The Crittenden Automotive Library

Ford's new line in ugliness

Topics: Ford

Ford's new line in ugliness

Matt Hubbard
Speedmonkey
November 27, 2012

New Ford Fiesta

Ford Ecosport

2007 Ford Fiesta

New Ford Mondeo

Ford Evos concept

2013 Ford Focus

What are Ford doing? Following the blobfish that is the Ecosport they will soon be inflicting the new Fiesta on us. In keeping with Ford's World Car ethos the Fiesta will look the same in every country it's sold in. And this means welding on the new huge corporate mouth on the front of it.

The Ecosport derives from Brazil but Ford will soon be selling it worldwide. The Ecosport takes the corporate grille one step too far and results in an awful mess of a car.

The Fiesta was never beautiful but it had a certain charm. The shape evolved over the generations and turned into quite a handsome little car. The 2007 facelifted version in particular was quite a looker. In recent years the Fiesta's distinct angle between bonnet and windscreen has slowly reduced so the most recent iteration featured an almost flat slab from headlights to roofline. This, along with the huge mouth and elongated headlights, don't do it any favours in the beauty stakes.

Ford have demonstrated they are able to design a car that doesn't require beer goggles to view it. The new for 2013 Mondeo is a superbly designed car that could almost look like an Aston Martin saloon. The new corporate grille works on the Mondeo because it sits in proportion to the rest of the car. Ford have taken the exact same grille and plonked it on the new Fiesta's face without thinking to shrink it somewhat to suit the smaller car.

Another wonderful Ford creation, the Evos concept, which we all hoped would appear in dealers in the next few years has been scrapped. Ford's global boss, Alan Mulally, has put the project on hold due to the 'poor state of the global economy'. Does he not read the news? Has he not seen the Toyota GT86 flying out of showrooms and creating a halo effect over the rest of the Toyota range? (it needs it)

A revised Focus will be released in 2013 and, again, it will be a World Car and the same design will released globally. Unfortunately this means the Focus, which started life as a bold, individual car has now evolved into a guppy.

Hopefully when all the above models, with the noble exception of the Mondeo, are due a facelift a year or two after launch, Ford see sense - and shut their mouths.