Quote:
Originally Posted by simon varley
honestly - most people don't think this through anything close to the depth you guys are. it's price, price, price and that's why the Korean cars sell. We are a bunch of enthusiasts, and I don't think we can really, deep down, understand why anyone would chose what we consider a pos, over a 'nice' car.
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Spot on. For most people price is all that matters.
Something that needs to be pointed out though is that Fords move to increase small car pricing with the Focus is starting to be adopted with competitors now. The days of 19k small cars is largely gone. The RRP of Corolla's, Mazda 3's etc has gone to the 23-24k area. With the fall in the dollar, and manufacturers looking to shore up profit margins they are all creeping the entry prices up.
Ford just went too far by deleting the entry point model and starting off with the mid spec Trend. But profit is all they care about which I don't completely follow. Surely a base spec car, even if it doesn't make much, if any profit, could still be used as a leading price point to get people in the door and bump up some sales numbers? I'd love to know the full story as to why the Ambiente Focus was homologated and a few hundred made it here before they decided to not sell it anymore. Drop in the aussie dollar maybe?