Ford admits its designs are boring

Ford has been slow to act on the environmental front and with the styling advancement of its sedan range, a mistake senior management, including former CEO Bill Ford, regrets. You only have to look at the boring designs that have gone into its passenger cars to understand how stale Ford’s lineup has become in recent years. Consider the Ford Five Hundred sedan pictured above. This is a 2007 model that wouldn’t look out of place in the ‘80s.

Recently speaking to a group of business and civic leaders about Ford’s restructuring plans, Reuters reports that Executive Chairman Bill Ford said “my only regret now is that we didn’t move further faster.”

Ford, who’s also a backer of more enviro-friendly vehicles, is disappointed about his company’s slow take-up of green technology, according to Reuters. “In many parts of the auto industry, I was viewed as some kind of crazy radical,” he said. “And when I talked about the environment 20 years ago, or frankly even five years, many people thought I was eccentric at best or perhaps incredibly naive.”
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AMGC55 - 6/1/2007 12:07:47 PM

+1 Boost

took them awhile... and i didnt know that "design" had 2 "s" in it....

EL34 - 6/1/2007 12:10:47 PM

+2 Boost

You're damn right they're boring and where is the reliability?

S4cabriofoxone - 6/1/2007 5:44:03 PM

+1 Boost

They're not unreliable cars. And reliability honestly isn't all that matters.

jeffy210 - 6/1/2007 12:43:32 PM

+1 Boost

Gee, didn't we just discuss this a few articles ago with the Euro Focus. Maybe someone from Ford is reading this and can forward the hint along.

mini22 - 6/1/2007 1:24:45 PM

+1 Boost

The american designs are boring. The new Mondeo is not and it is also a great car. Ford needs to come up with new designs quickly!

neutral - 6/1/2007 1:41:53 PM

+1 Boost

I was just about to say....

Ford Europe's designs are sweet. The mondeo and the focus and awesome. If they just brought those here to the US, they would sell tons.

Rupert - 6/1/2007 5:35:59 PM

+1 Boost

neutral - that's because they're built, designed, styled and engineered in Europe.

neutral - 6/1/2007 9:48:46 PM

+1 Boost

So screw it....build the european models here. Send our designers over there for a while too. Also, make sure that the materials quality gets a little bit better. Ford would do great.

Designer1 - 6/1/2007 3:41:40 PM

+1 Boost

Do we need to comment on Ford? honestly its history so lets just forget about it and move on to something worth while.

rocker - 6/1/2007 9:24:55 PM

+1 Boost

Bill just shut up. Everytime you open your mouth your company looses car sales. Idiot rich boy. Retire. Kick back on the beach and shut up.

EnnNorak - 6/1/2007 11:14:38 PM

+1 Boost

I recall seeing pics of a fantastic Claude Lobo design 10 or 5 years ago for a future Lincoln. Whatever happened to that design Ford?

EnnNorak - 6/1/2007 11:15:22 PM

+1 Boost

I meant 10 or 15 years ago and not 10 or 5.

Johnel - 6/2/2007 1:27:06 AM

+1 Boost

Ford should look at GM, and do whats GM Saturn division is doing, by bringing cars from its Opel Division to Saturn.

S4cabriofoxone - 6/2/2007 2:14:46 AM

+2 Boost

There's some incomprehensible wall in between Ford's European products and their American products. I just translate it as- "Our European cars are too nice to be sold in America."

Luv2Speed - 6/2/2007 1:00:42 PM

+1 Boost

It’s good to here him admin that they have design issues, my concern is there was not word of a plan to address it. I typically root for the underdog and Ford is just that. I had an Ford Edge for a week on a business trip out of SFO and the interior was nice, lots of ergonomic flaws however and a number of blind spots that made the vehicle seem much larger than it was. The build quality, fit and textures were very nice.

I feel like they have good people there they are just not allowed to design like there lives depended on it. Look at the visual gains Dodge/Chrysler made buy pushing the envelope. Ford just doesn’t seem hungry like Chrysler was back in the Iacocca days. They actually seem kind of complacent. Is this just me or do others think so as well.

MurderFaceM6 - 6/4/2007 3:25:56 PM

+1 Boost

oh wait, what was that?! i was asleep.