Edgey

The Mustang came out in 2005, isn't it too soon to expect a complete redesign in '09? There's nothing wrong with the current car that can't be augmented with a revised face and interior.

Wow, that's a nice looking truck back there! Is that the Denali? Looks a lot like what the Lincoln Mark LT should look like. I think everybody is guilty of hyping a new model, even if it's just a hybrid version. I know Ford dit it with the Escape hybrid. You know, Escape hybrid isn't as clever as Saturen VUE Greenline. Ford should work on marketing these features a bit better, such as their AWD and CVT systems.

Oh I don't think I can't get behind one of those 'dealer installed' options. Even the Ford sanctioned packages tend to be hackneyed at best, especially the sat radio extensions. When I bought my '05 I was interested in the satelite radio, only to turn it down when I found out what they would do to my new car to get it installed.

Lincoln hit rock bottom really quick and really hard and must have been the most neglected brand since Mercury. That is changing now, especially in '07. However, depending on what happens with the Town Car (announce something for God sake!), Lincoln may not gain staggering marketshare once it sheads its fleet-dependency. The MKZ and MKX will easily replace and exceed Town Car's and LS marketshare, but expect Navigator to continue to lose ground. Once the MKS comes online in 2 years, Lincoln may start climbing the charts again. Ford's interest in Mercury seems to have dried up after a fairly ambitious produt push, but now we hear them pulling the plug on the Freestyle variant and there are no plans to give Mercury an Edge or Fairlane. Mercury will receive updated versions of the Montego and Mariner. The Milan also seems to be struggling to meet sales expectations, while the Zephyr and Fusion have done extremely well. It's starting to look like the best thing for Lincoln/Mercury is to just move everything over to Lincoln since Ford has moved aggressively to consolidate all products across the North American operation. Selling Lincoln and Mercurys in the showroom today is starting to look like Chrysler and Plymouth dealers back in the 'good old days'. Mercury still has a purpose by bringing in conquest sells and sustaining Lincoln dealerships which need higher sales volumes in order to proliferate in urban markets. But ideally, Lincoln won't need the Mercury crutch should it become more successful in the future.

This caught my attention because I've been wondering if the 2008 E-Series is sharing the Super-Duty's new face because its receving the 2008 Super Duty chasis (or at least part of it). But then again, the front-end may have been redesigned for the new diesel engine so that may explain the shared componentry. In any case, that isn't the T1 chasis. As for Jaguar, I think it's worth keeping around, however I don't believe Ford is in a position to turn it into a successful premium brand any time soon. Jaguar is not a contributing asset to Ford, it sucks money and returns little to no usable engineering assets. Ford would probably be healtheir without Jaguar, but the idea has always been that it will one-day be a positive asset. After this many years I don't think Ford should subsist on could-be's anymore. Sell Jag and dissolve PAG! Say it with me now!

It looks like they have the c-pillar covered. They may want to redesign the pillar sans the side-glass just to help cut cost. The last Focus redesign in 2005 was designed to help cut cost and improve quality and I'm sure the 2008 update will try and do the same.

This is absolutely true, and Ford seems to be better targeting its Lincoln products for the type of customers that will actually consider Lincoln. They have to find customers just entering the market since most people who have been around the block already are not going to be satsified showing off their success in a Lincoln. Lincoln has long lost its luster with younger consumers but it's not toally lost. I had a reletive who bought Lincolns back in the early 90s but 'graduated' to Caddies and ultimately Mercedes and Jaguars. Ford could use a healthy Jaguar to capture some of these people trying to graduate from their Ford products. Ford may not have the resources to mount a Jaguar revival, but I think it would be a trajedy if they lost their only premium luxury marque. It's the only brand with enough equity to exploit in the big leagues. Fortunately, the x-type seems to be a brand damaging mistake that won't happen again. IFord has done a fairly good job perserving Jaguar marque from damaging experiments. We haven't seen a panther based XJ or a Taurus based S-Type...for example!

Ah, indeed the body is changing. The Focus update is similar to the Escape update, both of which were introduced around the same time back in 2000 and 2001. It's not a total redesign as you would traditionally see, but only a redesign from the window-sill down. This seems to be a tactic Ford is using heavily to cut cost. Toyota did something similar with the recent Camry update, although I think that was just a classic book-end update (everything but the doors). The Camry update is also based on a vehicle that is much newer than the Escape and Focus. I'm not sure this is a smart thing to do since the end product will always look much like the original, for better or worse (or indifferent). It's hard to look at these things from the perspective of the shopper since we all look at cars more intently than the average Ford consumer. I know when I see the next Escape I will constantly be aware of what they didn't update and I will never call it "All New". The Focus is a good looking car so I don't see a need to change every inch of the car, but the Escape really needs a complete update since so much of it was fairly dated looking from the start, although that was largely chalked up to is 'rugged SUV charm' which was popular back in 2000.

Who cares about marketshare when you're bleeding to death? I am not worried about Toyota overtaking Ford for one month, although it will likely become an annual event instead of a montly one. The quicker Ford reduces itself to a healthier size, the quicker they will be in a position to benefit from growth instead of struggling to hold onto marketshare it didn't earn properly. Decline isn't a bad thing in Ford's case, it's a painful part of restructuring and only the analysts and media look at it as black & white. You just have to convince people that you have important product to move the company ahead and I fear Ford has not done a good job establishing it has a strong product future. Actually, I'm beginning to doubt Ford is able to respond quickly enough to changes in the market. They seem to be reletively slow to launch new or updated products, and somewhat unambitious with their revitalization attemps *witness Escape, Explorer, Focus, etc...*.

Does anybody know what percentage of Focus sales are to fleet buyers? I think that quiotient may dictate the amount spent on keeping the Focus running. The profit margins in this segment are miniscule. I think it's clear from the test mules that the Focus will get a new bum and nose, but the rest of its body will be carried over. It would probably be wise to eliminate the 2000 Focus "character" lines with the update, but I doubt that will happen. Ford did a similar thing with the Taurus, making do with the rolling body-sides instead of redesigning the whole thing to break it away from 1996. Ford is very reluctant when it comes to complete reskins, it seems to happen very VERY rarily between complete replacements. Only Chrysler and Ford seem to be this stingy about reskining vehicles.

I never understood the purpose of a coupe if looks like the sedan. A coupe is an image car, it has to look sexier than the practical 4-door version. Ah well, if it works for GM!

It's beginning to look like Ford is saving most of its refreshes for 2008. No all-new entries, just maintenance. The Edge will be the last all-new entry until the large CUV comes along, probably for 2009. The MKS is probably an '09er as well.

Even in camo, the truck looks better in motion than in photos, although I think most will be hard pressed to notice the cosmetic differences from most angles. Why does such a big truck still have such tiny taillights?

So I guess those spy shots were of the 2008 model. That's a little disappointing, the Escape is really hurting for an substantive update. The Edge should at least put something fresh on the Ford lots for '07.

A Fusion coupe? I wonder if the G6 had anything to do with the motivation to try out a coupe. It doesn't seem like Ford's style to split off into lower volume segments.

The money spent on the Explorer and Expedition probably seemed like a better idea at the time of the investment. However, these are still high-volume vehicles that need to remain competitive in order to keep them alive. The investment is a neccessary evil. It's dangerous to suicide your products just because you can't get 'growth' out of them.

Losing some marketshare isn't always a bad thing, especially if it's all the fat weighing the company down. It's too bad analysts can't see the advantages to this type of decline.