Whats going on at the Ford design house?
Discussion
I'm a big Ford fan, one of my favourite manufactures but they seem to have lost their way a bit/lot.
The mid production facelift Fiesta has made a great looking car just a little bit worse.
The Focus looks like they didn't know which bits to restyle, so they did every single panel individually - then melted it.
The Kuga has gone from funky and cool to just-another-box.
B, C, S and Galaxy all look like identical boxes
Mondeo looks ok, but it is a bit old hat now. Based on the above, I fear the worst for a new one.
Ka still looks cool. Thats about it.
Come on Ford, sort it out.
Anything thinking same/different?
The mid production facelift Fiesta has made a great looking car just a little bit worse.
The Focus looks like they didn't know which bits to restyle, so they did every single panel individually - then melted it.
The Kuga has gone from funky and cool to just-another-box.
B, C, S and Galaxy all look like identical boxes
Mondeo looks ok, but it is a bit old hat now. Based on the above, I fear the worst for a new one.
Ka still looks cool. Thats about it.
Come on Ford, sort it out.
Anything thinking same/different?
The first Ka may have looked cool, the new one isn't. It looks like a squashed Fiesta. Not a patch on its sister car the Fiat 500. You see many more of them about than the Ka.
I would agree that the new Focus is strange looking, especially that rear end! Not exactly the sharp design of the original. I quite like the new Fiestas even with the new grille.
Ford have always had dodgy designs on occasions. Just look at the 90s Escorts or the hideous Scorpio. Even the mk2 Mondeos weren't that nice with the daft curved headlamps. The mk1 was much nicer.
It has been said on here before, the big car companies are now targeting Asia as the next big markets, so any new models are more likely to be designed for them rather than us in the west.
I would agree that the new Focus is strange looking, especially that rear end! Not exactly the sharp design of the original. I quite like the new Fiestas even with the new grille.
Ford have always had dodgy designs on occasions. Just look at the 90s Escorts or the hideous Scorpio. Even the mk2 Mondeos weren't that nice with the daft curved headlamps. The mk1 was much nicer.
It has been said on here before, the big car companies are now targeting Asia as the next big markets, so any new models are more likely to be designed for them rather than us in the west.
Paul O said:
Ka still looks cool. Thats about it.
Now I know you are taking the piss - what a pointless little jelly mould the current Ka is when there are so many nice superminis available at the moment. They had a real opportunity to keep the theme of the original and create an ongoing success. Interior wise, ford's have been uniformly dreadful until the last few years. They've actually bothered to design the inside of the last few batches and ended up on a bit of a winner.
The whole fiesta/Ka thing has always been a bit of a mess, but the newer Fiestas (particularly the ST) are actually growing on me every time I see them. Still not convinced about the Aston grill though.
That Kuga looks dreadful, but as a concept, how can a car be so deceptively disappointing? It looks like a tank on the outside, and like you'd fit more in a KA on the inside.
Hmm. The proof is in the Mondeo, as always.
The whole fiesta/Ka thing has always been a bit of a mess, but the newer Fiestas (particularly the ST) are actually growing on me every time I see them. Still not convinced about the Aston grill though.
That Kuga looks dreadful, but as a concept, how can a car be so deceptively disappointing? It looks like a tank on the outside, and like you'd fit more in a KA on the inside.
Hmm. The proof is in the Mondeo, as always.
"Jellymould" and "blobby" do get overused when referring to modern cars but for the current Ka I can't think of anything better. It is a fairly horrible design although to be fair it works for what it is.
The Mondeo is an improvement on past form, I think the MK.3 was rather good but the MK.4 was bland. The MK.5 certainly seems quite "mature" or crisp enough to rival a BMW, however it is also fairly obvious where they got a lot of inspiration from which ruins it a bit.
If I had nightmares about cars, the prime antagonist would be a silver MK.1 Focus with yellowing headlights. It's never been good and as OP said it's like they didn't know how to restyle it.
I think large volume car styling will always be hit and miss these days as companies bend to tighter safety regs and different markets. Overall the current range does look fairly sharp compared to previous years but it's not stunning. In conclusion, bring back the Escort and Sierra.
The Mondeo is an improvement on past form, I think the MK.3 was rather good but the MK.4 was bland. The MK.5 certainly seems quite "mature" or crisp enough to rival a BMW, however it is also fairly obvious where they got a lot of inspiration from which ruins it a bit.
If I had nightmares about cars, the prime antagonist would be a silver MK.1 Focus with yellowing headlights. It's never been good and as OP said it's like they didn't know how to restyle it.
I think large volume car styling will always be hit and miss these days as companies bend to tighter safety regs and different markets. Overall the current range does look fairly sharp compared to previous years but it's not stunning. In conclusion, bring back the Escort and Sierra.
Ka - played it safe, got it wrong
Fiesta - smart little motor, facelift has ruined it
focus - yawn
Mondeo - a handsome devil which had aged very well
Kuga - doesn't offend me, doesn't excite
People carriers - nicely styled, if you must own that type of car.
So, it would appear that the only car in the range that has something going for it in the looks department is the eldest car in the range.
I do like the Ranger though!
Fiesta - smart little motor, facelift has ruined it
focus - yawn
Mondeo - a handsome devil which had aged very well
Kuga - doesn't offend me, doesn't excite
People carriers - nicely styled, if you must own that type of car.
So, it would appear that the only car in the range that has something going for it in the looks department is the eldest car in the range.
I do like the Ranger though!
Mound Dawg said:
It's the ridiculous shape of the rear lights on the current Focus that's got me scratching my head. That ridiculous styling "spear" along the rear quarter. ?????
I don't object to ridiculous. BMW were seen to be ridiculous once that Bangra feller got involved and ridiculous turns to style icon one the public catch up with the idea but the Focus rear lights look like they should be on some tat from South Korea. Just look at the early Ka, Focus, Mondeo Mk3. All outstanding shapes and compare them to what is in the dealers today and ask why?
Although everyone quite rightly loves the old mk1 focus & original Ka designs I can imagine that in such a big company it's easy to bin everything that has come before.
Ford had that old triangle design philosophy that produced the focus/Ka/puma/cougar look so well, the design studio wouldn't be doing their job if they simply said "that's it, we'll never do better than that so just tweak it for the next 30 years", they'd be out of a job!
So they need a new design "language", move away from what was a success & to be fair I can imagine focus groups wanting that. A ford isn't an aspirational product so you need to keep things moving to keep it fresh, I'd imagine that's the idea of the daft Aston grill, make it look like what they aspire to own-crazy but probably true!
You see the same at Renault, genuinely exciting designs like the previous Megane/vel satis/avantime have melted into blobs for the masses.
Still they should at least be applauded for not resting in their laurels, as without that attitude we'd have never have got the original focus to begin with.
Ford had that old triangle design philosophy that produced the focus/Ka/puma/cougar look so well, the design studio wouldn't be doing their job if they simply said "that's it, we'll never do better than that so just tweak it for the next 30 years", they'd be out of a job!
So they need a new design "language", move away from what was a success & to be fair I can imagine focus groups wanting that. A ford isn't an aspirational product so you need to keep things moving to keep it fresh, I'd imagine that's the idea of the daft Aston grill, make it look like what they aspire to own-crazy but probably true!
You see the same at Renault, genuinely exciting designs like the previous Megane/vel satis/avantime have melted into blobs for the masses.
Still they should at least be applauded for not resting in their laurels, as without that attitude we'd have never have got the original focus to begin with.
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