Ford to add more bling with Vignale variants

Like the Vignale Mondeo, which looks, er... yeah....
ford-mondeo-vignale-5_2__600x0w.jpg
 
This is a huge miscalculation. You need to invent a whole new brand for this to work and even then it is fraught with risk. Toyota may have achieved it with Lexus but they were certainly helped in part by better product and service than the likes of Daimler Benz were offering at the same time.

This won't end well I'm sure.
 
Labcoatguy said:
Hey guys, remember me?
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This is what most amused me when I first heard about this months ago. In fact, here's the quote which made me wonder what on earth Ford were thinking:

And what about Ghia, the 98-year-old former Italian coachbuilder, which is also owned by Ford? A crowned Ghia badge used to signify top-of-the-range Ford luxury in Europe.
"Ghia is an abandoned brand," says Smith. "It used to be not much more than a trim level, which was centred on old-fashioned values of the car, with velour seats and lashings of wood. With Vignale we are hoping to attract a younger and more forward-looking customer."
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It's bollocks. Silly idea.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring...to-revive-Vignale-name-for-luxury-models.html
 
Clueless bunch. Chrome and rouched leather are the automotive equivalent of onyx coffee tables and Georgian pillars. The only people who like them are orange and wear animal print. If anything it's going to distance premium car buyers who favour German marques further from the blue oval.
 
MWF said:
This is a huge miscalculation. You need to invent a whole new brand for this to work and even then it is fraught with risk. Toyota may have achieved it with Lexus but they were certainly helped in part by better product and service than the likes of Daimler Benz were offering at the same time.

This won't end well I'm sure.
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They might bring Lincoln to Europe, but then again these are geniuses that dumped Jaguar/Land Rover.
 
jack_christie said:
They might bring Lincoln to Europe, but then again these are geniuses that dumped Jaguar/Land Rover.
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I had both of those thoughts too. If they created a separate brand and badge with Vignale and made it a classy rather than a chavvy product it could work.
 
It doesn't sound like they are really looking for some significant volume...just a super cheap and easy way to make some easy profit.

In the US, there seems to be a market for posh-level models, like GMC's Denali,ford's King Ranch, etc. But the big difference is that these are already high-priced. It's just some different materials and badging, and they can charge 3,4 or 5 grand more...on a vehicle that already costs $40k+

This is the same principle, but they are starting with a much lower-priced product...adding too much cost means a larger percentage mark-up, which is hard to swallow.
 
Back in the 90s Ford was looking into replacing the Scorpio with either an actual Lincoln or a Ford-rebadged one in Germany. At first they apparently considered bringing the '95 Continental over here as is, and later they supposedly considered rebadging the '99 LS as a possible new Ford Scorpio. But most of that was just rumors in the automotive world that stuck around for quite a long time, but they never went for either one as we all know.
 
Is this Vignale model the new Mondeo or the out-going one? If it's the old one, why are they investing more in it? If it's the new one, why isn't the Titanium trim enough?
 
Andeh said:
This is what most amused me when I first heard about this months ago. In fact, here's the quote which made me wonder what on earth Ford were thinking:



It's bollocks. Silly idea.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring...to-revive-Vignale-name-for-luxury-models.html
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laxmax613 said:
Is this Vignale model the new Mondeo or the out-going one? If it's the old one, why are they investing more in it? If it's the new one, why isn't the Titanium trim enough?
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Titanium is the new Ghia, too common
Ford is citing the sales success of its current top-spec Titanium and Titanium X models (which occupy 50 per cent of Mondeo sales) as justification for the move, and it reckons Vignale versions will appeal to between 10 to 15 per cent of its current Mondeo customer base.
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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring...to-revive-Vignale-name-for-luxury-models.html

Lagonda Vignale
 
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There was a time when Ghia and Titanium trims existed at the same time wasn't there? And Titanium was the highest one? So Titanium was like Vignale before but now Titanium is Ghia and Vignale is the new Titanium? Wait...
 
Hbriz said:
There was a time when Ghia and Titanium trims existed at the same time wasn't there? And Titanium was the highest one? So Titanium was like Vignale before but now Titanium is Ghia and Vignale is the new Titanium? Wait...
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No, they were kind of both the highest, priced similarly. But Titanium was more "sports" oriented, while Ghia, was more "luxury" (read: fake wood) oriented. So the Vignale is pretty much the spiritual successor to Ghia, only more "21st century" (read: plastic chrome instead of plastic wood).:p
 
H0nzik said:
No, they were kind of both the highest, priced similarly. But Titanium was more "sports" oriented, while Ghia, was more "luxury" (read: fake wood) oriented. So the Vignale is pretty much the spiritual successor to Ghia, only more "21st century" (read: plastic chrome instead of plastic wood).:p
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So they brought in the Titanium trim to appeal to a younger audience and now they're bringing in Vignale to appeal to a younger audience again? Or just a different younger audience that likes chrome instead of alcantara? Where can I get fake wood? :p
 
Yeah what the world really needs is a Ford Vaginal Mondeo with shiny plastic.

And I think bringing Lincoln to Europe would be a bad idea for the same reason bringing Chevrolet to Europe was a bad idea; even though we've never had them in the past we already know from seeing them on American TV/movies that they're shit land-boats.
 
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