Detroit motor show: 2011 Ford Mustang

Locknload66 wrote:

@SHOMANN.....Just to clear a few things up......and suppress your American, flagflying gunhoo urges...a quick word on the benefits of search engines and Wiki.

Firstly, I nearly agree with Virginpowers comment about not bothering with the engineering, its an inherent trait that appears span the nation unfortunately as virtually All Americana lacks any sense of class.

While I can't speak for all Americans, and will do my best to "suppress my flagflying gunhoo urges", I will say that not all Americans posess this inherent trait lacking any sense of class.

While we Americans may be a bit less sophisticated and laid back than our British cousins, it doesn't mean that we don't know how to make better materials or how to put together (and appreciate) a good interior. In fact, knowing that US carmakers have European subsidiaries like Ford and Vauxhall/Opel that produce "better interiors than our typical US-fare", only underlines this point and illustrates that the ability is there.

However, having the ability is only half the issue; the other have is selling price and labor/contractual issues.

For example:

1). The bargain basement version of the old Focus that we have here in the US market sells for about $14,500 (or roughly £9200). To sell a vehicle with a profit at such a cheap price, does the car have to have an interior with such high class interior? Remember, in the US "compact"/C-Segment cars don't command the price premium they do in Europe. Such cars are seen as being affordable transportation, not luxury appointed or upscale. They're the ubiquitous mode of getting around for college students, commuters, and those looking for dependable wheels for little money. Is the same true in Europe? Or do high school students, college students and those looking for cheap transport look to vehicles a rung-lower down the market in the "sub-compact"/B-Segmenet class of cars?

2). Remember that to command a higher transaction price in the US and be seen as "luxurious", most cars have to either be larger (yes, for good or for ill, we Americans associate size with luxury) or have a premium/luxury badge. In that regard, an Audi A3 will always been seen as "worth spending the money on" over a Ford Fusion sedan (not your Fusioni which is a kind of MPV vehicle) even if the Fusion is much larger than the A3. Why? Perception and the badge adorning the front of the car.

3). Our gasoline is considerably cheaper than yours, which helps to fuel the perception and traits which support numbers 1 and 2. As such, we can continue to believe that larger=luxury and that small cars are for affordable transportation and don't need to have the most luxurious of interiors.

4). Contractual and labor obligations have just about rung any profit that is to be made out of a small car up until very recently. Thanks to restrictive labor rules, excessive hourly wages, and other considerations, most of these products were produced at a loss! With this in mind, does it make any sense to make the highest quality interior with the most eye pleasing materials when you're just losing money on each unit made? However, thanks to the recent bankruptcies and renegotiations of union contracts, these products can now be made at a profit (which will help spur further development and allow those "better materials" to be used in the final product).

So as you can see, its not about being "class-less" or having "no clue how to engineer" somthing, but other important issues that have an impact on how a product gets designed and manufactured in the American market.

Of course, I'm just an unsophisticated Colonial and that's just my perspective.