Retro Escort Concept

From that angle it looks like an Audi TT with a different nose, but it's not a bad design. Looks expensive though, in a way the Escort shouldn't be. I'm a big believer that these retro revivals of cars should fit into the same sort of market position as the originals, rather than being top-end luxury models. In other words, the new Fiat 500 should be priced about the same or less than a Panda, etc. Oh, and Minis should be much cheaper. I don't know what they're like in Europe, but over here the Mini range starts with the Cooper and it costs more than a full-sized 6-cylinder family sedan, as does the 500. I do understand that these cars would have to be very different to achieve these price points, but to me the current spiritual successor to the Mini is something like the Suzuki Swift, which has obviously been styled to look like a round-nose Mini, and costs about half as much as the BMW Mini!

"no one would buy it because its not RWD" in the same way nobody would buy a new Beetle because its not rear engine or air cooled? Nobody would buy a new Mini because its too big?

Different people would buy it. There has already been a successful FWD Capri sold darn under and in the US of A.

The real reason there will be no "new Capri" in our market is because to the vast number of potential car buying public the name "Ford Capri" brings up an image of Del Boy Trotter or similar which is not what the marketing guys want in a brand!

Indeed, the car manufacturers know they need to develop a product which appeals to those original fans today. As consumers we're pretty superficial and only want to buy into the name and style.

No one bought the Probe when it was touted as the "New capri", FWD and to expensive being the main reasons i kept hearing.

Nobody bought the Probe? Bit extreme LOL!

I'm sure within your social circle people grumbled at the drivetrain layout. But generally consumers don't think like car enthusiasts, they are looking for an aspirational brand to buy into and Ford/Capri is one of the least aspirational out there in the UK.

Maybe normal car buyers do, but not the sort of buyers interested in things like RS Fords, or the Capri, there are plenty of guys spending 15 to 20 grand building YB powered escorts, Cortina and Capris that may well have spent that money buying a fast RWD Ford had one been available, just check out web sites like turbosport or OSF to see the amount of em there are around, the price of mk1 and 2 escorts went through the roof 5 or 6 years ago because demand exceeds supply.

If Ford knocked out a 15 grand reasonably lighweight RWD coupe with 150bhp in the basic model they'd sell loads, witness the success of the 'Stang in the states, we have guys with same mentality over here, make it a hatchback and offer some deisel engines and you might even catch some company car drivers, higher spec models may even take a few of BMW's customers, the Capri has been gone long enough for the chavvy image to disipate, more people remember the good side of it nowadays i reckon.

I'm no marketting man, maybe your right, it just seems to me that ford seemed to abandon a good proportion of fans and instead start buying up other makes, an RS nut is not gonna go buy a Jag or Volvo just because Ford own it.

Well I'm a marketing consultant and I agree with you. Ford did disband a lot of potential life advocates and focused on buying up market share and acquiring competitors intellectual property.

It's no surprise now that going on a site like PassionFord shows most enthusiasts there own older Fords and/or newer competing marques.

They should never have tried to brush previous sub-brands and models under the carpet, but rather improve them over time. They went head to head with Vauxhall in this new hot hatch brand war despite having a massive heritage advantage. Dropping the XR brand in favour of ST sent a clear message out to XR fans "We don't want your type associated with us any more". Diluting the RS brand has sent those fans looking elsewhere like Mitsubishi and Nissan.

Side note to AK: The Oz "Mazda" 2-seat FWD Capri sold *poorly* here in the States. It debuted at around the same time as the Miata, and the 2-seat buyers beat path for the Miata. At the same time, Pontiac had perfected the Fiero 2-seater and then left the playing field 1 year after the 5-speed turbo version was offered! So, Mazda enjoyed no competition in the marketplace for moderately priced 2-seaters. And then Ford (which owned a huge chunk of Mazda anyway) pulled the plug on importing the Oz-built Mazda FWD Capri.