Tag: Ford

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Cars

Blending Ford Fiesta, Oh Nooo !

Finally Ford introduced the Fiesta to US market. I am pretty sure that, it was a very hard decision to make. As usual, US market is not familiar with cars at the size of a spare tyre of a Hummer! For that reason, Ford US focused heavily on PR campaigns to develop positive word-of-mouth. In other words, Ford tried to make Fiesta as a lovable car for US consumers.
Actually, Fiesta is one of the best looking Ford model currently on range and I don’t think that Americans will ignore this fact after facing with catastrophic models on market. Actually I am always optimistic about the Fiesta in US market. US is a huge market and I am sure that some people would like to buy a small car with good looking design.
However Ford US was thinking in a different way and placed Fiesta in TV shows. That’s something very normal! But the important point is where to place it. And I saw one on YouTube!
There is a TV show or YouTube show called Will It Blend? And they are trying to blend things with blender. Guess what happened? They tried to blend part of Fiesta and they couldn’t make it. Actually I didn’t understand from this pointless footage.
Ford Fiesta is not that hopeless, I hope Ford US will not place its products this type of programmes again.



Pictures’ Copyright
Ford

Categories
Cars

The New Ford Explorer: New taste like Olive Oil

Automotive industry is like a soap opera, their relationship is so complicated even the five thousand years old American show Young & Restless looks like a piece of cake. Ford and GM bought every car brand which was left alone and they were very close to be bankrupted. Now hopefully they started to recover and focus on their main brand which they forgot for two decades.
And now we have the new Ford Explorer, one decade ago it was one of the worst SUV was built on planet, may in solar system also. It was less reliable than Kia and I don’t know why one decade ago Ford Explorer had many problems. I guess at those times Ford was focused on buying European brands which were left from GM and forgot that they were making cars!
Let’s go back to new Ford Explorer, in my opinion that’s a very well made and quite nice looking SUV for American market not for Europe! When I read the press documents, I saw that Explorer will have 2,0lt EcoBoost engine which produces 240 horsepower! That’s awful (American expression)! This engine as awful as olive oil in your kitchen.
Olive oil is not very common in US, that’s normal because it is produced quite faraway from US. And people started to prefer olive oil more but still it is something new to Americans. Unfortunately it is a bit expensive also due to transportation costs :(
But don’t worry this new European 2,0lt awful engine is not like that :) Ford Explorer with 2,0lt EcoBoost engine is a like a olive oil bottle in McDonald’s kitchen. For last two thousand years in US market small engines were something really small and it was not something to prefer when you have the huge V8 engines. Hopefully Ford woke up and mated this new European engine with Explorer but this is not whole story.
Ford was the previous owner of Land Rover and in 2004 Land Rover introduced a new technology called Terrain Response. In basic terms, you look at the road in front and select similar icon on the know and car is reacting to this preferred road condition. This made off road driving very easy for normal people. Interestingly while they were selling Land Rover to Tata, some documents left actually some symbols left from Land Rover.
The new terrain management programme in Explorer has a know like Land Rover and it has the same symbols! I don’t criticize Ford, but come on why didn’t you replace the symbols with different ones. They are the same ones which were used in Land Rover Discovery, Range Rover Sport and Range Rover! You have many design people in Ford, just tell them to design something different and that’s all.
The rest of the new Explorer is quite good, it has very European features like collision warning system, radar guided cruise control, inflatable seatbelts (this is new toy), LED lights, blind spot warnings and similar things which you can find in Ford Mondeo.
Ford did a really good job but I still won’t buy an Explorer, sorry the brand image still have some problems. I prefer Mondeo, if I have to have a Ford badge! I really looking forward to hear the feedbacks from European engine in US :)
And Sony is not making climate control systems, don’t be confused ;)
Pictures Copyrights;
Land Rover, Ford and Olive
Categories
Cars

We still have 1990s thanks to Chrysler

Yesterday I spotted a Chrysler in Birmingham (UK not US). I know you might say, what is wrong with that! But if you ever been to UK and have some interest on cars, you will be notice that there are no Chrysler on this island.
It is really rare to see a Chrysler, maybe it is too much American or maybe it still has the 1980s green dot matrix digital screen which can cause some people remember their school memories! You can find many more adverse points for Chrysler and that’s not very hard.
Honestly, I don’t like to criticize Chrysler like this but they don’t give us another option. Chrysler is like a four leaf clover which look terrible. The Chrysler I saw yesterday, it was like that. The iconic and boring Sebring with new design philosophy, if that exist!
This car was an icon for being Boring before Lexus and Chrysler did not show any significant effort to improve it. Okay, it is looks better but when you place next to Ford Mondeo; you can notice catastrophe more clearly.
Everyone know that Chrysler is under serious financial problems and they cannot afford to hire Pininfarina design office to make better looking vehicles. So, their sales will drop and they will ask for more money and they will design more boring car and their sales drop… This story goes on like this. If you want to win, hire an Italian design office and get rid of green digital screen!
 
Pictures are taken from;
Ford and Chrysler Website
Categories
Lifestyle

GM powered by Google !

Last one year was very hard for US car makers. They lost their kingdom and defeated by Japanese car makers. Everything went very bad for them. US car makers were the king of automotive industry and nearly one hundred years later, they survived only with the help of huge amount credits! A few days ago GM was saying thank you to everyone and this flashed some ideas in my mind.
Of course, US car markers tried their best to be worst :) Hummer, huge petrol sucking V8s, ignoring diesel or any other alternative and designing car which were uglier than anything. Did they change their mentality? Of course no! Still you can find huge SUVs with huge petrol engines, they are not offering some different since one decade. Even last year’s trauma did not make any change. Actually, I am sure that many people in those companies are doing their best to safe their company but the mentality of company does not change in one night!
And ten years ago something else came into our life! Google. We did not understand how created a relationship with Google but now our whole life relies on Google. Without we cannot even do very basic stuff :) And Google shares something in common with US car companies! They are in same country, one firm is making fortune, the other one is dying.
So my suggestion, transfer people from Google to car companies in US and let Google guys to do your marketing and product design. They don’t know automotive industry but how worse can it be? Really! You all know automotive industry and we know the story. So, how worse can it get? Actually, Google guys are very good that designing new products and on marketing strategies. Give them a chance ;)
Pictures are taken from;
GM and Googel Websites
Categories
Cars

Driving in UK in 1930s

I have just found this video from Ford Europe’s Twitter message. Video is explaining what you should do in your driving examination. The interesting things are, you have to use your arm as a signal, as a stop light and as a take over me. At those years, I guess engineers forgot to place light back end of the cars! Hopefully they did not forgot to place headlights ;)
Categories
Cars

Unbelieveable news from Ford Fiesta

Ford Fiesta is one of the best looking small car on market, sorry VW! Despite the attractive and timeless design of Ford Fiesta there is a serious problem with Fiesta. It is using the worst automatic transmission on earth. Four-speed automatic! For people who has no idea of what is wrong with four-speed auto, let me explain it easier. This automatic transmission was used by Alexander The Great, and Ford could not manage to leave it!
Ford’s financial problem forced to use this transmission even in this new Fiesta. Hopefully, Ford is going to offer the new technology PowerShift (double clucth) automatic transmission. What will happen? This new transmission will be offering very quick, actually seamlessly gear changes and this will provide lower emissions level and more efficient consumption. This new gearbox will make Fiesta is the best small car on market. Reasonable priced, extremely good designed, and high technology :) There is only one thing left, a small turbo charged engine.
Categories
Cars

Thank you Ford Europe :)

Since I started this blog, several car companies visited by blog and this is a great motivation to keep writing. I was not expecting that car companies could find my blog and keep reading it. But it happened! From millions of blog around the internet, they have found me :)
However, there is one company kept reading my blogs frequently! That’s the one who sold every European brand and made profit recently. That is Ford! Actually, Ford Europe.
People from Ford Europe Cologne, Germany and Basildon, UK. I don’t who is reading and which department is reading but they are reading it. Despite the fact that, I am not writing things which they could like them.
I am not writing these things to criticize Ford. I am writing these criticisms to express my thought about Ford to help to make better cars. I know that, my blogs will not change any production line or any car feature, but at least I wanted to share my ideas. I am driving Ford Mondeo and that’s a really nice. New Mondeo is an excellent one, even the S-Max (I found people carriers are boring) is nice people carrier. However, there are some serious facts (I know, Ford knows these also) which become obstacle in front of their competitive advantage.
Ford is offering great designs, much better VW even better than Audi. But but but; Ford should also offer compact engines like VW and better production quality inside the car, features should be competitive, customers should find some reasons to buy new models. Offering same engines and four-speed auto gearbox will not emerge motivation. I really want to see 1,6lt turbo diesel automatic Mondeo and also 1,4lt turbo petrol engine automatic Mondeo. Also 1,3lt turbo diesel automatic Fiesta or Focus. Also for Kuga! Engine range, automatic gearboxes and interior quality should be revised. I know that, you are doing your best but you can do it better :) Despite the fact, Ford US is still producing Lincoln Navigator.
I do hope that, new Mondeo will offer more competitive engines! Ford is doing great in emerging markets and emerging markets like Turkey have very high tax rates. So, if you want to increase your market share, offer new technology compact engines ;)
Categories
Cars

Ford has acceleration issue!

Toyota is suffering serious problems with gas pedal and sudden acceleration. Usual Toyota’s does not wish to accelerate but this time, problem is extremely serious and it is going to destroy its reputation!
And Ford started to make profit! It is also sudden like Toyota’s problem. Because, Ford and Profit words never used together for a long long long time. However, during last years Ford sold everything they owned. Land Rover, Jaguar, Aston Martin and Volvo. Also they closed some of the production plants. And they started to make profit! Really? How long you can sustain this profit level? For two months?
Ford is still has the old, unsuccessful, and failure making approach. You sold everything what you were expecting? Huge loss! Ford lost so much money, I cannot even remember it. This profit level will not satisfy anyone and twitting some “funny” cartoon will not have impact. I really cannot understand, US has the best Business Schools on earth but Ford cannot find people to create “proper” profit!
These tactics have the same efficiency as much as your inefficient petrol V8s. Ford; Wake Up and Think Twice!
Categories
Cars

Ford Europe is waking up!

Today I was reading a news release from Ford Europe. It was mentioning about the future Focus, Mondeo and future technologies. I was really excited about this news. Since last five years, Ford was not able to offer very competitive cars. Yes, the Mondeo and S-Max are very beautifully designed but the technological features were not that competitive, especially when you compare with Germans. New Mondeo did not receive a new petrol engine or a new diesel engine or a new small turbo engine. There were some gossips about these engines but they have never revealed. Of course, we cannot ignore the fact about Ford’s financial problems which always badly affected the Ford Europe. (A small info; unlike Ford America, Ford Europe is making profits.) Also Ford stuck on old automatic transmissions which are only offering four-speed and there is also a CVT transmission and a dual clutch auto for only 2,0 lt engines. They look nice on paper but when you compare with VW, VW is a decade beyond the Ford.
I am pretty sure that, Ford has the know-how to produce, every technology VW is offering but Ford was reluctant to offer them. But after this news release, I am pretty sure that Ford will become competitive like old days. Why? Let me tell you some facts about the near future of Ford vehicles;
Torque Vectoring Control (I don’t know what this is)
Blind Spot
Electric Power Steering
Adaptive Cruise Control for Focus, Mondeo, and other big boys
Lane Assistance
Auto High Beam
Road Sign Recognition
Low Speed Collision Mitigation System
Active Grille Shutters to Improve Aerodynamic Drag (This is available in BMW X6)
Dual Clutch Gearbox
And many more things. Most of these technologies are available in premium segment cars with high price tags. Eventually, we can have these in a Ford Focus or Ford Mondeo. I think Ford should have done these earlier. Even though, these technologies are proof of Ford ambition to become a very strong competitor to Germans!
Categories
Cars

Ford C’eed, hopps new Focus

Kia is one the most undesirable brand for me. I know that, their quality and technology significantly raised during last five years but Kia brand is a very warm brand for me. On the other hand; I really like European Fords, they handle nice, you get what you paid for and its design is nice. Until now, Ford Focus’s design was nice! Instead of getting better, Focus’s design is getting worse and worse. When the first Focus was reveal nearly more than ten years ago, they left the car in London and count how many people look at the car and it was a huge number, which I don’t remember now. However second generation Focus did not catch enough attention but the last one will definitely be recognized as Kia C’eed.
Ford has very good designer team, they have designed Mondeo, S-Max and Kuga. They all look very good. But when it comes to Focus, there is no effort! Hopefully, this time Ford didn’t forget to put a better interior, this is the good side of new Focus. But the rest is just no comment! Here you could see Kia C’eed and new Ford Focus. And as we could see from the pictures; new Ford Focus is designed by Ford USA! Just check the back of the new Focus, you will see :)
Blue car is Kia C’eed and red one is new Ford Focus.
Pictures are from;
Kia Website
Worldcarfans Website