By now you should have seen pictures of the production Fiesta. Aside from smaller wheels and a less blingy interior it is damn close to the Verve. So much for the uglification process…

I agree with some of the above comments: Ford gets criticized for an “old” fleet, so they upgrade… only to get criticized some more. What’s up with that? We (and I include myself) are just a bunch of whiners.

BTW, the person who can possibly blame Mulally for products conceived and launched before his tenure (start date circa Sept. 2006) ought to be shot, pronounced guilty of being brain-dead.

Even if he mandated all-new products the moment he walked through the door at Dearborn it should would have taken 2-3 years to see the lights of a showroom.

The sales numbers are in, and the Camry (51,291 sales) beat the F-Series (42,973) for the best selling vehicle in the country in May.

I think this also shows Ford is under much better management as far as product planning goes, especially for the long term. The American automakers, and Ford in particular, used the 90’s SUV heyday slush-funds to do incredibly foolish things, like buy automakers that compete with in-house brands (Land Rover SUV’s). And management’s thinking back then was short-sighted, they thought SUV’s were here to stay and essentially let their car models rot and die on the vine, because there was no action (profits) in that demographic. This led to the death of the Taurus as a viable model, and whole brands like Lincoln became cannibalized into selling high-margin Explorers with lock-washers and leather, essentially letting the whole luxury-car biz slip away for foreign competitors and a re-surgent Cadillac. The Focus was Ford’s only viable small car, and it was supposed to be a “world car” not primarily intended for U.S. consumers. Ford let the Festiva die. The Fusion being the decent, good-looking ride (why isn’t THAT called a Taurus?) is an anomaly from that era, the Ford 500 was supposed to be as SUV-like of a car as possible.

If Ford doesn’t update their best-seller and keep it competitive, they will bleed market share to competitors. While that market is currently the unpopular one, it is critical to Ford’s success and the brand equity it still has with people who like Ford. Also, ignoring the morbund demographic that light trucks currently is will leave you uncompetitive and behind your peers when it picks up again, which it inevitably will. Ford lost their car business in the ’90’s chasing the e-z SUV money, it would be incredibly foolish of them to make the same mistake in reverse now.

And for that matter, I don’t see Toyota killing off the Tundra, they will stick with it, maybe even export it, whatever. Toyota knows there is money in the light-truck business, if not today, then tomorrow. Toyota plays for tomorrow’s sale as much as today’s which is kind of a key to their success. Maybe Ford learned something actually.

That said, I wonder whether Toyota has told their Tacoma “refresh” team to slow down their efforts since they’d probably like to stop the bleeding. Seeing as GM is taking the hard way out and shutting down four plants, very soon Ford may have the newest, most advanced truck out on the market for a long time.

That’d make Ford the smartest guys in the room. It’s been a long time coming…

Of course it’s still a concept, they haven’t run it through the mandatory uglification process yet.

Ford updates the fleet and what do I see….cynical comments and complaints. You can’t have it both ways.

Look—all of the updates need to happen and were planned 2-3 years ago. Ford has recognized past product mix mistakes and is getting new “car” product to market in the form of the Euro Focus, Fiesta, and refreshed Fusion.

Do I wish it was ‘09 vs ‘10 that the full product portfolio refresh would happen—without a doubt….Ford would be in much better shape.

That said, am I happy that Ford has a solid product plan to get to back to bright—absolutely.

In today’s rapidly changing times, 3 years is like 30 years.

Explorer sales have hit the toilet, and the Flex is as homely as a mud fence. Who’s gonna buy one?

The Lincoln lost what little it had of the luxury market years ago, so who’s gonna buy a MKS, especially since it’s nothing more than a Ford under the skin?

The “new” F150 is nothing more than a modest restyle. The hideous front fenders look like they were grafted off a Nissan Frontier.

Ford oughtta call the new F150 the miracle model…if it surpasses the 2006 F150’s sales figures, it’ll be a miracle!

So, bringing out a freshened F-150 simply makes sense. Still I’d bet dollars to donuts that they’d better off, if the European Focus was ready for US production. I’ve noticed that it is already on sale in Mexico.

Yes, there is. Before it’s ready is a bad time.

The MKS puts Lincoln back into the luxury market, hopefully the interior quality is there.

Despite the gas prices, Ford still needs a competitive truck, and the new F150 will keep them in the lead