Ford in Japan????

[sleekism]

Oi have a look at this:

http://www.ford.co.jp/servlet/Conten...agename=DFY/JP

I had no idea that they were selling Fords in Japan. What is more interesting is that they can buy a MUSTANG in Japan. Isn't Japan RHD like Australia?? Why don't we have the Mustang here??

Kudos to Japan though. Their reforms have come a long way from the flat out refusal of entry for Western products during the 70's and 80's.

[Casablanca]

they are rhd over there i think its because they have the economy to have performance cars where as we over here only get the tit bits off the plate.

[sleekism]

I wonder what sales are like considering:

1)Petrol over there is equivalent to $3 a litre
2)There cities are pretty tight.
3)They have a tax system biased towards sub 1 litre cars
4)Their culture is fiercely nationalist and suspicious of foreigners

[Powdered Toast Man]

They are probably locally converted to RHD because supposedly they aren't built in RHD. They should be though I reckon.

[apolloxbgt]

That explorer sport track is HOT.

[theunfairadvant]

You need to prove that you have a car space before they will sell you the car.

[Rev28K]

I knew that the C4 Corvette was sold in Japan and a few other weirdy’s, but I didn’t know about the ‘Stang.

The photos show a LHD. I haven’t translated the page but are they sold as LHD or RHD (I can’t remember if the Corvertte’s steering was transposed for sale in Japan, I know that it had small front fender flares that were required in Japan and GM reused them on the Grand Sport edition). LHD is meant to be more of a prestige (and Yakuza) thing in Japan for some reason.

I think that it may appeal to the same people that bought it out here;
lots of $$$,
willing to get a factory Mustang at any cost,
not necessarily the sharpest thing on the road, etc
(and yes. They do look good)

[Dave_au]

Originally Posted by sleekism

I wonder what sales are like considering:

1)Petrol over there is equivalent to $3 a litre
2)There cities are pretty tight.

1) Thats incorrect, their fuel price is pretty similiar to ours: http://www.kshitij.com/research/petrol.shtml

Apparently in early december it was 155 yen per litre for standard unleaded, which to the japanese IIRC is 95ron. Conversion rate of yen to aus is about 97.7 yen to the Aussie dollar, which makes the 155yen = $1.58 AUS

2) Not quite, their cities are like any other large city in the world, there is still plenty of rural areas in between.

[Yellow_Festiva]

Hmmm well it seems Ford is trying very hard in Korea as well....

Walked past a display out the front of a new dealership last time I was there. They had smallish 4dr cars, the name "Fusion" or similar springs to mind.

My korean mate tells me that Korea charges a 100% importing tax on foreign cars, so it may be sold as a premium brand perhaps???

Oh well, good luck to em! But to be honest I doub't it will work. Koreans and Japanese are very nationalistic, it's like trying to sell imported ice to the Eskimos....

[Ives]

Originally Posted by sleekism

2)There cities are pretty tight.

But they have the gunsai touge.

[RS500]

Originally Posted by sleekism

Kudos to Japan though. Their reforms have come a long way from the flat out refusal of entry for Western products during the 70's and 80's.

i don't blame them, the cars they were making in the 70's & 80's hell even now are far better than any ford out on the market

waits for usual jap car bashing....

[The Stylist]

They're actually sold in LHD in Japan not RHD, that's why we don't get the Mustang and facelifted Explorer down under.

[drcook]

so if there is a possible performance market, and already RHD, why dont ford aus look at exporting FPV's?

[RS500]

do we want the face lifted explorer down here? it was a huge sales flop in the last few years they sold it here. So much so at the end they were selling new cars that were over 2 years old as the had been sitting around so long

[Dave_au]

Originally Posted by drcook

so if there is a possible performance market, and already RHD, why dont ford aus look at exporting FPV's?

Probably emission laws, if not that, then compliance laws.

Or just a general lack of a market. I saw 0 fords when I was there in September. The Japanese consumer market is either one of novelty or efficiency - FPV doesn't really fit that consumer mould.

[Ives]

Originally Posted by Dave_au

Probably emission laws, if not that, then compliance laws.

or... price. Can it compete with FPV F6 Typhoons & GTs ? Last time I read, you can get a RHD Mustang GT for well above AU$100,000.

[Dave_au]

Originally Posted by Ives

or... price. Can it compete with FPV F6 Typhoons & GTs ? Last time I read, you can get a RHD Mustang GT for well above AU$100,000.

Can what compete with Typhoons and GTs?

[Ives]

Mustang V8 GT.

[GSfalcon500]

I went to Japan in 2003, Tokyo and surrounds to be exact.I was there for 4 days and I saw probably half a dozen mustangs from a distance so I could'nt tell if they were LHD or RHD,but i did see some Corvettes and Porsche , BMW , Mercedes Benz all LHD. I presume that in Japan you can keep a high end car LHD.Wish it was like that here .

[Bucknaked]

I won 3 brochures on Ebay which are all in Japanese. Ford Focus, Fiesta and Mondeo ST brochures. Colours, trims, models etc etc etc

[mik]

Originally Posted by RS500

i don't blame them, the cars they were making in the 70's & 80's hell even now are far better than any ford out on the market

waits for usual jap car bashing....

don`t agree there, better equipped yes, better in some area`s finish etc, but definiatley not 100% better than all fords of that era, in our family we have had 9 Toyo`s over the years not counting other brands, Toyo`s had plenty of problems of there own back then.

[Mark One]

Good on them. For me the only thing I would want from a mustang is the engine. Have they gotten around to putting IRS in mustangs yet?

[Thunder Kiss]

The Japanese do drive on the left side of the road, like us, but they don't have laws requiring a vehicle to have its steering wheel on any side in particular.
Australia is one of the VERY few countries in the world that outlaws late model LHD vehicles.

[TadKa]

hey did you guys see the japanese guy with mad max car (its interceptor isnt it?) on the streets of tokyo. it was in the herald sun today. looked pretty funny.

[sleekism]

Originally Posted by RS500

i don't blame them, the cars they were making in the 70's & 80's hell even now are far better than any ford out on the market

waits for usual jap car bashing....

I'm going to have to disagree with you there. The reason the Japanese cars were so good in the 70's and 80's was simple economics-the Japanese investment bubble.

During the 80's Japanese companies were awash with investment and poured this into research and development into technology often just for the sake of technology often without any financial benefit. By the late 80's the Japanese investment and housing bubble was so great that Tokyo CBD was worth more than all the land in Australia.

It all crashed and burned though and Japan has spent the last 17 years in recession.

The Japanese recession gave European and American companies breathing space. In the late 80's a Corolla was a very special piece of work with twin-cams and the like but today a Corolla is barely competitive with Hyundai.

I believe you can pretty much correlate the quality of a nations car industry with how well the economy is performing.

The United States spent the 90's with sustained economic growth thus why we have a new generation of V8's and the revival of RWD.

Europe has had pathwork growth but since 1989 has access to the vast market and skilled labor force of eastern europe. BMW were craaping themselves about the Japs in the 80's but are now quite comfortable. Same as Volkswagen who largely disappeared for a while. The Japanese absolutely obliterated the British car (and motorcycle) industry but now we are seeing a revival of the industry albliet foreign owned.


The only variable is Japans heavy protection of it's domestic industry which has caused anguish in America but now the Americans are distracted by the Chinese.