Good Advertising by ford

[Buntz]

Originally Posted by JPFS1

Nice touch

How many of us can relate to that? When I was a kid, we owned a mazda van... because I had five older siblings. Dad always fixed it with Ford parts. But from then onwards... we'd always owned Ford's. And now I do, and two other brothers.

We've come to depend on these cars that are dependable.

Except no kid of mine is gonna be arriving early in the back of my Falcon. Will need a another car for the back seats to be ruined.

[a_misfit]

Originally Posted by Bossxr8

Aston Martin have the only one-77 in Australia on display for a few days, and one of only 77 ever made. Worlds most expensive car.

I thought that this was just the owner who was showing this one off? Don't expect to get anywhere near this one, barriers will be a long way back

[MAD]

Originally Posted by Dr Smith

Seems like someone is channelling the late GP, it's just like something he would have done....still love the story of him taking an early build BA XR6T to a meeting of industry heads held at Holden's HQ....some reckon he laid rubber leaving....

Wonder if the floor space is cheaper outdoors, lol...

That was probably the day before they canned the XU6... haha

GP and HJ were an unbeatable combo at the time.
What other company president would happily change shirts, in a restaurant in the company of FordForum nutcases & ls1.com.au members, when presented with an imaginary race team's polo shirt with "Uncy Geoff" embroided on it.

[Jason[98.EL]]

>>>> THIS 15 min vid <<<< from ford aus at the sydney motor show

Go FORD

[mike_nofx]

Was at the show today and to be honest, it was a bit of a disappointment. Seems there are less manufacturers there every year, and no wonder when having a stand there is around $500k just in space rental.

Fords set up was by far the best, including stands with various engine components you could look at (cut open turbo, pistons, etc)
Only criticism is that being outdoors the cars don't look quite as "amazing" as they would have under the showroom lights.

Stand out cars were the 'Woods & Woods' V16 coach concept... An amazing looking car, and the '67 XR Falcon they had on display (showing a biodiesel engine)

No pics sorry.

[Buntz]

Originally Posted by Jason[98.EL]

>>>> THIS 15 min vid <<<< from ford aus at the sydney motor show

Go FORD

Thanks Jason. Great Video. Good to see you don't have to be on the other side of the country to see these presentations.

And I think Bob did a great job. In fact, I think he's doing a good job, and is handling the Falcon media circus situation well.

[WindsorXR]

Is that the green XR that was in street machine magazine last month or 2?

[Nikked]

Watching the Press day motorshow vid on youtube, i must say, Ford have donw an exceptional job.


They stole the motorshow...

And the falcon will steal it next year...

[Buntz]

Originally Posted by Nikked

Watching the Press day motorshow vid on youtube, i must say, Ford have donw an exceptional job.


They stole the motorshow...

And the falcon will steal it next year...

"And of course we can't have an Australian Motor show, without talking about a uniquely Australian Ford.... The Falcon." - or along those lines.

After all our bitching about no Falcon advertising... they gave us a preview of the next Falcon. And promise to reveal more.

I only hope they know what they are doing with the marketing strategy... and hopefully, build up some hype about the next Falcon by teasing us images every so often. Like Mazda did with the new 6.

[bobwm]

The Ford stand at the motorshow was very impressive and it was a great idea giving everyone a chance to either drive (the Focus) or be a passenger in (new LHD Kuga, Ranger) new Fords with tech to show off.

Just before visiting, we were at a restaurant in the Harbourside area and I mentioned to the waitress we were going to the motorshow and she talked about how she saw a car driving to the top of the containers and how it was very steep and dangerous looking - I asked if she remembered what type of car it was and she said no, but then added "I do remember it was some kind of Ford.." - A bit of value add for brand recognition there.

I took the opportunity at the Smart Drive area to try out a Focus Titanium and the Active City Stop and Active Park Assist seem very cool.

Just out of curiosity - did anyone else go on the drive? How did you find the knowledge of the instructor/driver? The guy I was with covered off the tech stuff he was meant to be demoing well (although I had to ask about the voice control) - but he struggled when I asked about the transmission in the car we were in (Is this a double clutch/powershift or a regular torque converter?) he knew cars and seemed familiar with double clutch transmissions, but just had no idea about the Focus.

Also (much less important) when he asked what kind of car I drove and I replied FPV GS he hadn't heard of it - which also seemed odd considering it's part of Ford's current lineup.

It just seems like Ford have put a lot of money and organisation into the show and their stand but I think if I was considering a Focus it'd be great to be on the drive with someone who could tell me all about it.

Or maybe I'm missing the point - should I really be talking to a dealer about these types of questions? Or the person who will get in touch with me via the details I had to leave in order to get permission to drive the car on the day?

[Buntz]

Originally Posted by bobwm

Also (much less important) when he asked what kind of car I drove and I replied FPV GS he hadn't heard of it - which also seemed odd considering it's part of Ford's current lineup.

[brydie76]

was at the show yesterday too- inside stand is very interesting, massive white box covering it with only plain slogans on each side, no Ford branding. Inside had the upcoming Mondeo, Ecosport and another concept I didnt recognise (looked great though!). They were all on raised stand so no interaction with them. While I was there they were running a game where the crowd "drove" the Ecosport by leaning, clapping, etc.* Interesting, but when slapped right next to the massive Holden display with merch, nearly every car, etc. it was a bit underwhelming. Fortunately I did know about the outside display, so after we left (entered and exited gate 5), we trekked to outside gate 1.

WOW. Brilliant, amazing, best idea I have seen in a long time. The drive looks really good, with things like fake rain to test the auto wipers, active stop, etc. when the Ranger went up over the "hill" they had set up for it (proper steep!) everybody in the vicinity stopped and watched, even those not at the show- great piece of marketing!
Cars they had on show include Fiesta Metal, Trend spec Focus (the drive ones were Titaniums), LHD Kuga, 2 Mondeos (1 titanium spec), a XR6 ute, an EcoBoost Falcon (couldn't sit in that one, they had it hooked up to some computers to show off specs or something), the 2 new FPV cars (GT R spec and Pursuit I think?) and the COTF (cordoned off of course). All together, massively impressed, especially as anybody walking by could come in and look at the cars. Not sure if there were any freebies/posters, couldn't get near the desk as so many people were lined up to test the cars!

* moment of hilarity- the presenter for the test drive made a Holden joke, and a lady took offense at it, storming out shouting things like "no respect, can't say that!!!!" Etc etc etc. went right over to the Holden stand to sulk.

[Mad_Pom]

Originally Posted by bobwm

The Ford stand at the motorshow was very impressive and it was a great idea giving everyone a chance to either drive (the Focus) or be a passenger in (new LHD Kuga, Ranger) new Fords with tech to show off.

Just before visiting, we were at a restaurant in the Harbourside area and I mentioned to the waitress we were going to the motorshow and she talked about how she saw a car driving to the top of the containers and how it was very steep and dangerous looking - I asked if she remembered what type of car it was and she said no, but then added "I do remember it was some kind of Ford.." - A bit of value add for brand recognition there.

I took the opportunity at the Smart Drive area to try out a Focus Titanium and the Active City Stop and Active Park Assist seem very cool.

Just out of curiosity - did anyone else go on the drive? How did you find the knowledge of the instructor/driver? The guy I was with covered off the tech stuff he was meant to be demoing well (although I had to ask about the voice control) - but he struggled when I asked about the transmission in the car we were in (Is this a double clutch/powershift or a regular torque converter?) he knew cars and seemed familiar with double clutch transmissions, but just had no idea about the Focus.

Also (much less important) when he asked what kind of car I drove and I replied FPV GS he hadn't heard of it - which also seemed odd considering it's part of Ford's current lineup.

It just seems like Ford have put a lot of money and organisation into the show and their stand but I think if I was considering a Focus it'd be great to be on the drive with someone who could tell me all about it.

Or maybe I'm missing the point - should I really be talking to a dealer about these types of questions? Or the person who will get in touch with me via the details I had to leave in order to get permission to drive the car on the day?

I think the drivers are not Ford employees, but a PR team with professional drivers.

[bobwm]

Originally Posted by Mad_Pom

I think the drivers are not Ford employees, but a PR team with professional drivers.

Yeah - I guess it's more likely they'd be professional driving types than Ford staff, but I still think it might be good if they gave them some Ford stuff to study before the event or had some kind of presentation/indoctrination on the Ford lineup.

I thought it was pretty weird when, unprompted he said that the colour LCD was a good size in the car and it's pointless to have one any bigger when the large colour touchscreen in the Falcon/Territory seemed to be big selling points for Ford.

On the positive side, he did know it was electric assisted power steering and when I mentioned how it was really light he did talk about how it firmed up nicely when at speed but was just light at the really low parking type speeds we were allowed to go at.

I'm still not sure if this is legit constructive criticism or whinging know it all anti-Ford complaining from me.

Anyway, loved the stand, loved the Fords and I don't think I'd mind a Focus Titanium in my driveway either

PS (edit) - I also noticed that the GT R-Spec and the limited edition red and black 315 ute on display still had the green coolant - I wonder if that means they'll be prone to noisy water pumps.

[TC200six]

Originally Posted by JPFS1

Nice touch

I may have related if it said Fairlane instead of Falcon, but I never "arrived" in it though, the seats had never been soiled.

[Falcman0o7]

I seen alot of adds lastnight. Very good to see ford! I love the GO FURTHER, Hope it sticks.

[buggerlugs]

http://www.news.com.au/entertainment...-1226498517365

[Sinead Phipps]

Hey folks, thanks for your feedback on the show. Bobwm - someone at the outside stand gave us some similar feedback about the level of product knowledge from the stand staff so we've had another session with them. I would beg some indulgence though - they are a mix of Ford employees taking time off from their regular jobs to work the stand (ie: could be from anywhere within the company, not just product development) and agency staff. They're mainly briefed to talk about the interactive technologies in the vehicles. Realistically, they're getting a lot more questions about that type of thing than the type of transmission. Still though, we do appreciate the feedback and we've fed it in.

On the plus side, we've actually already blown away the targets we had for the motor show in terms of the number of test drives etc so the whole experience is proving to be a success. For those of you who can get there, I highly recommend it all but especially the Ranger drive up and over the top of the containers. Even though I know the capability of the truck, it is still amazing to sit in when it is resting on those angles.

As for the inside experience, we did that deliberately too as customer feedback from the last few shows was that most of the brand stands just looked like "dealer car yards" - we wanted to do something very different to that to get people's attention and it also seems to be paying off.

Thanks again for the interest and feedback. Cheers!

[Buntz]

Tip top and congratulations to you Sinead, Bob Graz, and the staff of Ford of Aus.

Nicely done. Way to knock the media for six... Gilchrist style.

[Brazen]

Absolute highlight of the motor show for me was the Ford outside display. I drove a Focus Titanium around the track where you got to test the Focus auto headlights, auto wipers, auto emergency braking and park assist. I am an absolute convert of the auto emergency braking - in the test you drive towards a soft wall with a picture of a Fiesta rear end, as you almost near it the car brakes itself. Stopping a low speed collision.

Also the park assist was fantastic, very intuitive and easy to operate. The Ford staff were really cheery and happy to explain the features and talk about the cars. Honestly it was such a refreshing change from all the static displays inside. 10 out of 10, well done Ford!

[Joe5619]

There is only one problem with this stand. People are missing it altogether. I had some one at work say to me "I went to the motor show on the weekend & the Ford stand was crap. They only had 3 cars on display". To which I explained, did you not see the big blue containers outside? And the answer was no.


Maybe Ford should consider more signs inside, directing them to the outside stand?

[Nikked]

Hey...um, remember this...

Motoring understands the Panther will be a precursor for another, hotter limited-edition, this time dubbed ‘Tempest’ and motivated by a more powerful 375kW intercooled version of FPV’s locally developed ‘Miami’-spec supercharged 5.0-litre Boss V8.

Spotted testing at Melbourne’s Calder Park Raceway in recent weeks, Tempest is expected to be revealed at the Sydney Motor Show in October

Car Point

So, no new FPV's have been released...

But...

There was the beautiful sound of a supercharged V8 at the end of the 2014 falcon tease vid...

put 2+2 together, and assume that the face lifted falcon will be available in balls-out version?

[Bossxr8]

They've got to use the intercooled version sometime, they spent the money developing it in parellal with the non intercooled version.

It will be either one of 2 things holding it back, rear end strength or firewall strength. They already had to beef up the firewall on the 335 version, and the intercooled version will make more chassis twisting torque.

[Nikked]

It would be a good way to draw attention from F-Series HSV's with the new LT1, if FPV have something on the way...

[babyf6]

http://www.carsguide.com.au/news-and..._plan_a_winner

Ford had double the amount of people they anticipated come and test drive the focus, kuga and ranger. They have also booked the outdoor space for next years Melbourne motor show. Expect something big next year!

[Buntz]

It will be good for Ford to have another success at the motor show.