Quote:
Originally Posted by BENT_8
One excuse after another.
Apart from Corolla, both of the other two, Mazda 3 and i30 have had to earn the respect they are shown, hell, the Mazda 3 started life in the same way the Focus did, off the back of the Laser, 323 era, a neutral position from my perspective.
Mazda have succeded whilst Ford have tanked in this segment and we all know why.
How a company can ignore the obvious issues in a car that features in the largest segment in a competetive market is beyond beief.
Mitsubishi are focussed on the Outlander which is hugely popular as a replacement for those who were previously Lancer buyers, the drivelines are tried and proven and backed by a good warranty with strong customer satisfaction, Ford have burned its small car customers with the reputation of Focus and have struggled to make inroads with its small SUV offerings.
The two are chalk and cheese.
People buy Camry's because they are reliable and that reliability came about through dedication to getting it right.
The SV21 Camry was one of the most robust vehicles ever built and Toyota have successfully built on that reputation
Having said that, when Camry had its 10th birthday, Falcon was no1 in sales so im not sure how Toyota's reputation was any better than Fords in that era.
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People didn't want small Fords even when they were winning awards regularly and selling well overseas. The gearbox fiasco has killed them completely. It would take 10-15 years to get Focus back to the top of its segment. It could be done but as the market is starting to shift it may not be worth it. If they cut the price they could possibly shift them but it would cheapen the product and reduce profit.
Mazdas success has been mainly off its looks and being seen as trendy. I've lost count of the number of women that have said they like the look of them and want one as their next car. Hyundai has always been the value option built on the success of the Excel 25 years ago.