I'm seeing a quite a discussion about this on the Ranger forum, but I thought I'd take it over here to make it a bit more generic.

I'm hearing a lot of people promote the idea that Ford should start copying what other manufacturers are doing in order to boost sales. 4 door Mustang, station wagon mustang (copy of the Charger), 4 door Ranger (copy of the Colorado and Dodge trucks), redesign of the xxx to mimic the Honda..etc...

My own personal feeling on this is that Ford should not stoop to doing that. Too often when manufacturers do that they find themselves following the leaders and losing more and more customers to the companies that have unique and original designs. The new Mustang is a huge example of what originality can do for sales. Why change it so that Ford can copy Volvo or Dodge? Why not just do what they do best? Sales might dip, but that's just the fickle customer base, it'll come back the next time Ford makes a splash. You have 5 or 6 major companies competing for business, when one's on top the others are down on the scale, then another rises up and the balance changes again. This has been going on for almost a hundred years. I don't want Ford to turn into the Dodge wannabe or the Honda wannabe - because at that point Ford is admitting they are second rate. Ford's not second rate!

 

I saw a new car add for that new buick,Its looks like my 97 tarus,,,,,,,,,

 

http://www.race-dezert.com/cgi-bin/r...second&id=1002

 

> start copying what other manufacturers are doing in order to boost sales

Depends on what really. I do not think we need to see anything that looks like an Aztec every again. On the other hand, LOCKERS on front and rear axles would not be a bad thing in a Ranger.

 

I think it's more a matter of Ford needing to get on board in some areas then copying anyone. I mean if anyone thinks they don't need to something right now then they need to take another look.

 

Somtimes I wonder who is copycatting who. Back in the 80s, both MOPAR and GM abandoned the RWD market while Ford kept RWD in their large cars and Mustang. Now, they are both falling all over themselves to transition back from FWD to RWD in their larger and performance cars. If Ford had only kept their RWD platforms updated...................

 

It's easy to complain about copycatting, but if manufacturers didn't copy good ideas from other companies, us Ford owners would still be crank-starting our cars...

Copying good ideas doesn't bother me, it's copying the bad ones I can't stand.

 

You mean like the Dodge Charger and the 4 door colorado?

 

It couldn't hurt for Ford to borrow from VW and build an efficient little diesel or gas pickup. (Remember the Rabbit pickup?)

 

The EPA won't let them. Though they are planning a neutered diesel for the F150 in the not so distant future.

 

I guess you didn't see this? https://www.ford-trucks.com/user_gal...136224&width=0