justins

Just watched it. Interesting. I wonder if they used this process of every vehicle is it's own business line on products like Focus and Fiesta (and even Fusion) and the outcomes are what caused the "move to SUVs" i.e once those vehicles were made their own P & L centres and had the ruler run over them, they didn't make the cut.

"Gardening Leave"

Woodhouse gone to head up Nissan & Infiniti US design.

Wow! Just as Lincoln is getting back on song. This could be big. One has to wonder - are there any big announcements coming concerning the future direction of Lincoln? Or is this perhaps another of these bad behaviour resignations?

You beat me to it. Then there's also the *cough* XClass Mercedes, the "not just a re-skinned Navara" Mercedes Midsize...

Let's not forget that at various times both Toyota and Daimler have held 3 - 4% stakes in Tesla, and both sold out. The fact that Ford are getting a basically fully developed EV platform out of this, for half a billion dollars, and then to also get a dividend on what Rivian can sell to other manufacturers? Great deal IMO.

Hackett is on the record as saying they're going to go after different sub-segments within the same size bracket.

JLR are doing them now as well. The Velar has auto retracting handles. I think the right balance are the ones where you push in one end and the other end pops out. Still sit flush with bodywork, and mechanically simple enough with no electronics to stuff up...

Surely if we're going to see these types of door handles moving forward (as I assume we are due to aerodynamics if nothing else) they'll have to mandate some sort of accessible emergency door release?

The problem with Ford in Oz is their rubbish marketing and poor dealer satisfaction survey results... Focus transmission problems from a couple of years ago are still hurting as well, I'd imagine.

Ford did a few years back (for a few years until 2007) when they sold Brazilian (I think) spec F250s and F350s here. Then they stopped. Lord knows why.

I think we're seeing the beginnings of a 3 or 4 tiered Ford. Euro / ROW, US / Canada, Developing nations, and China. I for one don't mind the idea of Ford Oz getting the Euro models - they tend to handle, ride, drive more to Oz tastes than the US vehicles. If anything, they've always been a little underpowered though. Edge (Endura) is a waste of space here. Wrong engine and wrong seating capacity. A 7 seat Escape will sell much better if priced correctly with the right engine.

This. But with Endura only being available with 2l diesel and 5 seats in Oz, (neither of which are where the market is) and other small / medium SUVs now being available with 7 seats (CRV, Tiguan etc), I'm thinking we'll see a short life for Endura, this 7 seat Kuga become available, and I still think we'll see Explorer as alternative to Kluger / Acadia eventually. Endura makes little to no sense whatsoever in Oz as it stands. A cynic would say they're simply trying to offload excess volume once destined for UK.

https://www.afr.com/street-talk/uk-strategic-testdrives-options-for-gms-holden-20190206-h1awoy

https://www.whichcar.com.au/car-news/holden-owner-general-motors-to-leave-australia I'm trying to find the "media article" mentioned in the article.