It looks sorta similiar to the ford edge.

cs:
sorta is probably right, my issue with it is that it's visually less appealing than the Edge. Not to say that the Edge is ugly, but this one is, well, more edgy. Which is, imo, what Ford needs to take away customers from Toyota and Honda, since reliability is not one of their strengths.

Looks like a bloated Focus.

The reason this will not come here are twofold I think.

1. The European Design Team is under the European Division of Ford, which is not under the control of the American Division. Both are controlled by a head company that is Ford Worldwide (not the official name, but I think you understand the structure). So what Ford Europe is doing is not what the American design team is doing.

2. The Executives in America are just that. There is a set of European executives and American ones, with again a team of head executives that oversee the whole thing. The American executives, you can imagine, are fighting for their jobs right now and showing their bosses that the European team is doing far superior work by using their designs certainly is not the way to keep their jobs.

Both of those can be summed up as "internal problems" for Ford. The people that run the day to day work for Ford in America do not want to let everyone know that the European heads are better at their jobs then the Americans are. So you can bet at every company meeting the American heads are using every dirty word to describe the Europeans, while trying to feed the company directors tons of crap about how "surveys show Americans do not want cars styled like this." And you can also bet that those words are accompanied by ideas that make it sound like every American wants these bloated, "rugged looking" cars that Ford tries to make.

I also know that there is not a lot of internal push from Ford workers to make cars that are styled half-way decently. Living in a town right next to a Ford truck plant, I can be considered a source when I say that most Ford workers both have little to no personal style, and think about everything as it was 20 years ago. I hear many of them talk about how "past trucks" looked better, and even those words that should never be used in a sentence in the 21st century get uttered.

"Carbs is better than injection." Those words should not be uttered both for the bad grammar and the lack of intelligent thought that goes into them. I shudder to think my IQ just went down a notch typing them.

Ford America needs a shakeup. Someone here said the car is less visually appealing due to being edgier: since when does "edgy" not translate into "more appealing" these days? If you look at the cars that are best sellers they are almost all edgier than their bland counterparts. The Taurus, for instance, and the Ford 500 before it are horrible sellers, but the Camry, which is not even that edgy, outsells them. The old Taurus was outsold for years by a Camry which was more edgy than it.

Cars that say something and attract people's sense of self by being stand-outs sell better. Even whem BMW changed its design scheme and created the "Bangle Butt," it sold well, so well that the brand is now the worlds best selling luxury auto maker! That is right, when old-school buyers were appalled at that styling direction, the car just sold better! Why?

Because it still had that legendary BMW engineering, and it got people thinking about the 3 series again. Before that change, the 3 series had remained looking the same for what, 6 years? Now its being "updated" every few hours it seems like, and it still retains that basic shape, but it still keep selling better and better!

no, prefer the Volvo version. Kinetic design has its limits...

Negative side affect of all this platform strategy and development stuff: if Volvo has it, then Ford wants it too. Lets see if Mazda has discovered this platform....

It happens with most car companies. There are really cool Japanese cars that will never come to the USA. There are European cars that will never come to the USA. It makes one really sad and envious.

Allen, You hit the nail right on the head there. Ford needs a Major exec shakeup here in the US. The top execs are so concerned with things other than cars that the are dragging the company into bankrupcy. Their designs are ulgy and they even unsuccesfully ripped off Caddy for the Fusion design. With the poor designs, rep for bad quality and a boycott against them, I wonder where Ford will be by 2010.

This is why we need to get young folks into the auto industry. If you go to any domestic auto manufacturing plant, you'll see most of the workers are middle-aged or more. These people are set in their ways and are more or less resistant to change. The auto industry needs to be scoping out colleges for the young designers with out of this world designs and not just in the US either. It wouldn't hurt to bring in some European designers to design some of our cars so we can get some styling instead of blandness.

Whatever!
I like the looks of it, but even if they brought it here it would get the rubbermaid interior with ragged finish lines, no diesel, 4speed auto, and 13 inch tires, and built by American Union labor.
No thanks.

Or, Zippy, as Jeff, CS and I said, the auto industry could bring in some young talent and see what happens for once.

GM did that recently, bringing in the European design head to judge a competition for the best new designer of a group of college grads that GM was hiring. And I won't say GM is out of the woods by any means, but they are definitely doing better than Ford in both the design and engineering department.

I do not know about European designers though: when you look at BMW, its head of design (and not just the 3 series but well liked designs in all categories) is Chris Bangle, and American. Just because Europe has better designed cars does not mean they are all Europeans, rather they are just talented. Knowing some people at Audi give me the knowledge to say that Audi employs some Americans, but also a decent number of Africans and Middle Eastern peoples in its design and engineering teams.

Basically, American auto companies need to look for someone who has inspiration in their designs. Right now their designs pretty much herald back to days past. The new Tahoe has quite a bit of the 70s version in it. The name schemes are all decades old. The basis for their engines is 50 years old!

Someone who has never designed a car, I think, would be the best choice. Sounds silly, but considering the experienced designers are not doing anything for them right now, that tells me they are either to old or influenced by the wrong material.

But take someone with artistic talent and tell them "design us the perfect car, in your mind, and then redesign one that is based on your perfect car, with other people in mind, and show us what you come up with."

This leaves the designer totally uninfluenced in their first sketch. Then when you add the second stipulation (after the first sketch is done), you get something more practical but still something that is most likely controversial. Then you ask that person to dwell on these for a while, and take some time to review and think about where they would see automobiles going in the future.

Then ask for a final sketch a few weeks later, and see what you have. Make all three into a concept vehicle, and see which ones get the best responses in terms of how divisive they are. Build the one with the strongest emotional response. Lukewarm designs that everyone would say "its ok" to won't sell like a car that 7 of ten people hate, and 3 of ten people cannot wait to buy no matter what.

Why? A lukewarm design will not stand out, and people would shop the competition looking for features and practicality. Basically, a lukewarm design tells someone that they could buy it, but only for THEIR price.

But a design that someone attaches themself to, one that gets just that one of every ten or so people saying "this is what is me," thats what people would wait outside the dealer for. That is what gets people like those who paid more than MSRP for a Solstice when it came out.

The only trouble with those designs is that the people who really want one buy it, and then the car needs redesigned in two years. Then again, thats more profitable then designs no one buys, isn't it?

Screw the designs, give me that TDC engine over here for Rangers, Edges, Focus's, Escapes, Explorers... etc etc etc..

Screw the designs, give me that TDC engine over here for Rangers, Edges, Focus's, Escapes, Explorers... etc etc etc..

One more thing, and I promise that this will not be so long: this next generation of car buyers in the US will not settle for a design they hate even if its in their buying segment. An example is a friend of mine who recently graduated college and had two kids (how she can stand twins I do not know).

With two kids, maternity leave and a house in the suburbs, she sounds like the perfect SUV or Minivan driver doesn't she? Nope. She bought a used BMW 525i (I think its an 06). She loved the way it looked while SUVs and minivans both are styled wrong. SUVs are to military, she said, and too boring. Minivans its the same thing, boring.

And she is willing to admit that hauling something once every two years other than groceries or kids soccer equipment is not valid reason to purchase an Tahoe.

Funny note: isn't it strange that good design could lead people to purchase vehicles that are more practical for their daily lives and fuel efficient? Huh.

As someone who just left Ford only a few months ago... trust me when I say that Ford executives in America are probably the most clueless in the country. Make sure you dont speak up there because that's grounds for being black-listed. Even the young folks (like myself) who come there and try to make a difference, get shut out by folks whose sole purpose at the corporation is to "SURVIVE." Young folks are continuing to leave the company. It's just a matter of time.....

Another good looking car? This looks a lot like several other cars from various other manufacturers and I don't think any of them look good.

The last 2-3 years has released some of the ugliest cars I can remember. (though thats not that long, I'm sure there were some worse ones before I was old enough to remember them)

I wouldn't really say this is ugly but I definately wouldn't call it good looking either.

Another good looking car? This looks a lot like several other cars from various other manufacturers and I don't think any of them look good.

The last 2-3 years has released some of the ugliest cars I can remember. (though thats not that long, I'm sure there were some worse ones before I was old enough to remember them)

I wouldn't really say this is ugly but I definately wouldn't call it good looking either.

It's still a ford....

Good looking? You were kidding, right? Right? And it's a ford! What the hell are people thinking these days?...

Almost forgot.. And If this SUV, CUV(WHAT) fad doesnt blow over soon, I'm going to lose it. I love 4x4's but most of these vehicles (H2, Cayenne, Escalade, Navigator) Are oversized street cars that are never going to be driven off-road. They don't have a purpose. It seems that the japanese are the only ones making proper 4x4's now. Suzuki, Toyota, and Nissan (Yes, Patrol. Not the Qashqai or any of those types.)

Ahhh.. /rant

allen and j, got it right with ford, and all companies who lives in past.
No wonder, US car companies are well behind.
They lacked the energy and enthusiasm of the young, risk taking.