Fix Six

It wasn’t the usual place to find a “Big Three” CEO, and it certainly wasn’t the usual topic.

But here was Ford’s Alan Mulally squeezed into the passenger seat of the pint-sized, two-door Ford Ka city car, extolling the virtues of going small in the near future.

“The future of the auto industry is on display at the Paris Auto Show (Oct. 4-19), and the future is now,” Mulally said. “The world we live in is quality and fuel efficiency with no compromise.”

Ford? Small?

Isn’t this the brand that unveiled an enormous Ford blue oval logo on the back of the enormous redesigned F-150 about five years ago? Isn’t this the brand that once unveiled vehicles with names that touted go-anywhere ability in any size? Expedition, Explorer and Excursion . . . the latter was big enough to be misconstrued for a school bus.

Downsize those expectations. In the face of plummeting truck and sport-utility vehicle sales, size definitely matters and bigger is not where it’s at.

What a switch.

For nearly 20 years, Ford devoted itself to big pickup trucks and sport utes and buyers ate them up. Now, reacting to a dramatic shift to smaller cars, fueled by high prices at the pump, environmental concerns and an economy where people are stingier than normal, Ford will begin focusing on downsizing its entire lineup with a series of “world cars.”

The idea is a basic design that can be built and sold profitably the world over, because one car serving many markets drastically cuts development costs and raises profit potential.

By 2010, Ford plans to begin assembling six of its upcoming European car models in North America.

We call them Ford’s Six Fix, but they could also be called Six Saviors . . .

Fiesta

Ford designers in England and Germany used the new Mazda2 platform to develop the 2008 Ford Verve concept car shown at the Detroit, Mich., auto show in January 2008. The Verve has come to life this year in Europe as the Ford Fiesta. Although it hasn’t been sold in North America for years, the Fiesta is one of Ford’s most successful cars with about 12 million built since 1976. The eighth-generation front-wheel-drive model will be available here in sedan and four-door hatchback versions in early 2010. Size-wise, the Fiesta should be close to the Honda Fit, Toyota Yaris and Chevrolet Aveo. Powertrains will most likely come from the Mazda 2, which in various markets offers four-cylinder engines in the 1.3-1.5-liter range.

Focus

The Focus that has been available here is not the Focus sold elsewhere. The European version is Ford’s biggest seller on the continent, and for good reason. Engineers created some of the best-handling front-wheel-drive cars on the road, while designers sketched out a new look that put Ford on the cutting edge of automotive design. The redesigned Focus will debut in late 2010 for the 2011 model year and will come in sedan and five-door hatchback body styles and be the first of a family of compact cars for North America based on Ford’s next-generation C1 platform. The car will benefit from new high-efficiency front-wheel-drive powertrains that Ford is said to be working on. That means six- and possible seven-speed transmissions and a four-cylinder engine in the 1.5- to 2.0-liter range and optional turbocharging for added thrust.

Kuga

Ford is expected to replace the Escape wagon in 2011 for the 2012 model year with the Kuga that debuted in Europe this summer. The car-like Kuga will be slightly smaller and more fuel efficient than today’s model. In Paris, Ford showed the latest model, which comes with a 2.5-liter five-cylinder turbocharged engine that produces 198 horsepower and will get a combined city/highway fuel-economy figure of 28.5 miles per gallon.

C-Max

This compact, “multi-purpose vehicle” has been popular in Europe since its 2005 introduction as the Focus C-Max. North America is expected to get the next-generation model for the 2012 season. It’s basically a tall-body compact wagon like the Mazda5 and Kia Rondo, with four conventional side doors, two rows of seating, and room for five passengers. The C-Max will likely share most of its engines with the updated Focus.

Transit Connect

Ford will import the 2010 Transit Connect, a small delivery van sold in Europe. The front-wheel-driver is assembled in Turkey on a reinforced version of C1 Focus platform. Ford is expected to build the Transit Connect in North America for the 2013 model year. With higher gasoline prices, Ford anticipates demand for a four-cylinder, fuel-efficient van that can be used for small-item delivery.

Multi-activity vehicle

Ford is considering a second vehicle developed on the front-drive Fiesta platform — perhaps a small minivan — to be built in Louisville, Ky., as early as the 2012 model year. Not many other details are known at this point, but think of it as a minivan smaller than the old Freestar.

Of course the big unknown is what the North American economic picture will look like when the new models begin arriving: what the competition will be doing; and what buyers feel is a priority for their purchase.

Said Mark Fields, Ford’s President of the Americas during an announcement this summer: “We are creating a new Ford in North America on a foundation of small, fuel-efficient cars that will set new standards for quality, fuel economy, product features and refinement.”

Added together, the six new European models will mean a new Ford. One Ford the world over, as Mulally says. One ambition. Six Saviors.

Steven Reive is a feature writer with Wheelbase Communications. He can be reached at: www.wheelbase.ws/mailbag.html. Wheelbase Communications supplies automotive news and features to newspapers across North America.