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Ford China launches 2020 Mondeo with new interior


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I still don't get why Ford ended Fusion production or will end it soon. It's still one of the best looking sedans out there and could still do well with some tweaks here and there. And with upstream oil production being destroyed, the hybrid and energi versions will be missed once oil prices begin the upward march at some point in time. 

 

Spending billions on electrification and ending the hybrid and energi Fusion makes no sense to me. A bold refresh with new front and rear clips, 12" touch screen, 8 speed trans, more powerful battery for hybrid and energi, and new trim lines could get the job done. Maybe even an innovative trunk redesign that would allow for bulkier package loading. Something the competition doesn't have and would allow for higher ATP. 

 

In my view, you don't have to change the world and try to out musk Musk. It's still the auto business and customers want value for their money. IMO, Hackett needs to focus on the customer more.

 

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23 minutes ago, FordBuyer said:

I still don't get why Ford ended Fusion production or will end it soon. It's still one of the best looking sedans out there and could still do well with some tweaks here and there. And with upstream oil production being destroyed, the hybrid and energi versions will be missed once oil prices begin the upward march at some point in time. 

 

Spending billions on electrification and ending the hybrid and energi Fusion makes no sense to me. A bold refresh with new front and rear clips, 12" touch screen, 8 speed trans, more powerful battery for hybrid and energi, and new trim lines could get the job done. Maybe even an innovative trunk redesign that would allow for bulkier package loading. Something the competition doesn't have and would allow for higher ATP. 

 

In my view, you don't have to change the world and try to out musk Musk. It's still the auto business and customers want value for their money. IMO, Hackett needs to focus on the customer more.

 


It's been discussed many times before, and there are reasons why Ford decided to prioritize other vehicles versus updating and continuing the Fusion. I believe it boiled down to not having enough cash to pay for the fusion refresh along with other updates and new vehicle launches, as well as possibly not enough factory space to build it. Someone here will correct me if I miss a detail but that's about the gist of it.

I agree with you though, isn't honda, toyota, and others famous for long-life platforms with cheap cost-efficient refreshes and updates?  I do think that would have been a far better route to go versus letting it rot and die. I'm sure the drive train is more than adequate for a cheap car today, and with the simple upgrades you mention I think the fusion could still be an attractive option for the right price.

Edited by probowler
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20 minutes ago, FordBuyer said:

I still don't get why Ford ended Fusion production or will end it soon. It's still one of the best looking sedans out there and could still do well with some tweaks here and there. And with upstream oil production being destroyed, the hybrid and energi versions will be missed once oil prices begin the upward march at some point in time. 

 

Spending billions on electrification and ending the hybrid and energi Fusion makes no sense to me. A bold refresh with new front and rear clips, 12" touch screen, 8 speed trans, more powerful battery for hybrid and energi, and new trim lines could get the job done. Maybe even an innovative trunk redesign that would allow for bulkier package loading. Something the competition doesn't have and would allow for higher ATP. 

 

In my view, you don't have to change the world and try to out musk Musk. It's still the auto business and customers want value for their money. IMO, Hackett needs to focus on the customer more.

 


No place to build it, Ford would get ripped apart by the president if they built in the China and imported it. Had Ford finished San Luis Potosi we would have both the Fusion and Focus in the NA market, that didn't happen so there is no way to make it profitable. 

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8 minutes ago, FordBuyer said:

Spending billions on electrification and ending the hybrid and energi Fusion makes no sense to me.

 

The future of the automotive industry is 100% electric. Both China and EU have plans to ban the sale of new gasoline and diesel powered cars including hybrids by 2040, probably even sooner. Other regions will almost certainly come up with similar plans.

 

Ford must invest in all electric vehicles if they want to remain relevant in the next 20 years.

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36 minutes ago, FordBuyer said:

I still don't get why Ford ended Fusion production or will end it soon. It's still one of the best looking sedans out there and could still do well with some tweaks here and there. And with upstream oil production being destroyed, the hybrid and energi versions will be missed once oil prices begin the upward march at some point in time. 

 

Spending billions on electrification and ending the hybrid and energi Fusion makes no sense to me. A bold refresh with new front and rear clips, 12" touch screen, 8 speed trans, more powerful battery for hybrid and energi, and new trim lines could get the job done. Maybe even an innovative trunk redesign that would allow for bulkier package loading. Something the competition doesn't have and would allow for higher ATP. 

 

In my view, you don't have to change the world and try to out musk Musk. It's still the auto business and customers want value for their money. IMO, Hackett needs to focus on the customer more.

 

 

ProBowler actually summed it up pretty well.   Those resources are not just going to BEVs and PHEVs, they're also being used to develop and launch Bronco Sport, Bronco and a couple of other CUVs/Trucks.  

 

Go look at the Fusion market right now.   Camcord sales have fallen.   Hyundai and Kia are very strong contenders.   Nissan is still fleet dumping.  It's a very crowded market with lots of price wars and low profit margins.    Camcords are probably the only ones making much profit and that's due to high volumes worldwide and highly amortized platforms.   The juice just isn't worth the squeeze with all these other new vehicles to design and get out the door right now.  They'll be in a good position in a couple of years to bring back Focus and/or Fusion variants if the market warrants it.

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I knew the moment Ford complained and bitched about Fusion's ordering system being so complex

that it was looking for excuses to reduce/ end Fusion. Buyers never demanded that Fusion be built

with 33,000 possible ways, Ford chose to do that themselves and then complained about it as if

buyers had unreasonable expectations. Since the modest 2015 MCE, Ford basically gave Titanium

owners zero reason to buy another new Fusion, it's hard to judge if those buyers switched to a Ford

utility  or just went elsewhere....but I suspect that Ford's migration plans didn't happen to the degree

that it was hoping for.

Edited by jpd80
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1 hour ago, jpd80 said:

I knew the moment Ford complained and bitched about Fusion's ordering system being so complex

that it was looking for excuses to reduce/ end Fusion. Buyers never demanded that Fusion be built

with 33,000 possible ways, Ford chose to do that themselves and then complained about it as if

buyers had unreasonable expectations. Since the modest 2015 MCE, Ford basically gave Titanium

owners zero reason to buy another new Fusion, it's hard to judge if those buyers switched to a Ford

utility  or just went elsewhere....but I suspect that Ford's migration plans didn't happen to the degree

that it was hoping for.

 

Yeah, I think Focus, Fiesta, and Fusion customers have and will go somewhere else for the most part unfortunately. The Ecospott is not competitive and the Escape S I imagine is meant for fleet. So the Escape SE will have to do the heavy lifting for the budget minded customer. So it seems to me Ford is giving up lots of market share especially given the times we are in now.  Bad timing. Maybe the new Maverick will help a little.

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26 minutes ago, FordBuyer said:

 

Yeah, I think Focus, Fiesta, and Fusion customers have and will go somewhere else for the most part unfortunately. The Ecospott is not competitive and the Escape S I imagine is meant for fleet. So the Escape SE will have to do the heavy lifting for the budget minded customer. So it seems to me Ford is giving up lots of market share especially given the times we are in now.  Bad timing. Maybe the new Maverick will help a little.

It’s certainly an interesting prospect as Focus Fiesta and  Mondeo continue outside of North America. It all depends on how ford prices it’s Mexican products. If they use prices to control demand, I think sales are not going to be all that great.

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Ford NA needs to step up its game, because those Chinese interiors are 100x better than what we are getting.

 

Ford Maverick (old escape)

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ford escape

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Ford territory

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Ford edge

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While I was checking out the Chinese website, I also saw the Everest. I don’t know if it was a bad translation or what, but google showed the name as the Ford Road Shaker ?. I really like the looks of the everest, especially with all the chrome blacked out and with black wheels. I’d probably buy this right now if it was available. Even when the bronco comes out, it would still be a tough decision since I would really prefer a vehicle with a solid roof.new-everest-20200429.png

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35 minutes ago, T-dubz said:

Ford NA needs to step up its game, because those Chinese interiors are 100x better than what we are getting.


You’re forgetting that there are no Lincolns in ROW except for China which is a unique market.  If we didn’t have Lincoln in North America then you’d see better Ford interiors.

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I was watching a You Tube video review of the new Escape, and of course the subject of interior material choices came up. This reviewer claims he talked to Ford about it, and Ford claimed their goal is durability in their material parts choices. I will say that I prefer the leather seats in the Escape over the Crosstrek leather seats. After 3 years in the Crosstrek, the interior looked more worn than my 15 year old Taurus. So I would say there is something to this durability claim. Luxury touches mean nothing if it doesn't wear well IMO. I drove a brand new Equinox about 6 months ago, and I prefer my new Escape over that vehicle any day. Not in love with the CRV interior either. As for Chinese and European Ford products, I would have to sit in one to compare. I don't trust photos.

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13 minutes ago, akirby said:


You’re forgetting that there are no Lincolns in ROW except for China which is a unique market.  If we didn’t have Lincoln in North America then you’d see better Ford interiors.


While that's fine and dandy, for what Ford is trying to do with pushing ATPs higher and higher now is not the time to let the gap between the 2 grow. 

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18 minutes ago, akirby said:


You’re forgetting that there are no Lincolns in ROW except for China which is a unique market.  If we didn’t have Lincoln in North America then you’d see better Ford interiors.

 

That's not the reason. Ford can make the interior nicer but US customers are not that demanding. It's been the same forever. I remember back when Ford was building Probe for export, some magazine had a write up explaining how it had two different grades of dashboard plastic... one super cheap for the US market and one more plush with more trim and nicer switch gear for export. Consumers in other countries just are more demanding and Ford can't get away with the cheap stuff they use in their cars and SUV in the US. 

 

Mind you, this is not an unique Ford situation. Compare the US spec Honda CR-V with the Asian spec, you can see, feel, and smell the cheapness in the US one too. Acres of the lowest grade hard, shiny, and hollow plastic while the Asian models have soft touch, low gloss, and thick dashboard and door inserts.

 

Very few car companies building cars in North America for US market uses the same grade of interior material they use in Asia and Europe.

 

Edited by bzcat
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18 minutes ago, akirby said:

Ford put a very nice interior in the Fusion titanium but buyers wanted mostly cheap SEs.  It’s easier to upsell the Lincoln version with longer warranties and better dealer perks.


I had a fusion se and thought the interior design and materials were pretty nice. I thought it was one of ford’s better interiors.

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When I was in the UK back in the 2006, I made it a point when I was in a Ford vehicle (taxi normally) to check the interiors out-the Materials wheren't different...at least I didn't notice anything when it came to Focus (since I had one at the time) I was in-and if it was anything was different, it wasn't earth shattering so. 

 

IMO its a reflection of car reviewers in the US, that expect a luxury grade interior in a mainstream product, because they are trying to pick specks out of crap to justify there jobs. 

 

The "average" buyer in the US doesn't care that much...I'd venture that 80% of car buyers don't care because its an appliance to them and only when you do something horrific like a Dodge Caliber (had one as a rental while my Mustang was getting fixed) and the dash had the same texture as an igloo cooler. So far that is the worst car interior I've ever been in. Even a cheap ass Chevy Aveo had a nicer interior (I had 4 different rentals over the course of 5 weeks or so!)

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Maybe judging an interior on an everyday vehicle is more subjective like exterior styling. If you have a family with little kids and/or a dog, you have to put up with possible vomit, eating in the car, dog nails scratching up interior, and so forth. I would think you would want interior materials to be durable and spill/scratch proof rather than "luxurious." For example, the top of console in my Crosstrek was done in luxurious piano black and got all scratched up over time. Looked like hell. My Escape has more durable plastic around rotary dial and will not scratch. Glossy piano black is used where it won't easily be scratched up. Ford IMO is very good at this, especially pickup trucks.

 

Now where reviewers have a point is with the top trim levels like the Explorer and Ranger. If I were to spend $50,000+ on an Explorer or $40,000+ on a Ranger, I would expect more effort from Ford. On the lower trims, no. 

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1 hour ago, T-dubz said:


I had a fusion se and thought the interior design and materials were pretty nice. I thought it was one of ford’s better interiors.


I think it still is one of their better interiors.  For a couple more months at least.

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10 hours ago, akirby said:


I think it still is one of their better interiors.  For a couple more months at least.

 

You'd think that Ford would be killing the Fusion/MKZ off faster then it would since they where planning on doing it this month anyways? I guess they have an order or something in that they need to fill? 

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47 minutes ago, silvrsvt said:

 

You'd think that Ford would be killing the Fusion/MKZ off faster then it would since they where planning on doing it this month anyways? I guess they have an order or something in that they need to fill? 

 

Probably committed fleet orders.

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16 hours ago, bzcat said:

 

That's not the reason. Ford can make the interior nicer but US customers are not that demanding. It's been the same forever. I remember back when Ford was building Probe for export, some magazine had a write up explaining how it had two different grades of dashboard plastic... one super cheap for the US market and one more plush with more trim and nicer switch gear for export. Consumers in other countries just are more demanding and Ford can't get away with the cheap stuff they use in their cars and SUV in the US. 

 

Mind you, this is not an unique Ford situation. Compare the US spec Honda CR-V with the Asian spec, you can see, feel, and smell the cheapness in the US one too. Acres of the lowest grade hard, shiny, and hollow plastic while the Asian models have soft touch, low gloss, and thick dashboard and door inserts.

 

Very few car companies building cars in North America for US market uses the same grade of interior material they use in Asia and Europe.

 

 

To me, under Mulally, Ford pushed above its weight class on interiors, and charged higher than they were before, but it was worth it.  Fields then just let everything coast.  Now we have Hackett in charge, and it seems like they still want to charge that higher pricepoint, but want to give average interiors.  Overall, the interiors aren't horrible, but there are some definite cost cutting areas (gauges on lower end Escapes, for example).  It feels like there are some areas where they could definitely improve, but they're not as horrid as reviews make them out to be.

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15 minutes ago, rmc523 said:

 

To me, under Mulally, Ford pushed above its weight class on interiors, and charged higher than they were before, but it was worth it.  Fields then just let everything coast.  Now we have Hackett in charge, and it seems like they still want to charge that higher pricepoint, but want to give average interiors.  Overall, the interiors aren't horrible, but there are some definite cost cutting areas (gauges on lower end Escapes, for example).  It feels like there are some areas where they could definitely improve, but they're not as horrid as reviews make them out to be.

 

I admit I was surprised that Explorer interior wasn't better.  I still wonder if they just put most of their resources into Aviator and didn't have time to really finish Explorer both from the interior and suspension tuning.  Guess we'll see in a few months.

 

I think you're right about Fusion in 2013.  And I think Titaniums sold well the first 2-3 years and everything was fine.  But I think those Titanium and higher end buyers started moving to Edge and other crossovers leaving Fusion with an expensive platform competing on price with Camcords and Sonatimas on much cheaper platforms.  It's like Five Guys trying to compete on price with Hardees or Checkers or Carl Jr.  The overhead is just too high to make a good profit.

 

I can see why they'd want to keep Escape price points lower since it's now the entry level vehicle for Ford NA.

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It annoys me that Ford decided to build a train station instead of buying a new lot or empty factory... or perhaps finishing that factory in Mexico and saving it for future production capacity needs. Surely you can build a factory shell or something and keep it locked up and ready to tool-up for a bearable cost... certainly cheaper than rebuilding Detroit.  Just having a space available and ready would give ford so much flexibility to react to the market to build new product or produce more existing vehicles that prove super popular.

Yes it would raise fixed costs.. but businesses need to grow, you can't just stagnate. I realize Ford is going through a lot of changes right now, but they shouldn't give up on trying to increase market share.  You can raise profit margins, but that's only half the picture

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