Ford is Dumb Vol. 1

I'm not going to make the clichéd argument you probably expect and have all heard before. Something like "Ford sells great cars in other markets and tripe here on its home turf... why can't they bring the good stuff to us??" I've pined before on what a good Yaris / Fit competitor the Euro Fiesta would make, especially the snappy looking XR4 model pictured below. Even if it trailed the Asian offerings slightly in terms of outright economy and refinement it would still sell well just because it looks neat. It even has a proper looking interior, something the 'new' US Focus designers weren't capable of.

All around bone-headedness aside, I'm going to give them the benefit of the doubt that it just isn't doable. Money, crash-certification, exportation cost, whatever... they just can't make it happen. Fine. The thing I'm wondering is given the fact that they can't get their act together enough to offer us the quality product of the rest of the world, why not at least make our dismal product look like the good product?
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The Aussie Ford Falcon FPV Cobra isn't going to win any subtlety awards. You'd be hard pressed to call it 'pretty', let alone elegant. What it does have is a whiff of that special something that makes people pay $20grand over sticker for some Mustangs and GTs. It looks like a badass Ford. They could have saved a lot of money and dignity if they made the Five Hundred look like one of these from the beginning instead of pulling that just-kidding-it's-a-Taurus-again BS. True, it would still be novocaine to drive but the overall package couldn't be worse than what it's been so far.

Bottom Line: They wouldn't have to worry nearly as much about what it's called if it looked interesting.

[Source: WorldCarFans]

Here's the Ute version. Why? Cause I like it and it's my blog.