Seriously good design. If one needs proof of why Ford has not sold well…..its cause cars like this have not been produced and sold to the market really quick from its inception! Ford has stood still on releasing these cars and have been hellbent to not evoke this kinetic swoopy look!

wow….hot little thing innit? Izzit 3 cylinder? We might yet see the day when Ford Oz sells an XR3!!! Nah seriously though, good lookin little bugger, should do well in the market. Just hope it doesnt cannibalize Mazda2, Ford US needs all its subsidiaries pouring it cold hard cash.

NM,
totally agree.

fords design and engineering team can do no wrong at the moment.

its a pity their marketing and product sourcing team here in OZ sits on their hands most of the time.

Strangely enough I do see the Peugeot similarity, in that they both convey character through the lower grille and lights. However, the proportions are better than Peugeot has managed lately ( witness the 407- gorgeous cues with awful proportions). Pretty nice design and I bet it looks great in the flesh .Lacks the origniality and character of the original though ( Just like the second Focus does).

question: where does this sit against the fiesta? why would I take this over the fiesta or vice versa?, their both going to consume each others market share by the looks of it. Even when you consider the focus, you got 3 choices for small cars from Ford.

Nether the less its a good looking car, back looks like off a yaris and the front bit of a pug, but those headlights says… this is feminine.

funny…..seen alot of these at the mazda dealerships 6-8 months ago

Looks fantastic. Ford… keeping the quality kinetic design has made Toyleta even more of a boring bland very simple brand, No creativity for the wider community, but just continuation with fridge’s and toaster’s will be the end of Toyoda Sewing Machine Co Pty Ltd….

Go Ford !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Totota put an AURION badge on a CAMRY and told us it was a new car !!!! Thats how much design integrity they have. They even bought out a ten year old car, the Avalon, and told us it was a new car !!!! And we all know how popular that was……so TP, when you talk about boring vehicles remember that Toyota are the kings of boring, bland, un-exciting white goods vehicles.

Jimbo, i agree that a small or even micro car would be suitable for at least 80% of most families needs HOWEVER families that can’t afford to pay for 2 registrations, insurance and all the other costs will always have to choose a bigger car for the remaining 20% of times when ONLY a wagon or large car will do!!!

If our governments were proactive and intelligent they would think about giving FREE rego and or parking for SMALL cars so that families can afford to own a large car for the weekends, and drive to work and do the shopping in a little runabout during the week.

That’s just off the top of my head surely even better ideas can implemented to encourage smaller cars on our congested peak hour roads??????

Yes Jimbo as i put in the Falcon wagon post there are still too many families that are struggling BUT refuse to downsize to a smaller petrol or LPG car because they are trying to keep up appearances.

I personally know of a family that is trying to pay off a Mac Mansion has a his and hers SUV in the driveway and has recently gone to the salvos for help to pay some bills.

On the other hand there are a lot of people that live within their means regardless of what they have to drive to do so!!!!

Yeeeees. Thats Street KA is a shocker and whoever runs with Ford designs of past need to be sacked as terrible when lined up against the new look Ford are going down “now”! Mullaly can be a hard man and do the real easy yards quick and transform Ford as it needs to get rid of some regimental shyte USA philosophy on design constraints worldwide that have slowed Ford up in sales! Kinetic swoopy Euro lines are the go! Now match that with manufacture and recipe for sales increase will occur! Sad but true it might have to ditch fuel guzzlers and do smaller turbo charged more fuel efficient motors! Yes that hurts…..but hey thats reality of lessening fossil fuels!

lol NM, perhaps Ford should just dump the US and Australian manufacturing/design basis and just have the european platform for all their cars in their fleet (given they are the only one making money for Ford)

Ford is a US company and like many other US companies their are Patriotic to Americana, Ford will roll over to the grave before letting a Euro, Japanese, or let alone Australian management philosophy take the reigns and dictate what to do.

This is absolutely gorgeous and makes Ford’s line up very exciting indeed.

Starting from this kinetic look Fiesta to the newly face lifted Focus which we hopefully should be getting soon and the gorgeous Mondeo and Falcon.

Fords line up is fantastic and people that know their cars will appreciate the design.

Holden should be scratching their heads and pulling something out of their you know what and bring over the euro Corsa [Barina] and soon to be released Insigmia [Vectra] and get rid of the crappy Daewoo’s.

And as for Toyota’s, please, do we even need to discuss how boring they are?

TP, seriously, do you honestly believe that Toyota’s are more exciting than Ford’s and better looking?

And how does this even look like copy of a Peugeot? I’ve asked 3 people so far and they have all laughed at the idea.

I think the Corolla and Camry are copies. I swear they look like my fridge!

Also this will line up against the Yaris! Do I even have to ask everyone which do they think is better looking? LOL

I think we know what everyone will say.

Anyway, I guess everyone has a choice which is the beauty of having so many manufacturers Enjoy your fridge.

Cheers

What do you mean reliability problems No Name? Focuses, Mondeos, Kas, Fiestas and Escorts wouldnt have sold sooooo well in the UK if they were really unreliable. None of my Focus-Mondeo-Fiesta-Ka owning friends have ever had any reliability problems with their cars. I agree about the new Fiesta. I also sat in it at London the other day and the interior is almost up to Audi standard! On the show car at least. It looks way better close up and it already looks good in the pictures!

Toyota are the Korean kings, when it comes to copying designs from better manufacturers, at least Ford has an initiative and makes an independent effort not like toyoda supplying fridge’s and toaster’s.

That’s a good point AC Cobra. Many of the wide-body Camrys I’ve seen have interiors that are literally falling apart due to sun damage (especially the vinyl door trims that are all wrinkled). Avalons also suffered from a similar fate, as well as various rattles and squeaks.

Toyota make very strong engines and gearboxes that will last several 100k kms but (like Nissans) the body often falls apart around them.

Back on topic, I doubt Ford Aus will bring the Ka back to Australia for two reasons. Firstly, small European cars generally aren’t available with automatic transmissions and for some peculiar reason (for pensioners and 4ft9 asian women I think) there seems to be a need for them here. Secondly, the motoring press here – already deeply suspicious of Euro Fords except the XR models – would find every reason to find fault it the Ka, as it did with the last model which was always highly praised in Europe.

Joober Says:
July 31st, 2008 at 10:54 pm
Ford is a US company and like many other US companies their are Patriotic to Americana, Ford will roll over to the grave before letting a Euro, Japanese, or let alone Australian management philosophy take the reigns and dictate what to do.

NM RESPONSE……….that is the problem. Ford in Dearborn USA is obsessed about forcing USA design issues on world. REALITY IS IT HAS >>>>>>>>NOT

Hahahahaha, boring? This from TP who loves the King of Boring, big T?

Funny stuff.

AC COBRA, I know what you mean about older Camry’s paint.
My sisters late-90′s camry WAS burgundy. I say “was” because most of the paint has fallen off.

Of course plenty of other cars have the same problem. Heaps of Magnas of the same era, mainly dark blue and burgundy. TE Cortina/XE Falcons in metallic silver also had crap paint.

But she also had to replace the gearbox twice, both times at 100K kms almost on the dot, poor hard-facing on fifth gear.

Back on topic though, this is light years ahead of the old pregnant roller-skate KA of a decade ago, especially in looks. Funnily, I still see a lot of those old KAs around.

If I had to buy a very small car, this would be at or close to top of the list. I’ll stick with LPG Falcodore though.