Wednesday 4th September 2013

Ford dresses for success: Time For Tea?

Ford's Vignale range promises a new age of posh Fords - Time For Tea? finds earlier inspiration

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So Ford has announced its intention to offer do what Infiniti and Lexus have for Nissan and Toyota respectively. Basically offer a way for badge snobs who don't want to mix with the supermini buying masses to enjoy what it calls an 'exclusive ownership experience' for real-world prices.

It'll be doing this via its new Vignale (vin-ya-lay, 'case you were wondering) sub-brand, which will roll out with the new Mondeo and is previewed at Frankfurt with ... an old one with quilted leather. Will this be enough to tempt those too brand conscious to be seen in a Ford but fearful of an options-list rinsing from a fat-tied BMW or Audi salesman?

It's what we've been crying out for says Ford

We shall see, but we can't help but look back to previous attempts by Ford to do posh and think of Ghia badged Escorts, Orions and Sierras and their grey dashes, velour seats and fake wood. More recently Ghia sealed its reputation as the grey slip-on of trim levels, as evidenced by this delightful Fern Green Focus four-door, complete with the ultimate Sunday driver combo of a slovenly 2.0-litre petrol and four-speed auto. Yum.

Understandable why Ford may wish its new luxury sub-brand to have a new identity then, Vignale apparently encompassing lots of everyday services to which 'exclusive' has been added as a prefix to offer some sense of glamour. So you'll get Vignale assisted air travel with fast-track check-in, chauffeur services and offers through partnered travel, entertainment and accommodation providers.

Demonstrating there's nothing new in this business we went searching and found this little ditty about a young lady wanting her boring old Escort to be 'dressed for success' via another Ford sub-brand. Back then Vignale was called RS, it'd seem, the end result an 80s TOWIE vision of loveliness. Possibly.

See here.

 

[PhantomPH]

That video isn't from the 80's. You just wish it was.

(H reg was 1990 - 1991).

Edited by PhantomPH on Wednesday 4th September 16:03

[BOBBY G]

le vagina*


Good work with the name ford!

• (I know it needs an extra 'A')

[Lyons]

Reminds me of the Scorpio editions of the Granadas. Pity it doesn't have ruched leather seats.

[GranCab]

BOBBY G said:

le vagina*


Good work with the name ford!

• (I know it needs an extra 'A')

Shirley it would be "la" - it is feminine after all ...

[Shaw Tarse]

Is it wrong I like the colour?
I also quite like the interior

How long 'til it's a bargain barge/SOTW?

[GranCab]

This is what Alfredo Vignale did best ...

[radio man]

if ford are desperate for a higher quality sub-brand they could always buy Vauxhall or just sit there crying into their beer just how good JAGUAR and even ASTON have become once the got rid of them.
Wake up ford the public know you can't do luxury and the idea will never be accepted by them. Stick to what you do best great handling , good looking cars for the masses. Save yourselves trillions of dollars and leave well alone.

[number1nesta]

Can't help thinking a Ford is a Ford, no matter how you re-package/label it. And to be honest, there's nothing wrong with that either, in my opinion.

Regarding the video, a couple of things:

a) the girl is cute.
b) what you see there with the car, is exactly the same as what we all accept and desire in 2013 - an S-Line or an M-Sport. Basically. Arguably Ford had their finger on the pulse, giving the customer what they really want et al, but perhaps not executed well enough to avoid the 'polished turd' end result. Ze Germans do it considerably better, sorry Dagenham...

[Rawwr]

I'll agree that the Germans are significantly better at turd-polishing.

[405dogvan]

That Mondeo is hideous - what happened to it - it's sitting about 2 miles too high, it's proportions are 'turd like' and it will take a lot more than a bit of leather to make me think "Oh - that or an Audi"

[Rawwr]

See.

[il sole]

the problem ford have is that the actual ford badge and logo are just so ugly - why haven't they ever updated it?? the interior shots look nice, until you happen across the blue oval, which just looks cheap.

[dgmx5]

GranCab said:

BOBBY G said:

le vagina*


Good work with the name ford!

• (I know it needs an extra 'A')

Shirley it would be "la" - it is feminine after all ...

PistonHeads... pédantisme être important

[vit4]

Merkur

[sutts]

Roxette. Happy days.

[vit4]

Merkur

[B10]

vit4 said:

Merkur

Murkin

[Wills2]

China, this has to be aimed at China as it will not work in Europe.

[AstroMonkey]

I hate to be that guy but the interior looks fantastic.

...until you see the Ford badge. It just looks so out of place in a luxury interior! Not to mention aside from the fancy quilted stuff, subtract the blue detail lighting and the dash still looks pretty average.

I say shorten it into a coupe, some aggressive cosmetic additions like flared arches, nice low squat stance, two big ol' pipes on the back and whap a good old V6TT in there and we're golden.

Edited by AstroMonkey on Wednesday 4th September 17:30

[DanBMW]

Can't see how its going to work as well as Lexus/Infiniti as they have no reference to Toyota/Nissan on them. Where as this still has the standard Ford badge and just has Vignale written on it, so it's just a ford with some expensive options.