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All Cool Cars Should Go Global: Ford Gets It!

The automotive world has been taken over by this snowball effect were just about ever bit of false information is amplified, spreading like wildfire from blog to blog and from Tweet to Tweet. For too long have we car lovers seen a Golf being identical to an Audi TT, and the Gallardo as an overpriced Audi R8 V10. Things are much more complicated under the skin than they might seem. However, a bit of commonality is always going to be favorable for the survival of brands and a "species" of car.
This might seem a little strange, but try to understand where I’m going with this analogy: when the big continents split from each other, you got species of dinosaurs that evolved differently from one place to the other. Adapting to different conditions, some cars dinosaurs became so specialized that when a cataclysm hit they died out because they only knew how to survive in one environment.

Cars are like that as well, and automakers would have you believe that what an American wants is 100% different from what the Chinese customer needs. There’s some truth in that, but the triceratops sports SUV built by let’s say Buick only knows how to defend itself against a pack of raptors built by Chrysler. Should a flying ninja dragon from Japan take advantage a financial “virus” they would both die off or lose lose market power.

And when the Toyota ninja dragon corners the market, it diversified, evolves and then thrives by specializing. It’s an endless cycle, really, that perpetuates until we get the "beast" we want! And don't forget that America hated the smaller turbo engine until they saw what it can do!

Now, I know that a degree of specialization is required, be that more muscle in North America, or a few tail feathers and double wishbone ankle in Europe, but let’s not lose sight of the big picture.

Cool cars simply must be the same across the globe. You can’t have a Ford Mustang that feels awesome in America but runs scared into a corner if you show it a European track. What if Porsche sold a 5.7-liter V8 sportscar that weighed two tons in America and China, and a stripped out version with a 2.0-liter turbo in Europe and Australia? All the marketing efforts, all the cool photos of one incarnation drifting with plenty of smoke coming off the back... everything would be useless. That simply doesn't work for the 911, and it shouldn't work for any other cool car, be that a sports SUV or a hothatch.

Coming back to Ford and the question of news authenticity these days. The Fiesta ST is coming to the US, and the Focus ST will make it as far as China. That's pretty impressive, but the cool Ford that everybody likes is the Mustang. I can’t tell you for sure if Ford will use a 2.3-liter or a 2.5-liter EcoBoost in the next 'Stang, or if they will make it lighter and more sportscar-like, but I love the idea of making it a “One Ford” vehicle. That catch phrase I wrote there is just their attempt at making their cars global, and it’s also a strategy close to my heart.

Cool cars, flagships of their range, the steeds that sit at the forefront of the battle, they should be the same across all markets.

If the nimble dolphin that is the Focus ST can outpace a sportscar around the Nurburgring in Germany, it will also translate into new fans for China. And when the car proves its durability under racing conditions at Sebring, some guy in Britain will want to tune it because it’s strong.

Do I need to remind you there are drag strips across Europe now, from England to Russia? Of course there will be Cobra Jet fans writing about their quarter mile time in Cyrillic alphabet.

What about the boring stuff that cars are supposed to do? Well, we all like big LCD screens, plenty of gadgets and adequate luggage space even for sportcars, so no problem there.

So let your imagination run freely dear readers and tell autoevolution what cool cars you think should be globally available? Are they small performance crossovers, mid-engined two-seaters with turbo engines or hybrid sports saloons?

In the end, the truly global dinosaur will be instantly recognizable, iconic even to non car aficionados, forever relevant and obviously driver oriented. Its glory will be eternal, future classic status is a guaranty!
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About the author: Mihnea Radu
Mihnea Radu profile photo

Mihnea's favorite cars have already been built, the so-called modern classics from the '80s and '90s. He also loves local car culture from all over the world, so don't be surprised to see him getting excited about weird Japanese imports, low-rider VWs out of Germany, replicas from Russia or LS swaps down in Florida.
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