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Well, this sounds like good old fashioned Karma. The Ford Motor Company is shamlessly racist. The founder is a racist with no (sincere) apology forthcoming from the company. I have not bought a Ford for this reason alone. You don't NEED to buy a Ford. There are many other honorable companies making the same vehicle. We all need to stand up to basic integrity and honor before its too late. God Bless you all, my brothers.

apparently no one has driven a fusion or edge they are great but europe has always been better for NEW designs whether autos or fashion the japonese always great copycats but I think american auto co finally got the message thank you

Racism is defined as any policy, law or attitude that uses race as the determining factor in any decision. That being said, we live in a world of racism and some is so pervasive here in America that when argueing with some people, disagreement with them = racism. There is even legal racism as witnessed by Affirmative Action policies in this country. I come from a world where based on ablility and even persaverence and hard work anybody can succeed if they want to learn.
I resent the above remark that Ford and its president are racists, not because I own one but rather the outright statement with no facts backing it up. The fact Ford makes better cars in Europe may or may not reflect a dominance of their European division in the marketing decisions but be aware, cars in Europe cost alot more than in America ( a Focus is 22k+ while I got mine loaded for 15k) .
Stop playing the race card people and start standing on your own ground as human beings. Just because someone calls u a racist doesn't mean you are as the biggest racists I have found are the ones calling others racists.

This has been going on for quite a long time, many of the new European models are exciting and would seriously help out domestic sales if Ford/GM were willing to take the risk. A good example is Saturn's "rebirth", which is simply the rebranding of Opel models for the American market. And what happened then? The Aura wins Car of the Year.

I'm not sure what on earth is stopping Ford from releasing the Euro-spec Focus here, it would outsell almost any Japanese import. It might be union related, but design jobs are not unionized (to my knowledge). The production lines are all flexible enough to build these cars at home. It baffles me.

The author of the tripe sounds like he might work for.... da da, Toyota. The Ford Fusion is one of the best deals on the market. Great quality and satisfactory performance. for far less bucks than a, need I say it, Toyota.

It's more complex than "Ford isn't bringing good product."

First, Fords don't command a premium. Ford has had a history of customer service problems relating to repairs and dealer service that have turned people off to the brand generally. So, any compact SUV would have to start at $19-20k.

Ford of Europe cars if built at the U.S. assembly plants would probably cost around $3-4k more. Let's take the Euro Focus. The base Focus would cost about $16-17k here in the states if built at Wayne. People won't buy that.

Ford could take a risk and bring a model that expensive over and start it at $14-15k and take a loss to boost brand perception, but they have no money to do that right now. So, they have to make incremental steps and we get a significantly updated Focus that just lacks a bit of sophistication.

Frankly, the Fusion is a great and completely underrated car. It's quality it high. Design is good. Performance is decent. About the only lacking things in the Fusion are a slightly better interior and slightly more refined engines (all debuting at LA). Because it is built in Hermosillo, Ford can charge what the market will take without losing money hand over fist while it keeps customer satisfaction extremely high through better quality and improved customer service.

It's true that those vehicles woudl be great here in the U.S., and they are coming starting in 2009 with the B-car, but until then, we have some decent vehicles that are certainly competitive with anything else here in the states... we just have a negative perception of Ford.

Henry Ford may have been a racist and it may be a ligitmate reason to avoid Ford products but if racism is criteria for selecting a particular auto manufacturer then we all should avoid Japanese products. In the past, present and probably the future the Japanese nation and its people have demonstrated their racism thru their treatment of Chinese, Korean and all other non Japanese during the second world war up to todays visa and non existant immigration pliicies.If you doubt racism in the Japanese Islands I suggest any African American try to secure a 6 month visa to Visit Japan. They also snub their nose at the civilized world by hunting whales,penguins and buying ivory.

I live in Australia...between 5 in our imediate family we have 5 fords(3 Oz built), and 3 euros(volvo merc audi). I do feel sorry that Americans can't enjoy a car like the territory or falcon in their own country, let alone some of the performance models (FPV, territory turbo ghia.... i u don't know that last one look up the specs on it). Development costs for the big Aussie fords are fairly high compared to the relatively small market.... point is when is the falcon going to get shipped off for a US holiday... i think the yanks would love it...the new one in particular, and the territory could replace that freestyle thing, there is a good chance this would allow the aussies to keep development costs down and built cars on a seriously big scale and i genuinely believe the stigma attatched to an australian built car would be of no concern as the cars have a good reputation and still have strong ties to the US (especially after 2010 when the oz I6 is dropped for a US V6). New ford KA,and mondeo also look great and can't wait for them to get here. I am pleased at how ford is maintaining and improving their image and cars in regaurds to quality re: using little euros instead of GM korean affairs.