Ford says they will produce a reality show on car design. Ford, a major sponsor of “American Idol”, had already announced that former “Idol” Kelly Clarkson would help market their cars, is now taking another step away from common sense by pitching to networks an idea for an auto design reality show. Ford says participants on the show would work with their designers to create new Ford concept vehicles. We can onlyassume that the audience would text message a vote for their favorite concept and Ford would perhaps consider bringing the car to production.
Ws say Ford should simply concentrate on designing vehicles people want, rather than continuing to force-market vehicles people don’t want. Get rid of the entire Mercury line, maybe the Lincoln too, and focus on building strong blue-oval marquee vehicles with the quality, performance, and fuel economy their foreign competitors seem to nail down on all of their cars.
I just bought an 07 Ford Ranger STX, with the 4.0 and the standard, basically a strippy with the “go” options. It has a plastic oil pan….. The heater/ac button popped off in my hand…. I mean it is a sharp looking truck, i did a couple things to it and it stands out, but i mean they went so thin on the paint there are some bare spots in the body lines. I dunno, rides nice, handles good, seems mecanicaly solid, but everything esle just seems cheap, thrown together, and made in mexico.
By Mike. November 19th, 2006 at 6:52 pmI proud Ford worker for 35 years. What I see in the showrooms is all eye wash and b.s. I want quality and American parts. I won’t sell my soul to Mexican made products to save a few dollar for Ford Motor Company. I see a Honda in my future if this keeps up.
By Dave. September 14th, 2006 at 8:21 pmWhat happened to buying an american product?,not something from overseas from either side of the world!! That went out the window when the BIG 3 started to buy into the foreign market.SO tell me what is an american car co?The way I see it ,the only american car companies were when they made cars that would ripe the hides off a new set of tires,not this front wheel drive garbage.Now it seems the found out that the fwd cars can`t handle the torque that some of these cars produce, that`s why rear wheel drive cars are again being produced.Buy an american muscle car to restore and save a classic !!!!
By zeff moreno. August 16th, 2006 at 2:31 pmThe word FORD as i grew up meant the neatest lookin car around, Heck even Chevy and Dodge guy’s still like to put a 350 bow tie in a 32 Ford roadster, coupe,40 coupe.The Impala now sickens me just like the Fushion and 500 do .Dodge: the company with hands down ugliest cars of the big three through the years, have a neat chopped retro hot rod look ..Big deal all of em suck…Gone are the days of Factory cool! Build your own…
By Jimmy Hawkins. June 26th, 2006 at 8:57 amWhat will attract me to a Ford product is American Content (not German or French or Mexican) and quality at a decent price. As I understand it, the Ford Mustang comes with A french transmission (gee…that will really incent me to buy Ford) and a German engine (well German is better than french but really…isn’t American better?).. and the new Fusion is built in Mexico? What are you kidding me? thats a disgrace!
Hoe about am “American” Ford? Now theres a concept!!!
By Paul Evers. June 19th, 2006 at 1:29 pmThe more foeign parts ford puts in there cars and trucks the worse they get.The french made tranny in my ford ranger is a piece of junk.
By roger womack. June 18th, 2006 at 9:00 amFord Taurus/ Mercury Sable was notorious for tranny failures from the first generation on.
By Chuck. June 3rd, 2006 at 4:34 pmI gave Ford a try once. I bought a ‘93 Taurus. At 42,000 miles, the trans was gone. Ford said “Too bad, your warranty was 36,000 miles. Not our problem. I posted a query on the Internet, and in 24 hours had 84 replies from around U.S. and Canada, from Taurus/Sable owners that had the same issue.
By Dave. May 29th, 2006 at 8:35 pmI had a Dodge Monaco that had a recall on the brake rotors. I had replaced mine two years before the recall, and Chrysler re-imbursed me! Now THAT is taking care of the customer! There will never be a Ford parked in my garage!
Sorry about the bad english skills.
By shovelhead. May 23rd, 2006 at 9:09 pmWho are you comparing Ford products to? I,ve seen the GM. offerings the car line sucks, the trucks are acceptable but the ford trucks win. The very plastic Crysler interiors leave somthing to be desired. The cars are otherwise nice. But I think the content and the value lies with ford . I agree with Galen that the rest of the car line needs more commitment from the engineers, front wheel drive is out as far as I am concerned accept for the little cars, yes They are in trouble, but lets hang in there and bitch, but still buy american, cause there ain,t no choice. what happens if we go to war big, and there,s no American companies to build things? We,er done. So whats the plan to get American manufactures to build more mainstream cars that people will buy? On a different note, why cant we have steel chrome bumpers on the new mustang?
By shovelhead. May 23rd, 2006 at 9:05 pmStyling, yes Ford needs an advanced lesson but they need the preformance and quality to back it up. Remember Fords “Total Performance” campaing in the 60’s? I am a Looooong time Ford owner and still have a 99PSD I bought new. I just bought my first non FoMoCo auto ever, a ‘06 Magnum R/T. Styling, great performance and hopefully good quality in an auto that that will do it all, at least all I like. With the exception of their trucks, since the 60’s, Ford has struggled to produce anything other than the Mustang in a version I would buy. I love Fords, if they had anything comparable to this Magnum, it would be in my garage instead. For now, it will have to be DC for my car.
By Galen. May 20th, 2006 at 7:22 amdo you know how many taurus cars ford sold? not including the merc, well i did some research around my place; people will buy fusions they don’t wan’t a honda or a toyo to get stollen,. Man that makes me happy, somehow ford will rope as many people again.
By omar. May 3rd, 2006 at 6:24 pmFord needs to concentrate on some fresh, new styling for its cars. The Mustang is great, just make sure it doesn’t get burried by the new Camaro and Challenger coming out soon. As far as Mercury, they need to make a bigger distinction between themselves and Ford. Mercury used to be the “step-up” division for Ford buyers, and offered some nice cars in the past, (Cougar, Cyclone, Marauder). But now, just Fords with an uglier grille.
By Robert. May 2nd, 2006 at 9:23 amLincoln needs to build the Continental concept car that they unveiled a few years ago. That model, inspired by the great ones from ‘61-’65, would re-establish Lincoln as the top American luxury car.
Stick with Ford, as Carroll Shelby once said. They are the only one of the big car makers that seems to have a heart.
I wonder what would happen if Ford had taken the billions of dollars invested into thier advertising budget, and instead invested it into thier creative design & quality control departments….. Word of mouth will produce more product sales, especially with the advent of Palm Pilots & Tivo…
By T.D.. May 1st, 2006 at 1:48 pmI’ve got a 500. I picked it solely because Ford invited us to a drive event- where we drove a Freestyle, Mustang GT and a 500. I would have gotten a Mustang but the
By Larry. April 28th, 2006 at 3:48 pmcompany I work for won’t allow a 2-door for a co car. At any rate, there is or was no advertising that I can recall on the 500.
A year later, my buddy’s up for his next car, so I went to the LA Auto Show to get him some sales materials on the Fusion. The Ford pavillion didn’t have anything specific to the Fusion. I couldn’t believe it. So the Ford “Product Specialist” takes my name and address so they can forward the Fusion brochure. About a month later I get it in the mail! What a joke, Mike had already bought a Pontiac. Ford’s advertising sucks and their marketing process is broken.
My Ford 500 is a great car and a big step in building quality cars again. While its not as sporty as we normally buy it is a good sound auto. But the ad campaigns Ford has employed lately to sell them have been the pits. Most people who have bought the 500 have allot of good things to say about them. Ford definetly needs to rethink their marketing approach and stop blowing money on singers like pop stars or rapper’s — That not will not sell auto’s– I say fire the whole department
By Woody. April 28th, 2006 at 6:41 amFord has the worst advertisement department out of all the auto makers. I could never remember at anytime that after watching one of their commercials, that I had a feeling of wanting to buy a Ford. Now, the only time when I do see a commercial from FoMoCo is when they advertise sales events which to me says desperation. Ford needs to be a little better in demonstrating the benefits of their car and advertising according to what market will buy it. For example, you don’t advertise coolness and hip-hop w/ the Fusion. Also, sales for the Freestar are horrible yet their is no advertisement to promote sales. But, the biggest thing that is hurting their sales now (along w/ DXC and GM) is mileage. Ford has the worst mileage on all their cars, trucks, and SUVs. It also doesn’t help that Japanese competetors are probably bluffing their numbers. Hopefully, since the top brass is up for election, some new ideas will come through to save them.
By bassman97. April 27th, 2006 at 4:50 pmOh and also… I think I saw this on the Simpsons, but the car Homer designed didn’t turn out so great… but it was great entertainment!
By Motrhed. April 27th, 2006 at 11:58 amDid my browser redirect me to a Chevy site? WTF is with all the anti-ford propoganda lately? We praise them when they are doing good, and kick them when they are down? Ford’s job is not to make the most amazing spectacular autos in the world (that’s for ferrari, porsche, etc.), their job is to sell volumes of vehicles to the masses, and hopefully if enough cash is laying around, make some really cool but lower volume vehicles like the Mustang, Lightning (RIP), etc. The purpose of marketing is not to entertain people that are already die-hard Ford fanatics… it’s to pull in those people that are sitting on the fence, don’t care what emblem is on the grille, and just want the best car for them. And unfortunately those people are the young latte sippin hippies spending their parents earnings on their next toy. I’m not going to diss their marketing strategies and ideas because frankly, that’s not what I went to school for and that’s not what I know… all I can say is I hope whatever they are doing works, but they’ve got some tough competition. There are a lot of quality cars on the market… you can’t look at Ford, see that their market position is slipping, and assume they must be sitting around smoking some illegal substance with their thumb up their rear. It’s a tough, innovative market.
By Motrhed. April 27th, 2006 at 11:57 amUhhh, I dont think it will make me want to buy a ford. If ford really wants to sell cars they should make quality cars again.
By Tanner. April 27th, 2006 at 9:47 amYes, you are not going to see BMW do something like this. Surrendering to consumer whims is not the way to go. I agree, Ford needs to establish themselves as an authority again not a bitch for the marketplace to manipulate. People buy into confidence not desperation which is what a reality show will communicate. If you want to see a real joke, pick up a 2006 Fusion Brochure at the dealer. If Ford Marketing’s attempt to connect the Fusion with 20-something hipsters in front of “Da-Club” is their way to connect with America then damn, they’re in trouble.
By Mikelonis. April 27th, 2006 at 9:17 am