jpd80 Posted February 17, 2018 Share Posted February 17, 2018 (edited) If they do a regular Edge and an Edge-3-row, they could bilk lengthen the wheelbase and ask another $5k easy out of Explorer buyers I hope you agree with my correction, that way everyone wins.. Edited February 17, 2018 by jpd80 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpd80 Posted February 17, 2018 Share Posted February 17, 2018 (edited) Yes, to replace the Fiesta sedan in terms of price and place in the line up. Does Ford really want to replace Fiesta, especially at that price point below a $16K Focus? maybe new Chinese Focus will give Ford all the advantage they need in that area. I'm really interested in the Focus Active and whether that will interact with Escape, guess it depends on what price Ford sets... Edited February 17, 2018 by jpd80 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoonerLS Posted February 17, 2018 Share Posted February 17, 2018 Ford could name the Short C CUV as the "Escape Sport." Since they're going to move away from "Sport" and over to "ST" for the high performance variants there won't be any confusion at that point. It wouldn't be the first time Ford did it--my '99 Explorer Sport is a 2-door. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akirby Posted February 17, 2018 Share Posted February 17, 2018 my '99 Explorer Sport is a 2-door. Who woulda guessed? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bzcat Posted February 20, 2018 Share Posted February 20, 2018 Does Ford really want to replace Fiesta, especially at that price point below a $16K Focus? maybe new Chinese Focus will give Ford all the advantage they need in that area. I'm really interested in the Focus Active and whether that will interact with Escape, guess it depends on what price Ford sets... I think the average transaction price of Focus is going to be near $20k no matter where it is build. That's where Focus' competitors are selling. With Ford importing the car, it can exercise much better volume control so I expect pricing to be higher across the board on the next gen Focus in North America. Also, I expect Ford to eliminate the bottom feeding S and SE models and focus on higher profit margin SEL, Titanium, ST, and Active models. So that leaves a huge swath of real estate below $20k for Ford to tackle. A lot of those buyers will gravitate towards EcoSport and Short C CUV but there will still be decent demand for a good size compact sedan. But more importantly, it is not just about the US market. Ford just started selling Escort in Taiwan as a replacement for the Fiesta sedan - it is pitched against Toyota Vios locally but in a bigger more value oriented package. It's probably a pilot program to see how mature high income markets react to a product like this. They wouldn't be doing this unless they have bigger plans for the next gen Escort. I expect you will probably see RHD Escorts in the next gen for places like Australia, South Africa, and New Zealand to go with LHD markets like Taiwan, Middle East, and South America. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MKII Posted February 20, 2018 Share Posted February 20, 2018 Didn't Ford N.A. price the EcoSport to take over Focus sales? I know in Canada at the dealership EcoSport test drive and briefings, they where told by Ford Canada that the EcoSport is basically replacing the Focus. To be honest I was floored with the crazy high price points of the EcoSport in USA & Canada. If they sell them good for them, but IMO the EcoSport is way to low rent for the asking prices. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silvrsvt Posted February 20, 2018 Share Posted February 20, 2018 I think the average transaction price of Focus is going to be near $20k no matter where it is build. That's where Focus' competitors are selling. With Ford importing the car, it can exercise much better volume control so I expect pricing to be higher across the board on the next gen Focus in North America. Also, I expect Ford to eliminate the bottom feeding S and SE models and focus on higher profit margin SEL, Titanium, ST, and Active models. So that leaves a huge swath of real estate below $20k for Ford to tackle. A lot of those buyers will gravitate towards EcoSport and Short C CUV but there will still be decent demand for a good size compact sedan. But more importantly, it is not just about the US market. Ford just started selling Escort in Taiwan as a replacement for the Fiesta sedan - it is pitched against Toyota Vios locally but in a bigger more value oriented package. It's probably a pilot program to see how mature high income markets react to a product like this. They wouldn't be doing this unless they have bigger plans for the next gen Escort. I expect you will probably see RHD Escorts in the next gen for places like Australia, South Africa, and New Zealand to go with LHD markets like Taiwan, Middle East, and South America. But isn't the Escort nothing more then a C1 Focus? I don't see the point of keeping last gen Focus with tweaks in production as a value car- wouldn't it just make sense to have low end C3 and high end C3 to cover the Escort and Focus markets? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silvrsvt Posted February 20, 2018 Share Posted February 20, 2018 Didn't Ford N.A. price the EcoSport to take over Focus sales? I know in Canada at the dealership EcoSport test drive and briefings, they where told by Ford Canada that the EcoSport is basically replacing the Focus. To be honest I was floored with the crazy high price points of the EcoSport in USA & Canada. If they sell them good for them, but IMO the EcoSport is way to low rent for the asking prices. Its holding the line till the next gen Focus comes from China. The real question is what is officially going on with the Fiesta. Not to mention I don't think the Ecosport can be imported to meet the number the Focus is selling in, even with Ford stock pilling them till the NG Focus comes here early next year... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akirby Posted February 20, 2018 Share Posted February 20, 2018 I don't see a market in NA for Fiesta or Escort cars. Not enough volume or margin. Put that effort into Ecosport and small C utilities. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bzcat Posted February 20, 2018 Share Posted February 20, 2018 But isn't the Escort nothing more then a C1 Focus? I don't see the point of keeping last gen Focus with tweaks in production as a value car- wouldn't it just make sense to have low end C3 and high end C3 to cover the Escort and Focus markets? The current Escort is a C1. Doesn't mean the next gen will be. The Escort will be the low end C3 and Focus is the high end C3. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fuzzymoomoo Posted February 20, 2018 Share Posted February 20, 2018 Put that effort into Ecosport Theyre not off to the greatest start Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akirby Posted February 20, 2018 Share Posted February 20, 2018 Theyre not off to the greatest start I meant the new Ecosport, not the current one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silvrsvt Posted February 20, 2018 Share Posted February 20, 2018 The current Escort is a C1. Doesn't mean the next gen will be. The Escort will be the low end C3 and Focus is the high end C3. Wouldn't that defeat the purpose? The use of last gen platform is to save $$$...not to mention other issues like using Multilink suspension vs a twist beam suspension setup in the high and low end models Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bzcat Posted February 21, 2018 Share Posted February 21, 2018 (edited) Wouldn't that defeat the purpose? The use of last gen platform is to save $$$...not to mention other issues like using Multilink suspension vs a twist beam suspension setup in the high and low end models You can save money by using cheaper components (e.g. twist beam suspension and 6 speed auto instead of multilink and 8 speed). You can have different suspension on the C3... It's supposed to be modular. Other car companies do it all the time. For example the Corolla hatch (iM) has IRS while the sedan has twist beam. VW Golf GTI has IRS while the garden variety Golf TDI has twist beam. etc. My point is that next gen Escort is likely to be a global program, not a regional one. The reason the current Escort is using C1 is because Ford APac proposed as a regional product utilizing the C1 tooling, and the timing of development overlapped with C2 platform in Europe. Now that the model is a success (it is out selling Focus in China) and probably going global, there is no reason to keep it on a platform that doesn't conform to Ford's modular architecture - the volume from Escort is probably already baked into the C3 program from the get go... just like Escape is baked in from the start. The cadence is key... most likely you will see a new Escort well after a new Focus and Escape. Also, there will probably be a size difference between Escort and next gen Focus. Focus is competing with cars Honda Civic, VW Jetta, Buick Verano, Nissan Lannia, Hyundai Elantra etc. Escort is competing with cars like VW Lavida, Buick Excelle GT, Nissan Sentra, Hyundai Celesta etc. Edited February 21, 2018 by bzcat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluetoy Posted February 25, 2018 Share Posted February 25, 2018 I would really like to see the Ford Thunderbird make a comeback! Don't think it will be coming back as a CUV. Firstly it doesn't begin with the letter E. lol They did say that the Thunderbird name will make an occasional return to the Ford lineup but won't likely become a permanent fixture anymore. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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