Today, I will have an opportunity to see some of Ford Motor Company's future designs. Due to the nature of the event, I will provide Ford a signed confidentiality agreement which includes an agreement to neither photograph the designs nor provide a public description of them.I do believe that I can give you my reaction ... positive, negative, or not sure ... without breaching the agreement. More than that, I am hoping that Ford is open to feedback about their vehicles' designs, including interior features and comfort. Last year and this year I purchased vehicles. The vehicles were selected on 1) perceived value, 2) comfort and 3) overall performance and features. You might have noticed that styling was not necessarily among my personal top priorities.
Of course, I don't believe I would have selected a vehicle that was grotesque [something on the order of the Pontiac Aztek shown here] despite achieving high marks in the top 3.Given the styling of the already revealed new Fiesta and Focus and the readily available pictures of the 2011 Explorer, I expect that Ford will offer some appealingly styled vehicles. But Ford needs to remember that the Boomers who are retiring and will be traveling much will demand pretty much what my priorities are... in addition to some exciting styling.
By the way, a number of vehicles I looked at that met my requirements 1 and 3 managed to miss the mark by quite a bit for requirement 2. Looking good and feeling good are not always the same... and older drivers are much more in tune with feeling good.