fill in that missing piece of the puzzle that will help unify the lineup. Until the new Focus, the Fiesta didn't really seem to share any design characteristics with its peers as it was left on its own in the low-end category. Even still, the Focus and Fiesta are different enough than the Fusion/Taurus/etc. - but they need to be. These are cars for younger drivers and younger drivers don't want to be driving what their parents drive.
ReplyDeleteI think Ford is just in a transition period as it updates its image, but give it a couple years and I think a lot more people will start saying "Yup - that's a Ford". And hopefully, it's not because they're pulled over on the side of the highway waiting for a tow-truck.