At this week’s 2012 Detroit Motor Show, Ford revealed the new Fusion sedan, which unlike the outgoing model that shared its platform with the Mazda6 and was only available in North America, is based on a new global mid-size architecture and will be offered internationally under the Mondeo nameplate.
The Blue Oval did the same with the latest generations of the Fiesta, Focus as well as the Ranger pickup truck that were all developed as global models under its “One Ford” plan global product development strategy.
Ford’s original plan was to reduce the number of global platforms to 11 by the end of 2014. However, at the Automotive News World Congress, Ford global marketing and sales chief Jim Farley revealed that the company is moving at a faster pace and will only reduce its target to nine platforms worldwide, but it will also achieve this before the end of 2013.
The nine platforms will cover 85 percent of Ford’s global sales.
“We’re bringing global scale to the different markets, whereas most of our competitors are using regional,” Farley said at the Automotive News World Congress.
While Farley declined to name the platforms being killed, he did tell reporters that the reduction wouldn’t result to the loss of any models in Ford’s portfolio.
Ford claims that the use of common platform architectures across its global range will cut costs and allow the brand to improve its quality.
Story References: Detnews & Autoweek
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