burlapp car

“No Ka for you!”

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Well… For US.
Ford has decided against selling the new Ka in the US.
They say it is too small for American tastes. Pretty much what they had been saying about the Fiesta for years, before changing their mind.

But you know, maybe they’re right this time. The Ka is really small.
For most people here, the Fiesta will be small enough…

Conversation 20 comments

  2. I think Ford looked at Smart sales and ran away. I bet this would sell much better as a city car than Smart.

  4. it would still be bigger than the Toyota/Scion IQ that is coming here…or the Smart fortwo…they will be missing an opportunity to compete.

  5. For years they were absolutely right to say Fiesta was too small for the US. Times change. Conditions change. People change. In 1975 Chrysler came out with the smallest Chrysler Brand vehicle they'd ever made. "Cordoba, The New SMALL Chrysler" with a tiney little 360cid V8. A Chrysler that was barely 17' long. They thought the time was right for something smaller than 18'long / 400cid "economical" Newport. Timing is EVERYTHING. For now, Ford is right on the KA. That's not to say conditions won't change in 2-3 years.

  6. i think you're probably right on this one. while i'd love to see more cars of every size here in NA, the Ka is too small to sell enough, even here in small-car-lovin-Canada.
    kinda cute though.

  7. Oh please!! The Smart car is smaller than that Ka!! Ford is just not making the effort is what it seems to me.

  9. Smart cars don't sell in the USA…Popular with who?

    I bet this would do better than Smart but Ford would not be able to make a profit on these tin cans…People would buy bigger used cars.

  10. "Anonymous said…
    Smart cars don't sell in the USA…Popular with who?

    I bet this would do better than Smart but Ford would not be able to make a profit on these tin cans…People would buy bigger used cars.

    November 10, 2009 9:37 AM"

    I see at least three Smarts a day in Northern Virgina. This doesn't include the two that people own who work at my company.

    They are selling, trust me.

  12. I think they made the right call here. The market for cars this small will probably be saturated by the smart, iQ, Spark, and 500. I'd be surprised if the market can even support 4 players.

  13. I knew about the Ka, but not bringing the new Ranger over is asinine. When was the last time that thing was updated, 1993?

    I know about the chicken tax, so just build the new model here already!

  14. Why don't you look at Mercedes monthly sales report on Smart rather than just foolishy guess, Trust me.

  15. Ford and other manufacturers take a look at their vehicle inventory and realize that big vehicles and crossovers are hot items in the States. So bye-bye to smaller vehicles. It's all had to do with the 'beans.' 🙂

  16. There would be less than zero profit on these things in the USA. GM lost a lot of money with each Saturn Astra sold…Lucky for GM the Astra did not sell much.

  17. The Smart car is a novelty. The only person I know that owns one has a four car garage and his daily driver is a Q7. He has the Smart as an in-town runnabout. Smarts don't sell to people who need practical transportation. I can't imagine that Ford can make a good business case for the Ka stateside.

  18. "Anonymous said…
    Ford and other manufacturers take a look at their vehicle inventory and realize that big vehicles and crossovers are hot items in the States. So bye-bye to smaller vehicles. It's all had to do with the 'beans.' 🙂

    November 11, 2009 10:35 AM"

    Yeah except for the demand for larger vehicles has decreased by over half compared to five years ago. Don't forget the large SUV segment which is pretty much dead.

    Nice try.

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