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The strategy that Ford Motor Co. hopes will land it back in black ink is to develop cars that don’t appeal to just regions but to the entire world. In short, it wants to develop cars usable in every nation on the planet, not just for one country(ies).
It has begun to execute this strategy with the introduction in Europe of the Fiesta, with some auto analysts guessing that 400,000 Fiestas will be sold in Western Europe a year by 2009. Already European car magazine editors and pundits like the car and believe it will be a success. But whether it will be a so-called "world car" will be shown in 2010 when it will be introduced into the U.S. market.
This is not the first time Ford will be attempting to sell cars in the U.S. that were made in Europe. It tried to market European-made Mondeo in the U.S. as a Ford Contour and Mercury Mystique. It didn’t work because Americans found the cars to be too small. In the 1980s, Ford tried to sell the European-made Escort in the U.S. but that also failed.
So what's different now? Ford believes that things are extremely different today, especially with the price of gasoline and the demand from U.S. buyers for more fuel efficient vehicles.
If the Fiesta does turn out to be successful, then you can be sure that Ford will be playing the same strategy with other cars made by its European division. This could include the C-Max MPV and possibly the Ford Ka, which are being manufactured in Poland under a joint venture with Fiat. The Ka and C-Max MPV may reach the U.S. market by 2011.
Our take? What do you think of Ford's strategy with the Fiesta?
via Detroit News
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