Ka? Crap
Laser? sorry the mazda looks heaps better
Mondaeo? Are you being sold here?
Falcons? They have there problems which we all know
Fairlane/LTD? Same
T series? not bad, not good value, not exciting enough
F trucks? Well we will have to see, so far reasonable.
Cougar/mustang? Eh could definately do more here
If ford really wants to start slapping Holden around its gunna have to get the whole line up to a reasonable state.
Ka - Drop it or put a 1.7 L engine into it. If your going to have a odd car, make it odd. With the 1.7 you could hype it as a Renualt 172 fighter.. Make it a tickfordish, I think in the UK you can get a leather interior as a option. 1.7L +leather+body kit half decent small car.
Laser - $28k for a Laser? At least holdens astra looks european. It needs something with a bit of sparkel.. Find a 2.0 Litre engine and install, or turbo it, or something.
Falcon - proberly the best part of the line up so far, but it still needs something, something that makes independant buys say "hey I want one of those" Holden has the looks to sell the car, ford needs something. AU III? Special editions that really work.. AV?
Fairlane/LTD - well, not a bad start, fairlane ghia isn't bad. The LTD defies logic, its priced at public servant price, with no added benifits.
T series - You can't get anymore power into these things quicker? The velvet glove look only works if you have mumbo to back it up, otherwise its a expensive standard car. Surely you can do something while waiting for the Stroker. Simply matching HSV's power won't solve all of the T's problems.. Solve alot but not all..
Cougar needs something for the money, why is it here? Ford Probe of 2001? lost in the lineup
The mustang has a crap interior, so when converted why wasn't a better interior specified? US fault or what?
Ka - Replace with Fiesta
Laser - Replace with Focus
Falcon/Fairmont - AV update due soon. Should sort out most faults of AU
Fairlane - As above
T-Series - Minimum of 260kw same spec as now.
Cougar - Drop it from FTE & put it in normal showrooms or just kill it cold
Mustang - Must be sold here. It's an icon car like the Monaro is to Holden.
Escape - Excellent car for it's class
Explorer - Update due soon. Should do ok with V8 option
F-Series - Purely aimed at commerial sector. Should sell reasonably well.
Mondeo is dead. Has been for months. Dealers are still clearing old stock. Good idea to kill it. AV Falcon should be like new Mondeo so good idea not to bring new one here.
The current lineup isn't all that bad really. Sure it has a few holes, but they should be filled with the updates due in the next 12 months. Time will tell if we're right or not..
Ford Ka
2.0 SR laser engine (some engine tuning) or the 1.7 puma
5 speed
15 or 16" boots
front/rear discs off the SR
leather interior from UK Ka
Shiftlight/tacho
Bodykit + fog lights
$30,000
Bundle it up and sell them to the Uk as well! Call it something sweet.
Turbo the laser SR20. It barely keeps up with a standard Corrolla as it is. Or put the V6 in from a mondeo.
While your at it turbo the Cougar as well.
Take the 6.8L out of the FTE mustang and put it into a LTD for laughs.. Or in a XR8.
Does anyone else feel like ford doesn't have enough photos of cars on there site?
I agree the escape is pretty good, espically concidering holdens suck..
Laser replaced with Focus? Hmmm interesting.
I hate the Festivas, I honestly hate them. I hope the new ones are much better, and they drop the festiva name.. But I guess im not a festiva buyer...
Do you really think that 260kw is enough? Will that alone kill HSV? If all the Tickford cars have 260Kw will they continue the pricing wheres the diffrence between a TS and a TE?
I hope ford pulls there stuff together. However they certainly have a fight on there hands, I can see plenty of weaknesses.
I also hope that the F trucks fit the bill, fords commerial line up I don't think is that great. Holden Rodeos seem to be breading like flies, I don't even know if Ive seen a new courier. More ambo's seem to be vans these days, I remember when they were all f trucks..
Originally posted by IPhido Do you really think that 260kw is enough? Will that alone kill HSV? If all the Tickford cars have 260Kw will they continue the pricing wheres the diffrence between a TS and a TE?
Yep should be. No point taking the power war any higher than it needs to go. Why blow Holden away with 300kw in the base FTE if you don't need to. Leaves the up-spec models no-where to go..
Quote:
Originally posted by IPhido I mean the FTE burnout mustang that they put the v10 into... They were going to supercharge it or something..
Put it in a XR8 or a LTD or a T series, then take it down to eastern creek drags or something.. Don't tell anyone...
Why bother doing that if you're not going to tell anyone? I'd be screaming it from the bleachers if I was gunna do it.
Originally posted by IPhido Ka? Crap
Laser? sorry the mazda looks heaps better
Mondaeo? Are you being sold here?
Falcons? They have there problems which we all know
Fairlane/LTD? Same
T series? not bad, not good value, not exciting enough
F trucks? Well we will have to see, so far reasonable.
Cougar/mustang? Eh could definately do more here
Ka - Drop it or put a 1.7 L engine into it. If your going to have a odd car, make it odd. With the 1.7 you could hype it as a Renualt 172 fighter.. Make it a tickfordish, I think in the UK you can get a leather interior as a option. 1.7L +leather+body kit half decent small car.
Don't forget the name of the game for small cars is affordability, price and perceived value. How much would a Ka cost with the 1.7? $20k +? How many will be sold? These are the dilemas Ford Oz has. The South African built Fiesta will be a great addition. The Ka should still be around as a niche model.
The Laser? Well the word is that the Laser and Focus will share platforms for the next all-new models meaning that on the same platform you have the Laser, 323 and Focus. Now since the Laser/323 are built in Japan, the Focus will most likely be built there as well. Due to currency problems regarding the importing of European cars, a Japanese built Focus may just as well be imported into Australia in higher volumes to replace the Laser. Lets hope.
Same goes for Modeo. As long as the $A is around $US0.50 - 65c, it's not fesible for it to be sold here
With Falcon we're on the right track, the AV should be a great car that will create more enthusiasm.
All the low volume cars Ford Oz has now are also important, they are doing wonders for Fords image.
Originally posted by RATT Now since the Laser/323 are built in Japan, the Focus will most likely be built there as well. Due to currency problems regarding the importing of European cars, a Japanese built Focus may just as well be imported into Australia in higher volumes to replace the Laser. Lets hope.
That's the rumour doing the rounds now. If the focus is to be built in Asia then you'd think it'll be a short priced favourite to be on sale in Oz..
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