Photo gallery: American-branded Eurocars
Last week I posted a photo gallery of American cars you can't buy in America. That raises the inevitable question: Why don't American automakers sell the models they design for other countries here in the US?
The answer: They have, and it hasn't always worked. Different people in different parts of the world want very different things from their cars; even the Japanese develop different product lines for the various world markets. Nevertheless, over the years the American automakers have tried selling several models designed for other parts of the world in the US, with varying degrees of success. Check out my photo gallery of a dozen American-branded European-market cars that were sold in the States to find out which ones flew and which ones flopped. -- Aaron Gold
Photo of the Ford Focus ZX5 © Ford Motor Company
Comments
I’m almost embarrassed to say I’ve driven every one of these vehicles. The Catera could have been successful. When GM was considering bringing it to the U.S., they actually brought a Euro-spec car here for the journalists to drive. It was impressive. The problem is by the time it got here in production form, it was so watered down in the performance and handling department that it didn’t even seem like the same vehicle. That’s what killed that car, not to mention the stupid “Lisa Catera” sexist advertising that kept most smart women away from even considering it. The Contour actually sold well for Ford, but again, few can leave well enough alone. And last, the design, style, and performance didn’t kill the edge-shaped Cougar, Ford/Mercury’s marketing department did. This car had the potential to be a great “tuner” ride, and we spent hours trying to convince the brand manager at the time to give some to the youth market to dress up for SEMA and run the advertising in that direction. They were too stuck in their “Detroit” ways and didn’t see the advantage to doing something so radical as that. Big time loss, and just another step proving that it’s not the vehicle, but Ford’s consistent inability to know how to market it’s products.
As a Contour fan, I look at the Fusion today and say why did Ford kill the Contour, only to bring back a very similar car in the Fusion (yes on the Mazda platform)? It must be tens if not hundreds of millions of dollars to kill one model and relaunch another.
Some of those I forgot about…but one that you didn’t show, that was a monster hit in Europe and a monster flop here, was the Merkur Scorpio…I loved this car so much, that I bought the very last one available in my state! I also had a XR4Ti, which was even more fun to drive! Each one of those cars gave me 100k+, free of any trouble…the sticker was high but you could easily get the Scorpio for 4k under sticker…it was the best bang for a buck I ever had.
Opel has great styling. Bring the design team over here!
Henry Ford II was the son of Edsel Ford, not Henry Ford I. Edsel was Henry I’s only child.
Oops - right you are, Nick! I corrected the reference to Henry in the Ford Fiesta section. Again, thanks!
Aaron