Good question. My thoughts are that the consumers perceptions will not be changed until Ford of America changes its perceptions of what the consumers want and will pay for.
IMO Ford of America believes the North American consumer will not pay for higher grade Ford vehicles. Which to a point is very true, but IMO the North American consumers is not offered a higher grade Ford product, which can be found in Ford's International markets.
I find this comparison ruffles many and always ends up being a very defensive discussion.
My challenge to FoA would be (I know this scenario is impossible) as an example, with the new MY2008 Focus, sell alongside the C1 Focus, and maybe call it Focus2 and see what type of reaction happens. Who knows
maybe FoA would see the higher grade/engineered Ford vehicle would be accepted and the consumer would pay a little more.
My perception of FoA is that the company has no confidence in its products, as far as believing what the consumer will pay for a Ford, and IMO it shows in the sense that although many of the new products are much better, I am sorry but still no where close to the high quality Ford is offering to the rest of world.
Ford cars internationally are very highly thought of and some models are the bench mark in their segments.
I do not write these words to start a flame war, it is only my opinions based on owning Ford vehicles both in North America and Europe.
I also realize that most auto manufacturers deal with the Ńorth American market with the same attitude, Toyota, Honda, Nissan, GM, etc, do not offer the same high grade product that is offered outside of North America. This brings me to the point of stating this, FoA is in the best position to jump ahead of the others and be a leader(as they are in other markets) and offer the same high grade Ford vehicles to the North American consumer. IMO this would most definitely change the consumers perception. As I truly believe that the North American consumers demands are changing and will spend their hard earned dollars if the product is perceived to be worthy.
Also I believe this would shutup the auto critics and a flood of positive reviews would be very helpful in the enthusists world.
As a consumer of Ford vehicles while living in Canada, I got really tired of hearing FoA explaining why we could not have the same Focus when it changed over to the C1 platform , or even now why we could not have the new Mondeo, S-Max, C-Max, etc. As a consumer these are all just excuses, which gave me the perception that Ford does not want to offer me the again IMO best Ford vehicles possible. Consumers do not buy excuses, they buy what they want, that is the reality that FoA needs to accept. In my business if I had to use excuses such as "its too expensive to produce" or "you wouldn't pay for it anyway" I would be out of business.
I just recently moved to Europe and last week purchased a new Focus. Going into the Ford showroom here in Tallinn, Estonia was so exciting, seeing the new Mondeo, S-Max, Galaxy, refreshed C-Max, the awesome Focus ST in that outrageous orange paint and orange inserts in the Recaro seats, and the Fiesta ST painted with strips just like a Shelby. Volvo and Ford are in the same showroom, and I have been a 3 time Volvo owner 1999 S70 and 2 S60's MY2002 & MY2004, and the Ford vehicles are IMO in the same quality game as the Volvo.
BTW, my father worked at Ford OAC for most of his adult like, and my feedback is only for the betterment of FoA.