As the gloves came off the Ford-Holden rivalry at the launch of the BF MkII Falcon last week, Ford Australia's president Tom Gorman acknowledged Ford’s range would use its European links to leverage sales.

Fiesta television advertising already heavily features a connection with its German heritage and Focus advertisements reinforce ride refinement.

"The question came up... and I commented that I really thought they (Holden) were the Korean car company," he said.

"They clearly have gone for a strategy of low-cost, bottom-end with their Korean line-up.

"It starts with small cars and it’ll flow into Captiva, I’m sure.

"We have a different model here. The vast majority of our products that aren’t locally sourced come out of Europe and we think that’s a competitive advantage for us in terms of how we position our cars.

Full article:

http://www.goauto.com.au/mellor/mellor.nsf...A2572020009F33B

Edited October 10, 200618 yr by douglask

Burned

That Falcon does nothing... but reinforce my belief that Australians love "beige" cars... the spanking new, mechanically sparkling Holdens have the same problem. Please don't let them bring them here unless they are reskinned with a pulse.

That Falcon does nothing... but reinforce my belief that Australians love "beige" cars... the spanking new, mechanically sparkling Holdens have the same problem.  Please don't let them bring them here unless they are reskinned with a pulse.

203486[/snapback]

Uh huh, and what are the two best-selling cars in the USA? The Camry and Accord.

Who loves 'beige' cars now? At least we have some more sporting variants, V8 and RWD. Oh, and show me one exciting car in your Top 10 Best-Sellers, besides the Mustang (is it even in the Top 10?)

stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid holden for sourcing P.O.S. daewoos.

consumers wonder why the barina has dropped in safety. holden should have kept on sourcing euro cars. Holden just saw the opportunity when daewoo left australia to re-invent them and bring them back, how? by slapping holden badges on them.

maybe its holdens effort to infiltrate the bogan(redneck) market strongly held by hyundai in the lat nineties?

Uh huh, and what are the two best-selling cars in the USA? The Camry and Accord.

Who loves 'beige' cars now? At least we have some more sporting variants, V8 and RWD. Oh, and show me one exciting car in your Top 10 Best-Sellers, besides the Mustang (is it even in the Top 10?)

203920[/snapback]

You tell him! For family vehicles, they bring the style and the power. These aren't all hi-po models...they are the Tauruses and Luminas of Oz.

Right, Tauruses and Luminas. Exactly what the domestic industry needs to break out of the doldrums. Brilliant.

Everything doesn't need 400hp, but boring cars have killed us. Memorable cars are what we need now.

Boring cars have made Toyota enough money to buy GM.

They are the everyman Taurus/Lumina of Oz in the sense that they are FAMILY VEHICLES!

I don't think my point was that difficult to understand...

I don't think they're boring. They have performance and look really good.

I don't think they're boring.  They have performance and look really good.

204040[/snapback]

Same here.

An attractive car satisfies a want and fills a need. A boring car only fills a need.

Yes, Toyota has succeeded building boring cars. We need something different.

Cadillac has been transformed in the modern age and has erased many years of customer apathy... with design. It is time for GM to let that attitude trickle down to all the NA divisions, before it is too late.

We can harp forever on parity in reliability with the Japanese and it will not do any good. Design is going to be the next dealbreaker, and GMNA has got to focus on designing cars that are authentic to each of their brands.

On the Ford side, Ray Charles could see that the 427 Concept would ignite much more passion here in the USA than the Falcon, as it is. Rebody the Falcon in 427 clothing and Ford would have something that fits... perfectly.

If Falcon seriously takes some styling cues of the curvaceous Iosis concept car, (and some of the 427), it would be a blessing. If it looks like the boring, ancient current car (or the Commodore), fuhgeddaboutit!

Do you know what I think, I think Ford is afraid of Holden.