What happened to Ghia badged Fords?
Discussion
My neighbour has just bought a 2005 Fiesta Ghia. Parking sensors and beige leather on a Fiesta - quite impressive! It just made me realise that I haven't seen a Ghia-badged Ford for ages. Has they been phased out? Is there a reason for it or is it just a change like Escort to Focus? Ghia-badged Fords used to be the epitome of luxury (admittedly this probably meant velour seats, a rev counter and maybe a graphic equalizer on your stereo radio/cassette in the 1980s) but from what I gather, Titanium means top-of-the-range on a Ford now?
Ford thought the Ghia badge was too old fashioned for its new cars. I think the term they used was "Smoking jacket"
They did run Ghia and Titanium side by side on the Mondeo for a while with Ghia meant to be the luxury version with wood trim etc, and Titanium with modern technology like bluetooth and DAB.
The Ghia just became pointless so it was dropped and Titanium took over as the top badge.
The last Ghia badged Ford was the Galaxy before the facelift in 2010.
Like the Popular, L, LX and XR badges of the past the Ghia trim now resides in history.
They did run Ghia and Titanium side by side on the Mondeo for a while with Ghia meant to be the luxury version with wood trim etc, and Titanium with modern technology like bluetooth and DAB.
The Ghia just became pointless so it was dropped and Titanium took over as the top badge.
The last Ghia badged Ford was the Galaxy before the facelift in 2010.
Like the Popular, L, LX and XR badges of the past the Ghia trim now resides in history.
xrv said:
Ford thought the Ghia badge was too old fashioned for its new cars. I think the term they used was "Smoking jacket"
They did run Ghia and Titanium side by side on the Mondeo for a while with Ghia meant to be the luxury version with wood trim etc, and Titanium with modern technology like bluetooth and DAB.
The Ghia just became pointless so it was dropped and Titanium took over as the top badge.
The last Ghia badged Ford was the Galaxy before the facelift in 2010.
Like the Popular, L, LX and XR badges of the past the Ghia trim now resides in history.
Yep, our 2007 Galaxy is a Ghia, keeping it old school They did run Ghia and Titanium side by side on the Mondeo for a while with Ghia meant to be the luxury version with wood trim etc, and Titanium with modern technology like bluetooth and DAB.
The Ghia just became pointless so it was dropped and Titanium took over as the top badge.
The last Ghia badged Ford was the Galaxy before the facelift in 2010.
Like the Popular, L, LX and XR badges of the past the Ghia trim now resides in history.
I can see why Ford did it, it does shout Council Estate Limo, always reminds me of old MK2 Granada's
(GRANADA 2.8i GHIA X resplendant on the back), bits of fake wood in a Cortina, lots of chrome velour trim and the wonder of electric windows in the 80's.
The epitome of Ghia Era I think was the MK1 Granada Coupe,
For new ones it signalled you were moving up the corporate ladder, for older ones it meant you were a bit of a geezer, now largely irrelevant, I think they were right to bin it but Titanium doesnt have the same ring to it.
J4CKO said:
Cock Womble 7 said:
I fondly remember driving Escort and Orion Ghias for Swan National/Eurodollar.
They always had a few extra luxuries.
An amplifier for the stereo and a joystick to control the fader and balance I remember.They always had a few extra luxuries.
Always will remember a dodgy geezer from Stockport who was married to a mature student, a rough as a
holes bird called Paula I was at college with, bougth a pc off him, good deal, didnt realise it had been pinched from another college until I found their data on it, I didnt call the Police I am sorry to say but I didnt want to die.
He had a white Orion Ghia Injection X, dont think they ever did an X on the Orion but it had every bit of tat on it and those script letters that people used to put on in the nineties that displayed your initials, he told me how it was so much faster than my MK1 Golf GTI because it had a "special engine", he couldnt tell me the details as it was secret due to it being experiemental for Ford, to me it just looked like your average injected CVH with the stem seals on the way out but I just nodded sagely still remembering the chat we had one time on a night out how he had his eye on me as he thought I had my eye on Paula, I assured him that this was not the case due to my immense respect for him, I couldnt really say she was a total skank and I would rather not could I.
Saw him, in an Orion 1600E with her and their brood of shaven headed mini me versions of him quite recently.
holes bird called Paula I was at college with, bougth a pc off him, good deal, didnt realise it had been pinched from another college until I found their data on it, I didnt call the Police I am sorry to say but I didnt want to die.He had a white Orion Ghia Injection X, dont think they ever did an X on the Orion but it had every bit of tat on it and those script letters that people used to put on in the nineties that displayed your initials, he told me how it was so much faster than my MK1 Golf GTI because it had a "special engine", he couldnt tell me the details as it was secret due to it being experiemental for Ford, to me it just looked like your average injected CVH with the stem seals on the way out but I just nodded sagely still remembering the chat we had one time on a night out how he had his eye on me as he thought I had my eye on Paula, I assured him that this was not the case due to my immense respect for him, I couldnt really say she was a total skank and I would rather not could I.
Saw him, in an Orion 1600E with her and their brood of shaven headed mini me versions of him quite recently.
Ford used to have a really logical and understandable model structure which varied over the years but was still obvious:
L, XL, GT, GXL (Capris had XLR too)
Popular, Popular Plus, L, GL, GT, Ghia, Ghia X (may have had a GLS for the Cortina too, memory fades though the Cortina 2000E preceded the Ghia when trying to recapture the glory of the 1600E). Granada also got confusing with Scorpio and Cosworth.
Unfortunately, Ghia became synonymous with velour and wood which went out of fashion. Recently, when looking at Fiestas of 2003-ish vintage, it was obvious that the Ghia was pandering to OAPs with puffy velour sacks and head restraints. To be honest, the printed fabrics of the lesser models were far better.
On buying a Mondeo in 2009, I had to learn all the model variants as it was no longer obvious - Edge, Zetec, Zetec S for Fiestas, Titanium, Titanium X - all totally meaningless except for the stronger ST and RS - simple and effective.
L, XL, GT, GXL (Capris had XLR too)
Popular, Popular Plus, L, GL, GT, Ghia, Ghia X (may have had a GLS for the Cortina too, memory fades though the Cortina 2000E preceded the Ghia when trying to recapture the glory of the 1600E). Granada also got confusing with Scorpio and Cosworth.
Unfortunately, Ghia became synonymous with velour and wood which went out of fashion. Recently, when looking at Fiestas of 2003-ish vintage, it was obvious that the Ghia was pandering to OAPs with puffy velour sacks and head restraints. To be honest, the printed fabrics of the lesser models were far better.
On buying a Mondeo in 2009, I had to learn all the model variants as it was no longer obvious - Edge, Zetec, Zetec S for Fiestas, Titanium, Titanium X - all totally meaningless except for the stronger ST and RS - simple and effective.
Fox- said:
I loved my Mondeo Ghia X.
I had a W reg GhiaX 2.5 Modeo and it was a great car. Some numpty pulled out of a junction and wrote it off for me. I always though the Titanium badge was one of those economic or cheapo versions like a blue motion (or whatever they are called) or an 'L' in the old days and not at the upper end of the model range. You live and learn. Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff