MrPlow2

how do you people see ford? as in, ford as a brand? every car manufacturer has an image, the way people perceive the brand.

eg:
mercedes benz - automotive excellence
lexus - superbly engineered cars which are a bad copy of european marques
vw - poor man's prestige brand
toyota - whitegoods on wheels (it's changing though)
daihatsu - the small car company. even they admit it!
citroen - weird, but good weird!
mazda - japanese equivalent of citroen (to an extent)
holden - mainstream - a brand that tries to cover all segments. they have the barina, barina gsi, astra 3 door, 5 door, sedan, gsi, vectra sedan and 5 door, commodore (from executive to SS), statesman/caprice, zafira, frontera, jackaroo, cruzer from next year... and then you have the commercial vehicles! they cover all basis...

what has ford got? let's see...

mini segment: ka
small segment: ???
small sports: ??? (lets face it, it sells!)
small-medium: laser
small-medium: ??? (same, it sells)
medium: ???
large: falcon
luxury: fairmont/fairlane/ltd
small 4wd: ???
medium 4wd: escape
large 4wd: escape
people movers (any): ???
performance: xr series/t series
upper performance: ??? (GTS competitor)
GT: mustang

now, looking at that list i would say that ford is trying to market itself as the boring car company! and i won't take that crap that ford doesn't have the money to change this. this has been going on for years! advertising does nothing for me, except inform me of a new product, but most people are not like that! i'll dare to say that people are stupid! easily brainwashed! hell, look at the following holden has got! they have a so-so product but they market it well! this has to change or ford marketing/advertising will kill ford australia as we know it today.

FAT ALBERT

In my opinion people as a group follow the pack mentality and like to take the easy way out when thinking. That is to say they like to read the papers and watch the nutters presenting the Current Affairs type shows to know what they're thinking.

How else can you justify why people like Packer , Murdoch and Black spend so much money to own newspapers. Ownership here equals control of the general populace thoughts to a large degree.

Advertising is part of this phenomenon and in reality if you dont advertise aggressively then you pissing into the wind. Might as well just urinate on your own foot. Remember what uncle Geoff said before... Ford is like a big ocean liner and it takes time to turn her around. Hell I want Ford to be like a guided missile destroyer!!! Blow the shiite out of the enemy. Oh and David you are at war!! That's what business is like in my experience.

RATT

Setting an image takes years if not decades. The position that BMW and Mercedes are in took that long. And I don't think the performance variants of these cars had much to do with it, it was the engineering and image setting by the marketing firms that did alot of the work. Yeah I know none of us aspire to owning a humble 318i, but the bloody things sell!

I have always said that Ford Oz's biggest problem is not that there aren't a great deal of performance Fords, it's that we don't have a baby Ford like the Fiesta or similar. Although they aren't exciting cars and Ford don't make much money on them. They are an investment into the future. My little sis will be buying a car soon and she is a Ford fan, but there is nothing in the Ford stable in the $15-16k price range which she is willing to spend. So what's her alternative?

I hope your listening Geoff.

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BF XR6 Turbo

The Stylist

I must admit that Ford Australia's lineup looks a bit thin and some of those voids could be filled.

Though however you only have to look at Mazda back in the early 90's when in the US (or Japan) they tried to match their opposition by having products in every sector, which in turn almost brought the company to its knees.
Ford Australia definately needs product to fill the medium and small car brackets though I think it's a bit risky bringing products like the Galaxy, Cougar and the conversions of the Mustang (though the Mustang does help in building up Ford's image). :blueooo: :s4

rallyman

small segment: Ka
small-medium: Laser
Medium: Mondeo/Cougar
Small ATW: Escape
Large ATW: Explorer
People movers: Transit Bus
Large: Falcon range
Luxury: LTD/Fairlane/TL50
Performance: XR
Upper Performance: T-Series
GT: Mustang
Commercial: Courier/Transit/F-Series

Small sports: Howard Marsden has been quoted as saying that the Laser doesn't have the image to be a performance vehicle. However, with the XPlod at the SMS, maybe that's changing direction. Would be good if Focus is here though
Also, the StreetKa would do well here I believe.

But all in all, I don't really think that this represents the direction of FOA. I'd like to see what'll be available in 2003....the range would probably be revised and brought into action by then.

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*crash navigation sig removed in memory of Possum Bourne! RIP!*

The Stylist

The small sector still needs a small car to replace the Festiva and the Current Mondeo and Cougar are getting long in the tooth (the new Mondeo is already on sale elsewhere) plus the Transit bus hardly compares with the likes of the Honda Odessy, Mazda MPV, Toyota Targo etc... :bhrmmm: