rmc523 Posted March 4 Share Posted March 4 Ford CEO Jim Farley Says Puma Would End Up Like Flex If Sold In The United States In a recent interview with Car and Driver, Farley was asked what he thought would happen if the Ford Puma did indeed come to the U.S. "Too expensive, too small, I think. You and I would love it," he said. "The question is, would it be like the Flex, where the people who owned it loved it, but there just weren't enough of them?" Notably, it was back in 2021 when Farley publicly expressed his desire to see the Puma sold in North America and other markets. I think it would've sold decently because it had style to it, unlike the EcoSport. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sherminator98 Posted March 4 Share Posted March 4 4 minutes ago, rmc523 said: I think it would've sold decently because it had style to it, unlike the EcoSport. I think the problem with the NA market is that small car (subcompact) is sold primarily on price only and has no "cache" with buyers that might have more money to spend on a product. Unless there was a way for them to figure out how to make it dirt cheap with a decent margin, that would be the only way it would "work" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeluxeStang Posted March 4 Share Posted March 4 Some interesting tibits in that interview. In other parts, he seems to hint at a Corolla/Civic rival, but using their affordable EV platform. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmc523 Posted March 4 Author Share Posted March 4 33 minutes ago, Sherminator98 said: I think the problem with the NA market is that small car (subcompact) is sold primarily on price only and has no "cache" with buyers that might have more money to spend on a product. Unless there was a way for them to figure out how to make it dirt cheap with a decent margin, that would be the only way it would "work" I didn't realize they were so pricey over there..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sherminator98 Posted March 4 Share Posted March 4 5 minutes ago, rmc523 said: I didn't realize they were so pricey over there..... Using the UK pricing, they are $35K after conversion Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZanatWork Posted March 4 Share Posted March 4 The Flex got minimal effort from Ford's advertising/promotion departments, which was ridiculous: available AWD, massive interior, good (and brand common) powertrains, and huge interior volume coupled with low lift-in height. Mine was magnificent in its time, dragging my guitar and PA gear around as well as 2-5 people. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmc523 Posted March 4 Author Share Posted March 4 19 minutes ago, Sherminator98 said: Using the UK pricing, they are $35K after conversion Yeah, that's the calculation I did. Not a chance they'd have been able to price it anywhere near that figure here. 6 minutes ago, ZanatWork said: The Flex got minimal effort from Ford's advertising/promotion departments, which was ridiculous: available AWD, massive interior, good (and brand common) powertrains, and huge interior volume coupled with low lift-in height. Mine was magnificent in its time, dragging my guitar and PA gear around as well as 2-5 people. Yeah, they launched it and forgot it. I know its styling was polarizing, but it really was a great car. 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blazerdude20 Posted March 4 Share Posted March 4 Wasn’t Farley the executive that was shocked they were going to call it Flex when he was hired? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpd80 Posted March 5 Share Posted March 5 (edited) 11 hours ago, blazerdude20 said: Wasn’t Farley the executive that was shocked they were going to call it Flex when he was hired? The project name was Fairmont, thinking was a “Hampton styled” vehicle… Saw them when I was state side in 2009, looked a pretty cool vehicles and thought D3 probably added a fair bit to cost but I guess they were shooting for a more premium vehicle. Edited March 5 by jpd80 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T-dubz Posted March 5 Share Posted March 5 I didnt realize how small the puma was. It’s 164” long, which makes it much smaller than a Honda hrv, Mazda cx30, and Nissan kicks. It’s about the length of a Kia soul. All of these vehicles start around 20-25k. $35k for the puma would not work at all here. I know a lot of you like its styling, but I’m not sure it would do well here based on that alone. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Motorpsychology Posted March 5 Share Posted March 5 7 hours ago, jpd80 said: The project name was Fairmont, thinking was a “Hampton styled” vehicle… Saw them when I was state side in 2009, looked a pretty cool vehicles and thought D3 probably added a fair bit to cost but I guess they were shooting for a more premium vehicle. I recall seeing a Flex prototype at an auto show in 2005 called the Fairlaine. It had bamboo wicker hilights in the interior, sliding rear doors and was very close to the production Flex. We leased an SEL in 2015; wish now we'd have bought it at lease end. We'd probably still have it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sherminator98 Posted March 5 Share Posted March 5 12 minutes ago, Motorpsychology said: I recall seeing a Flex prototype at an auto show in 2005 called the Fairlaine. It had bamboo wicker hilights in the interior, sliding rear doors and was very close to the production Flex. We leased an SEL in 2015; wish now we'd have bought it at lease end. We'd probably still have it. https://www.netcarshow.com/ford/2005-fairlane_concept/ I could have swore that there was another concept like this that was based on a narrower platform (like the Fusion instead of the D3) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmc523 Posted March 5 Author Share Posted March 5 8 hours ago, jpd80 said: The project name was Fairmont, thinking was a “Hampton styled” vehicle… Saw them when I was state side in 2009, looked a pretty cool vehicles and thought D3 probably added a fair bit to cost but I guess they were shooting for a more premium vehicle. Flex was way ahead of any Ford product at the time, and I'd argue ahead of a lot of the competition at the time too. 1 hour ago, T-dubz said: I didnt realize how small the puma was. It’s 164” long, which makes it much smaller than a Honda hrv, Mazda cx30, and Nissan kicks. It’s about the length of a Kia soul. All of these vehicles start around 20-25k. $35k for the puma would not work at all here. I know a lot of you like its styling, but I’m not sure it would do well here based on that alone. I've advocated bringing it over, but I always figured it'd be in the price range you mentioned - $20-25k. At the $35k direct exchange rate, it would've been dead on arrival. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpd80 Posted March 6 Share Posted March 6 17 hours ago, Motorpsychology said: I recall seeing a Flex prototype at an auto show in 2005 called the Fairlaine. It had bamboo wicker hilights in the interior, sliding rear doors and was very close to the production Flex. We leased an SEL in 2015; wish now we'd have bought it at lease end. We'd probably still have it. Indeed, Fairlane it was, I misspoke with Fairmont 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpd80 Posted March 6 Share Posted March 6 16 hours ago, rmc523 said: I've advocated bringing it over, but I always figured it'd be in the price range you mentioned - $20-25k. At the $35k direct exchange rate, it would've been dead on arrival. Same situation as Fiesta, beautiful little car an buyers loved to option them up but in the end it was just too small for many American buyers. Toyota has Yaris Cross in Australia which is similar size and price as Puma but even Toyota concedes to American buyers with nothing smaller than Corolla cross….. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmc523 Posted March 6 Author Share Posted March 6 6 hours ago, jpd80 said: Same situation as Fiesta, beautiful little car an buyers loved to option them up but in the end it was just too small for many American buyers. Toyota has Yaris Cross in Australia which is similar size and price as Puma but even Toyota concedes to American buyers with nothing smaller than Corolla cross….. Fiesta did well at first and then fell off. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akirby Posted March 6 Share Posted March 6 4 hours ago, rmc523 said: Fiesta did well at first and then fell off. Never sold more than 71k here and I bet at least 1/3 were to rental fleets. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpd80 Posted March 6 Share Posted March 6 2 hours ago, akirby said: Never sold more than 71k here and I bet at least 1/3 were to rental fleets. The hope was to access South American markets by making it in Mexico but that door closed quickly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fuzzymoomoo Posted March 7 Share Posted March 7 4 hours ago, jpd80 said: The hope was to access South American markets by making it in Mexico but that door closed quickly. Didn’t they end up building it for South America in Argentina or something like that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpd80 Posted March 7 Share Posted March 7 (edited) 1 hour ago, fuzzymoomoo said: Didn’t they end up building it for South America in Argentina or something like that? Yes, Brazil from 2013 to 2019 - roughly three years after Cuautitlan production started. Edited March 7 by jpd80 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
passis Posted March 7 Share Posted March 7 (edited) Mexico alone somehow has never had the capacity to supply the Brazilian market. Not when they were exporting Fiestas (they had to keep the South American Fiesta, moving from São Paulo to Bahia*) and not now with Bronco Sport and Maverick (and a much needed Maverick crossover), which have (had?) great opportunity if sufficiently supplied. *A modern factory Farley decided to close (at the cost of $4bi), instead of keeping it with Fiesta, Puma, Tourneo, etc (and perhaps Maverick and Bronco Sport!) Edited March 7 by passis 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bzcat Posted March 9 Share Posted March 9 But don't worry, the Bahia is being put to good use assembling BYD now... 🤡 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biker16 Posted March 15 Share Posted March 15 (edited) On 3/4/2026 at 11:23 AM, Sherminator98 said: Using the UK pricing, they are $35K after conversion That price includes VAT or Value Added Tax =~20% Thats close to 28,000k before VAT Its best to use French pricing to compare to USD, the UK is pricey. The base gas Puma is €22,000 including 20% VAT = 0.8*22,000 = €17,600 before VAT or $20,173 USD The Puma EV works out to €28,800 including 20% VAT = 0.8*28,000 = €22,400 before VAT or $25,674 USD 22-28k USD isn't a bad price. The issue I'd imagine is Ford's Accounting system inability to book the profit where it should be. I.E. FoE Marks up the cost of EU assembled vehicles to generate revenue, instead of selling the vehicle at cost to another Ford entity Ford Comparison: the Mach-E sells for €43,100 Edited March 15 by Biker16 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akirby Posted March 15 Share Posted March 15 55 minutes ago, Biker16 said: FoE Marks up the cost of EU assembled vehicles to generate revenue, instaed of selling the vehicle at cost to another Ford entity Say what? 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmc523 Posted March 16 Author Share Posted March 16 On 3/14/2026 at 9:21 PM, Biker16 said: That price includes VAT or Value Added Tax =~20% Thats close to 28,000k before VAT Its best to use French pricing to compare to USD, the UK is pricey. The base gas Puma is €22,000 including 20% VAT = 0.8*22,000 = €17,600 before VAT or $20,173 USD The Puma EV works out to €28,800 including 20% VAT = 0.8*28,000 = €22,400 before VAT or $25,674 USD 22-28k USD isn't a bad price. The issue I'd imagine is Ford's Accounting system inability to book the profit where it should be. I.E. FoE Marks up the cost of EU assembled vehicles to generate revenue, instead of selling the vehicle at cost to another Ford entity Ford Comparison: the Mach-E sells for €43,100 Those numbers would definitely be more reasonable, if that's how the conversion works. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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