To sell the new Focus lineup, Ford is asking Europeans to talk to a sign.

Photo: Ford Media Center.

Although Ford announced in April that that they will discontinue U.S. sales of all of the Focus lineup except the Focus Active crossover, the situation is different across the pond in Europe, where Ford began pitching an "all-new" lineup of four flavors of Focus this spring. 

Photo: Ford Media Center.

Now, imagine the conversation around the conference room table as the marketing campaign to support the European launch of the lineup, which includes the Focus ST, the Focus Vignale, the Focus Titanium, and the Focus Active, was under discussion. Did some marketing guru actually say, "Hey, let's have people talk to a sign outdoors?"

Yeah.  Of course. That sounds like a great way to sell a car. 

Is the Fiesta Active Launch in Europe Another Puzzle Piece to Clarify Ford's Future Vision for Passenger Cars?

Photo: Ford media website.

Last month, Ford Motor Company announced the discontinuation of all passenger cars in the U.S. market except for the Mustang and Focus, with only the Focus Active—more of a crossover than a car—to remain.

But in Europe, where passenger cars remain more popular than they are in the U.S., it's a different story. And one part of that story is that the Ford Fiesta, one of the models discontinued (for now, at least, since car models have a way of eventually making a comeback), lives on.

Why are Passenger Cars an Endangered Species? A Demographer You’ve Never Heard Of Just Might, Indirectly, Hold the Key

Photo: GM media website.

Unless you’re a hardcore demographics geek like me, you’ve probably never heard of Kenneth W. Gronbach. If you have heard of him, chances are you’re a regular listener to Coast to Coast AM, the popular nationally syndicated talk radio show, on which Gronbach has been interviewed a couple of times by host George Noory.


But regardless of whether you’ve heard of him, Kenneth W. Gronbach, author of Upside: Profiting from the Profound Demographic Shifts Ahead, just might be the most important demographer alive. And his take on millennials, the generation that has overtaken baby boomers as the largest demographic group in the U.S., just might go a long way toward explaining the ongoing decline of the traditional passenger car or sedan—a phenomenon that we at Auto Enthusiasts Newsblaster like to call #DeathOfCar.

If you’re like Kenneth Gronbach, you understand that one of the most dangerous errors of omission that any enterprise can make is to have an incomplete or oversimplified understanding of how demographic factors can profoundly affect economic trends and business outcomes.

In his talk-show appearances, Mr. Gronbach relates that he learned this lesson the hard way. In his days as an advertising-agency owner, he gained a first-hand understanding of the importance of demographics when he lost a large client in the motorcycle industry.

As Ford Pulls the Plug on Fusion, Taurus, Another Tire Drops in #DeathOfCar

With Ford's decision to pull Fusion and Taurus from North American Dealerships, the Fusion may now be truly riding off into the sunset. Photo: Ford media website.

First, let's put things in perspective.

The Ford Fusion is a car that we have spent a lot of time ragging on lately as an example of what's wrong with passenger car design today—those look-alike body shapes that are supposedly driven by safety requirements and other regulations, and those awful, awful grilles.

So we're not exactly sad to see the Ford Fusion go, at least not its current generation.