New Ford Mondeo Vignale | Luxury

New Ford Mondeo Vignale. Vignale is the most luxurious trim level for the new Mondeo that will be revealed on 2015. On 2006, Ford mentioned that, their aim is to catch up with the Audi’s perfection of interior. And after seven years, I can see that Ford is working very hard to achieve this target.

Vignale will be offering high quality leather craftsmanship and special features dedicated to Vignale trim level. I think Vignale trim level will be more expensive than Titanium but what I see from the photos, it does worth it!

Ford did not release more information regarding to Vignale, however we will hear more as the new Mondeo release date gets closer.

Will Ford Mondeo ever be competing with Audi? Yes! Don't forget, Audi was never meant to be competing with BMW and Mercedes!

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Ford

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Why Mercedes-Benz needs Aston Martin? | The Future of Aston Martin

Why Mercedes-Benz needs Aston Martin? I would like to keep this article short and simple. Mercedes-Benz has been trying to gather a market in ultra luxury segment for more than a decade, started with the reboot of the Maybach brand. Mercedes-Benz tried their best to create an ultra luxury brand with the Maybach but due to using same structure with the W220 S-Class and lack of adequate sophistication, Maybach could not keep with Rolls-Royce and Bentley.

What I mean by sophistication? Basically, Maybach never offered the same hand built car experience like Bentley or Rolls Royce. The amount of plastic used in interior and exterior were beyond the acceptable level. And the huge resemblance with the S-Class W220 completed the picture.

Now, Volkswagen Group owns Bentley and Bugatti. BMW owns Rolls Royce and Mini. And Mercedes-Benz or Daimler Group own literally nothing in ultra luxury market. There is no brand under the Daimler Group or Mercedes-Benz to compete with Bentley, Rolls Royce or Bugatti. And Mercedes-Benz knows that their product range is not capable of running at the same pace with the iconic hand built British automotive icons.

And there is one option is left! Buying the Aston Martin. This sounds too rough! And also hinders many potential problems. Instead of that Mercedes-Benz is going to develop the relationship through engine manufacturing and automotive technology sharing. Because, Aston Martin purchases the V8 and V12 engines from the Ford and Aston Martin doesn’t have enough money to develop sophisticated automotive technologies. On the other hand, Mercedes-Benz burns more than €1-billion to R&D and have a lot technologies that are years above their competitors. But it is still Mercedes-Benz.

Harmonising the technology of Mercedes-Benz with the soul of the Aston Martin will reveal a very strong competitor to Bentley and Rolls Royce.

This article represents my own personal views. It does not advice, consult, suggest or predict an investment suggestion, or business strategy to be used for an investment. I do not provide consultantcy or service for any type of investment or similar advices. 

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New Ford Kuga Test Drive

Ford Kuga test drive. Usually, I don’t take cars for a test drive but I was very curious about the new Ford Kuga. The one I took for a test drive was a Ford Kuga Titanium spec, 1,6-lt four-cylinder EcoBoost petrol engine with 180 HP and 240 Nm of torque. Kuga was offered with a double clutch automatic gearbox, Powershift. 

Ford Kuga is an all-wheel drive SUV, it is not a hard core off road vehicle but thanks to recent update on their drive train, Kuga is capable coping with some off road experience. Vehicles are like Kuga, small size SUVs are great to cope with adverse weather condition. With winter tyres, you will never ever have a problem with Kuga and you won’t be experiencing the cost of running a huge SUV. 

Titanium spec Kuga had the Active Park Assist (Car parks by itself), blind spot warning, lane keeping aid with steering wheel adjustment, auto high beam control, traffic sign recognition, driver impairment monitor (If you sleep, Kuga can detect it). The lane keeping aid with steering wheel adjustment, adjusts the steering wheel when you are heading to the other lane. You can feel the steering wheel moving by itself, but if you take your hands off the steering wheel the systems stops and Kuga starts beeping! Another nice feature was the foot operated boot, when you have the Kuga with keyless access you can open the boot by moving your foot under the boot. Very practical.

The two-zone automatic climate control is a bit weird, you can not have a huge temperature differences on different zones, unlike other brands. I really don’t know why the Ford did not offer a proper independent two-zone climate control.

The interior of Kuga is really ergonomic and production quality fulfils your expectations. Only the navigation screen is quite small for nowadays vehicle. Ford should have offered a bigger size screen, nowadays these technology are really affordable and not that expensive. 

The handling of Kuga is excellent. Ford always offered benchmark handling for their vehicles and with Kuga you have the same, also torque vectoring features reduces the under steers and over steers.

Overall, Kuga worth its price but never go for the basic version. Because, you will get a car with no features, it will be so plain. Go for a high spec model! And 1,6-lt petrol engine is way better you expected. And double clutch gearbox works seamlessly but Kuga does not offer paddle shifts on the steering wheel, they are placed on the gear lever, which is a bit weird.

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Ford

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New Ford Escort is Coming!

Ford Escort is back! You didn't read wrong, the iconic Ford Escort is coming back. On 1998, Ford introduced the Focus and two years after that Ford Escort disappeared from the automotive industry. However, the Escort brand had a very strong value and I was expecting the day to be revealed again.

Now, Ford revealed the Escort again! The Ford Focus became more expensive and in some market people cannot afford to buy Focus and the Fiesta stays too small for them. And they move to another brand. Also, the Ford Focus became bigger in this third generation and increased the gap between the Fiesta. 

Therefore, a market gap naturally appeared as a result of those decision. So, Ford created the ideal environment for the Escort and it will be on market soon.

Literally, Focus moved from reasonably priced car to premium car. And this movement helped to Escort join to game again.

And Ford Escort does look quite sexy! With that huge grille, there is a significant resemblance to Fiesta.

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Ford

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