Gworl

There is also that official photo released by Ford on the reveal of the 2018 Mustang, which shows the interior of the car while the car is parked in a driveway. On the left corner of the photo you can partly see a silver Mustang with a black sidestripe that looks like a Boss-Stripe. I haven't seen that being discussed anywhere yet. Do You think that was an intentional spoiler ("easter egg") by Ford for a planned Boss Mustang based on the S550?

That new diesel engine would also work nicely as the top of the line engine for the ROW Ranger. Here in Germany Ranger is the segment sales leader, although it has to compete against the Volkswagen Amarok. That really means a lot, as Volkswagen is known for dominating the german car market in most of the segments that they compete in. With that diesel engine in my opinion F-150 would even be a viable option for selling a larger than Ranger Ford truck in Germany.

In my opinion dwindling sales of Galaxy and S-Max in 2014/2015 are based on Ford closing the plant in Genk, Belgium and moving the production of the Galaxy and S-Max to Valencia. Genk closed on December 18th 2014, that is when the last first-generation S-Max and second-generation Galaxy were built. The built-in-Valencia current generation Galaxy and S-Max were intruduced as late as September 2015 (in Germany, I don`t know about other European countries), so for most of 2015 all Ford dealers had to sell were left-over 2014 model cars. The sales-chart shows that sales are up again now that the new-generation cars are available. In my opinion the situation is similar to when production of the Mondeo was taken from Genk to Valencia, introducing the new-generation Mondeo at the same time. To me the question is if Minivans are going to be supplanted by SUVs in Europe, as it more and more seems to be the case (Renault Escape went from Minivan to 7-seat-SUV, Opel/Vauxhall is said to do the same with the Zafira). If it was financially viable for Ford to stick to at least S-Max or Galaxy in addition to Edge (and maybe even Explorer), Ford could have a nice slice of the remaining SUV-market in Europe.

As requested by akirby and fordmantpw they showed it in white at the press conference.

Awesome. Restrained luxury. Lincoln ist back. I will keep myself from complaining "why don't they sell it here in Germany?" and just indulge in enjoying the look of that beautiful car.

I also wonder what the 900 "other" sold Fords might be. As far as I know Explorer is not officially sold in the EU20, for sure not in the main markets like Germany, France, Great Britain and Italy. Edge was not yet on sale in November at least here in Germany, where the prices of the Edge were released one week ago. I am pretty sure it can be ordered now that the prices were released, but I don´t expect to see the first ones at the dealerships before June 2016. We need a replacement for my wife´s 2012 Kuga in January 2017, probably it will be either the Edge or the 2017 Kuga.

Sometimes it is hard for me to understand how obvious mistakes are not being corrected in official Ford paperwork before release. The report on the 2015 Q1 results mentions the next generation Ranger, yet shows a picture of the current generation truck. Don't get me started on the press releases / sales material concerning the Mustang here in Germany. The newest version of the German sales brochure calls the drive mode setting "track" "Gelände", which means "Off Road", instead of using the correct German phrase "Rennstrecke". Lost in translation!

Congratulations on your purchase. The 2014 Focus is a great car and I enjoy every mile driving my 2014 Focus ST. I am going to stretch its legs on the Autobahn again today.

I have found "www.livestream.com/ford". The Ford press conference is scheduled to start at 9:10 AM EST.

In Germany it is 10.50 am and we have still almost 4 1/2 hours to go until the Ford press conference starts. I am sitting in my office in front of the screen, but how am I supposed to concentrate on working?

I have to confess that the 1977-1979 have always been my favourite Thunderbirds. Blame it on my age (42), because in my youth I used to see them quite often, mostly driven by American Military members. My favourite one was a 1979 Heritage Edition in that gorgeous Baby Blue, what a great looking car.

I was at a military-installation in Vilseck, Germany today and I saw lots of F150 and current-generation Fusions there (which allowed me to have a first look at the upcoming new Mondeo). This showed me the importance of the F150 for Ford, but also the inroads that Ford has been making with the Fusion in its segment. I was driving in my Race Red European-spec 2014 Focus ST and encountered an identical-looking American-spec, Race Red Focus ST, which followed right behind me, it was kind of funny.

Living in Germany I can confirm that the focus is offered as a sedan in Germany, but they don´t seem to sell very many of these, as you rarely see one in traffic or at the dealer. But it is the same with the Opel Astra sedan and the VW Jetta, no one wants those in Germany as they are regarded as unyouthful "Grandpa cars". I don´t know about Great Britain (although on my almost yearly trips to London I have yet to see a Focus sedan there), but the Escort sedan (formerly known as the Ford Orion) and Focus sedan have always been rather popular in Southern European countries like Spain and Portugal, it might still be that way. Regarding the discussion on building a RWD Ford-sedan it surely wouldn´t make much sense to offer such a car in Germany, as BMW, Mercedes and Audi literally own the large sedan market here. In my opinion Ford needs to find some other way to move upmarket in Germany and I guess Ford has found a way to do so by offering the 2015 Mustang and upcoming Edge in Germany, as SUVs are becoming more popular in Germany by the minute and the Mustang has a cult following not only in Germany, but Europe in general. The first driving impressions offered by German magazines on the Mustang are very favourable. Just today I received my weekly edition of "Focus", a very popular magazine comparable to "Newsweek" or "Time Magazine" in the USA and it featured the 2015 Mustang on the frontpage! I can´t remember the last time they featured a new BMW, Mercedes or Audi that prominently. Their report on the Mustang was very positive as well.

Kein Problem! (no problem!)

I am curious to see what the car mags that we get in Germany will have to say about the new Mustang. I received my newest issue of "Auto Motor und Sport" today and they announced a first drive report for the next issue which will be out in two weeks. Well, the 2015 Mustang is coming to late for me anyway, as I bought a 2014 Focus ST in July. First I wanted to wait for the 2015 Mustang, but I wasn´t among the lucky 500 to be eligible for the first batch of Mustangs coming to Europe, so I figured I´d probably have to wait till mid of next year at least and I needed a new car sooner than that. So when we took my wife´s 2012 Ford Kuga to the dealer to get the AC fixed we stumbled across a brand new, just delivered race red Focus ST and that was it. My wife has already taken it to about 250 km/h on an unrestricted stretch of Autobahn twice, I haven´t been that lucky yet, having had to slow down at about 230 km/h on the Autobahn to Bamberg (Frankonia) due to traffic. Maybe buyer´s remorse is going to hit me next year when I will be surely taking a test drive of the 2015 Mustan at my local Ford dealer, but taking a quick trip to Salzburg with my family in the Focus last week proved to me again that I couldn´t be happier with a car. So, maybe I will buy a 2018 Mustang to replace the Focus, or maybe I will convince my mother to sell me that 1987 5.0 GT Convertible sitting in her garage, but one thing is for sure: There is a Mustang in my future.

As I have wanted a Mustang since I was a child, I also took part at the Champions-League-Final pre-ordering. Yesterday morning I received an E-Mail from Ford, telling me that my name is on "the list" and congratulating me for getting closer to my chance of allocating a new Mustang. In that E-Mail they gave me a voucher-code and told me that I needed to have that code at hand if I should be one of the first 500 participants and therefore receive a phone-call from Ford. They went on to tell me that if I won´t get the phone-call from Ford that means that I wasn´t one of the first 500 participants, but I shouldn´t worry, they promised to keep me posted with exclusive news on the arrival of the Mustang in Germany anyway. I am not among the first 500 participants, because being a lawyer I first had to read the general terms and conditions before I participated (the leopard can´t change its spots ), that means having lost out to people who just don´t care for the fine print. That´s O.K. for me, as I will either wait for the second batch of cars to arive in Germany later next year or get some other Ford product to hold me over for the next three or four years (maybe the Focus ST facelift or even the EcoSport, which would compliment my wife´s Kuga very nicely).

I think it will look much better in a dark color with all that chrome up front. In tuxedoblack it might look "bad" in a good kind of way.

Kuga, Focus and Mondeo are built in Europe. If Ford is going to import the Edge to Europe I don't think we can expect to see more options or higher equipment levels than the ones being offered in the US due to added complexity and cost reasons. But you could be right if Ford decides to offer the Edge with options or create equipment levels for export to Europe based on options or equipment that will be exclusive for the next Lincoln MKX in the US. There won't be a MKX in Europe, so Ford could take the Edge to a higher price point in Europe by offering more options and/or higher equipment levels without having to be worried of stepping on Lincolns shoes. I am sorry if my English is a little weird sometimes, I am German so English is not my native language. I am a longtime lurker and decided to get active in this forum because I have been a Ford guy since I was a child and this is a great place for sharing my passion for Ford vehicles with likeminded people, especially now that the Mustang, my favourite car since I was seven years old, will finally be sold in Europe.

I hope that Ford is willing to either ship the engines from England or produce the Edge in Europe, because for me that would mean that Ford is taking "One Ford" seriously. You are right in that it seems to work out for Chrysler. Good point referring to the Cologne V6 as well. Yes, Ford is a different company now, so let us hope that Ford is going to do the right steps for the Edge in Europe.

I hope you are right and the Edge will be produced in Valencia. A 2017 introduction seems to be a little late in my oppinion, the German car magazines claim the Edge will bei sold in Europe from 2015, but what do they know. Maybe there will be an announcement in Barcelona next week. A letdown for me is that the Ecosport won´t be built in Cologne for the European market, although it is based on the Fiesta, but will be imported from India, which seems to mean restricted choices in engine availability (only one Diesel engine with only 90 hp) and equipment (no AWD for instance), so I am afraid Ford might proceed the same way with the Edge.

I am assuming that Ford won't build the Edge in Europe, where Ford would have easily access to Mondeo, S-Max and Galaxy Diesel engines. Do you think that Ford is going to "walk the extra mile" this time and ship Diesel engines all the way from England to the USA to put them in Edges destined for Europe? I would surely hope so, because that would mean that Ford is finally ready to introduce an American built car in Europe with the intention of creating a customer base for the car and offer it long term. For example Ford offered the first generations of the Explorer in Germany starting in 1993 and stopped selling it here in around 2000. Ford had plans to put a Diesel engine in the third generation Explorer for Europe, but instead decided to just stop selling the Explorer in Europe alltogether. In doing so Ford lost those customers to other brands.

In my oppinion the only chance for Ford to succeed in that segment in Europe is to offer competitive Diesel engines. If they won't offer a Diesel engine it will show to me that Ford is not willing to commit to "One Ford". For Ford to prosper in Europe means to have to sell vehicles in high-profit segments of the market, that includes SUVs like Edge, because Ford is being put under pressure by brands like BMW and Mercedes in that these brands startet to compete with Ford by offering smaller vehicles as well.

Those really were the dark ages. I remember reading a story as a kid in 1980 or 1981 in the German car magazine "Auto, Motor und Sport" about the future of American cars according to General Motors. GM announced that all cars were going to be FWD and no more V8 engines. I was very disappointed. Those were the days before the world wide web, so informations on American cars were hard to get in Germany. I remember being reliefed when they showed the 1983 Mustang 5.0 GT in another issue of "Auto, Motor und Sport" in January of 1983. In 1982 GM introduced the 3rd generation of the Camaro in Germany and called it Z28 E, the "E" stood for Europe. I was there for the introduction at an Opel dealership in Nuremberg that also sold American GM-cars. A salesman told me that it was delivered to them without an engine, so they installed a 4-cylinder Opel Kadett engine. Bad times, indeed.

I remember that I bought a car magazine special "30 years of Mustang" issue back in 1994. If I remember correctly it was from Mustang & Fords. It featured an article on the development of the then new SN95 and the "Bruce Jenner", "Arnold Schwarzenegger" and "Rambo" concepts were shown. I hadn't seen those photos ever since.