Fairmont Ghia to disapear?

[anto]

Originally Posted by Abacus

Crap. Listen to the situation from an actual Ghia owner's point of view.

how pretentious, did you read my post at all ? I said my brother who is in his 40's ! : who has owned several GHIA's including the current model : He was a rowdy GT owner in his younger years but progressed to GHIA's as he aged for the reasons I stated above, equipment levels, comfort and toned down image. Its not just him, alot of his friends and coworkers are the same in terms of the cars they used to buy compared to cars they now buy. Not everyone needs more power, the stock V8 is more than enough for the average bloke and his everyday drive car and if not they tend to go for the XR's/GT's I suppose. I own the last BA ghia V8 that he updated and even for me it has more than enough for normal driving conditions.

[Silver Ghia]

[QUOTE=Iphido]

Problem with droping the fairmont Name is Fesita Ghia and Focus Ghia.

And you can make things look nice with out overstating the cars styling. BMW has mastered this. Higher spec cars look nicer with more trimmings and exterior jewlery but its cohesive and stuble.QUOTE]


Thats why I was asking for suggestions for alternative names. The "Fairmont Ghia" name has gone past its use by date, and needs a new one, a simple one word name with only one or two syllables.

Doesn't Ford have a marketing division any more to attract people to their cars, thinking about these things which we are discussing?

I had a look at the Calais at the motor show, and couldn't get over how complicated the dash was with all the buttons to operate the sound system etc. The BA/ BF Ghia has a much more cleaner designed dash thats so easy to operate.

But then the Calais had a LH footrest.... which makes it a drivers car.

[csv8]

Why not bring back Fairlane 500 as a name for the Fairmont Ghia ? with Fairlane Ghia the top Ford, drop the LTD, only.

[HSE2]

Ford got it wrong with BA interior. They thought they could improve the sales of the base cars by making them similar to the top line models. The theory was to make the volume sellers at least look similar to the best on offer and make those buyers feel like they were getting more for much less. That will always cause a detrimental impact on any premium product.

When I heard this I protested rather loudly. You never ever reduce a premium model on this sort of premise. Budget buyers really don’t think like this. All you will end up doing is turning the premium buyer away from that product.

The two dash designs in AU were the correct theory to adopt, but the execution probably wasn't quite right with the base design. The hi line dash still remains one of the best Ford interiors to date and even if the design wasn’t to everyone’s taste the ideology behind it was on the money. I think we can see that Holden will follow the AU lead with different interior themes. In the top end of the market you don't want people observing the fact that the car is just an XT with more equipment. This issue followed onto the LWB models.

[dazAUSR]

There are people who like luxury items & would prefer the size of a fairmont ghia over a fairlane/LTD. I think the long base is ok for some & has its niche market but too big for most.....'hang on i'm just trying to park it, how far am i stickin out?' : ... Maybe forget the fairlane and keep the LTD, as people who spend that much will go the extra mile and will want the high level features. If they can't afford the LTD then they have the fairmont ghia as an alternative.
The fairmont ghia is a fav of mine and ford need to have this model to offer people the opportunity to say... take notice I own a ghia....you don't .
Maybe a single word name is a good idea, but being able to identify the name with luxury is important. If we don't have something special to offer, the comp like...yes holden, will dominate the market. You might only sell a small number compared to the base model but you can't just get rid of it for that reason.

[Abacus]

Originally Posted by anto

Not everyone needs more power, the stock V8 is more than enough for the average bloke and his everyday drive car and if not they tend to go for the XR's/GT's I suppose. I own the last BA ghia V8 that he updated and even for me it has more than enough for normal driving conditions.

My point was this. It's not a question of whether the Ghia (or the XR8) owner needs the power - its the fact that the top car in the range should just have it.

IMO Ford's basic attiude is "you can have the engine or the luxuries, but you can't have both".

The Ghia should have both. You shouldn't be spending that kind of money on a car to find that another model in the range has a better engine.

The XR range should be marketed as the light sports model. Even with the 32 valve motor (or, for that matter, the turbo 6) the Ghia will be slower than an XR because of its extra weight. That's no reason for it to be further penalised by having the lesser engine.

[Stoney!]

Boss XR8, get over it man, I'm simply saying that the compeition is not there for the calais, steamer was right, it is bland.

You gotta look at their market, most of the people that drive these stretch from 20's - 40's and are in high up positions with a good company car allowance. They go for the calais coz it makes them look 'hip', I know I would for the reason that it is a hot looking car.

Stoney!

[Ryan]

Originally Posted by Stoney!

Maybe they should try a few things with it, rather than something radical like deleting it.

They should try dressing it up to look closer to an XR, Holden have dressed the Calais quite nicelyin my opinion, and are a great looking car, and in terms of looks, i'd deffinaly buy one over the fairmont ghia.






I understand there will be people that disagree, but we all have different tastes, to me the calais is a hot looking car, the Fairmont Ghia hower is far from ugly, but it just doesn't take the cake for me.

Stoney!

From a looks point of view, the Calais wins hands down.

Not to say the Monty is ugly, it's better looking then alot of cars, but as someone already said, it just looks boring.

One model I've always like coming from Holden, is the Calais (Even VNs/VPs).

Just my opinion though.

Give the Fairmont Ghia uprated engine compared to the rest of the Falcon range by 20kw, a lot more chrome on the grille, a prestige paint selection (not avail on other Falcons) perhaps a bonnet decoration like the G220, the Ghia badge looks a bit outdated, needs black upper interior, white lower (like the calais), integrated GPS into the trip computer, integrated Bluetooth handsfree, heated seats, heated mirrors, parking sensors, reversing camera, rain sensors (standard Exec Commo has this!), auto Xenon projectors which turn, LED tails/inidcators. And the powersteering pump run by an electric motor so it can adjust the steering depending on how fast you are going (like in the Focus).

The LWB range has too many options for a small market. Fairlane, Fairlane G220, Fairlane Ghia, LTD, LTD Ghia. First off, cut it to:

*Fairlane Ghia, with standard an uprated 210kw NA I6, with a $1500 option for the XR turbo engine or the 3 valve v8 (tuned to 245kw);
*FPV G270 T6 or G290 Boss290, based of the Fairlane Ghia and;
*LTD Ghia, Std with uprated I6 engine, $1500 option for the 3 valve or xr turbo or 3500 option for the Boss/Tornado engine

The range should have more of a Chrysler 300C look ie long wheelbase, little overhang, high boot and bonnet.
Things they should consider avaliable to some cars in the range:
*Range of interior materials, not just seat trim, but dash such as woodgrain, brushed aluminium, chrome, leather.
*Integrated GPS into the trip meter
*Integrated Bluetooth handsfree
*Heated seats/mirrors
*Heated and cooled cup holders
*4 way climate control (2 front, 2 rear)
*Rear climate control controls.
*Front and rear independant/linkable DTV/DVD (rear passengers can still watch when the car moves)
*Reclinable rear seats
*Digital radio enabled
*Airbags everywhere, it should win an award for the car with the most airbags :P
*HUD and infared camera
*Avaliable in both LHD and RHD (to replace the Lincon Town car)

The thing is that there needs to be MORE. More options, more power, more comforts. It wouldn't really matter if the price went up for the LWB a few grand, if it means the product sells a whole lot more.

[hrb93]

The best ghia of the lot was the XE, it stood out from the standard falcon in that it had full electrics, different bonnet and different lights.

The Ba> ghia's biggest problem is that it doesn't have a decent v8 or the turbo 6.

[Franky]

yeah nice one troll, this thread is dead

[prydey]

i think i'm on my own here but i think it's o.k. how it is. the ghia is an upspec falcon, not a different model so therefore it looks the same basic shape. same with every other aussie lge car manufacturer. 380 and aurion luxo's both run the same basic shape with minor differences.

also why are yesterdays models being posted up in pics? ba1 and vz are nothing like current offerings. i think the bf2 ghia is an awesome looking car and i for 1 can pick it at 100 yards.

the area where i think ford can improve is the available options on each model. the engine bays are the same accross the board so all engines should be available on all models, except turb and 290. what i'm saying is if i want a wagon i can't have a v8 or a manual in a futura. the customer should be able to tick any option, even if it means paying a premium.

[Flouro_Joe]

I heard a rumour they were going to bring back the GXL nameplate (again) and put Landcruiser badges on it.

[LeadFoot81]

Woah old thread. Comments deleted.