As part of its plan to globalise as many of its models as possible (see our Ford Taurus article), Ford has announced that its North American operations will be responsible for the company’s next-generation mid-size sedan platform.
Ford is expected to use its European-developed platform – currently underpinning the Ford Mondeo – as a starting point, but the engineering work needed to prepare it for the next generation will be undertaken in North America.
Ford vice-president of global product programs, Joe Bakaj, told Automotive News that talent from the right across Ford’s global operations will work on the project.
“We’re trying to balance the workload between the engineering centers, and so the cars are going to be led out of North America but with a global team.”
Ford’s new mid-sized sedan platform is expected to go into production in various models in 2012 or 2013, beginning with the next generation Ford Fusion.
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PLEASE don’t make it boring. The Mondeo chassis is not a bad drive.
Oh, nit-pick - does Ford have a Vibe president of anything?
Haha, maybe they SHOULD! Thanks Rob, well spotted.
Personally I’d prefer if Ford allowed Ford Europe to do all the engineering work, and then just allow the Americans to ugly-ise the cars for their consumption, and leave the rest of the world with good handling, nice looking cars.
Problem is that Toyota and Hyundai/Kia are rpoof that if you design something in California, you can sell it anywhere and make money on it