What makes Ford "uniquely positioned" to bring in the fuel efficient cars that are sold elsewhere? Every major automaker in the world has this option.
What makes Ford and GM unique is that despite having had this option for decades and are just now getting around to doing it.

I believe the blogger was referring to the desirable nature of the European Fords. As opposed to the appliance like demeanor of Toyotas and Hondas. What the blogger does not realize is that the US market has evolved into a market that desires bland autos with little or no character. Ford's chances of making this work are moderately better than say a year ago. There is now actually sustainable demand in the B and C segments whereas only a year ago C segment sales were nohwere near profitable due to the "UAW collar". With better COAs in effect at the various plants. Along with the new lower wages being in place in just over a year Ford can make a profit on these products. It is still a gamble since the US consumers appear to prefer blandness in the B and C segment. At least the majority of US consumers. This is proven by the demand for the Civic, Corolla, Camry, and Accord. These Euro-Ford models with their fancy suspensions might be too much for consumers who are used to the boat like feel of the afore mentioned import models. Even the current Focus puts the import competition to shame but due to capacity constraints along with blind loyalty both the Civic and Corolla still do better. In short, unless the perception gap is closed at a faster pace than it is currently narrowing any move by Ford will only have moderate success. Ford has already proven that building vehicles that equal or surpass the imports is not enough. They need to find a way to get on the radar of those consumers trapped in the rut of looking at imports only. Mr. Farley needs to have a break-through soon.

one thing to keep in mind as we all read the ugly headlines today, yesterday, last week and month--
where are the car companies, banks, and the rest of the biz world going to be down the road. ford, or whoever might improve their small car market share. a couple of people i know with extensive knowledge of the auto market have said for years that the production of small, stripped down cars is a minor profit center for auto makers. keeps a lot of people working, improves car mfg's ability to make supplier deals, etc..

but the money is made on the luxury, loaded up, cars and suv's. if that market is gone, or at least severely diminished, what is the future for auto mfg?

Several problems wit jobu's reply.
First, the words quoted (uniquely positioned) are NOT the blogger's. Those are Mulally's words. So if they are used due to lack of knowledge of the US market, then Ford is in even worse shape than the numbers suggest.
And the "Japanese cars are bland" mantra is getting a bit old, don't you think. It always appeared to be a cop out to me. I realize there is probably not a Camry enthusiasts club meeting Tuesday night at the Dairy Queen, but please tell us what is so exciting about an Impala? Or a Fusion? Don't even get me started on the new Taurus.
IMO, the new Civic is the most radical car in its class. And it's skyrocketing sales suggest Americans are buying something other than bland.
And if you want to complain about boat-like ride, you need look no further than Detroit, because they invented it, and still produce more of it than anyone in the world. If Tokyo has caught the illness, it has done so only to sell here.