[ZX3TUNING]

i think one thing you guys all seem to be forgetting is the shear stupidity and mindlessness of the buying public out there.
what sells and what doesn't sell is pretty much directly related to promotion and endorsements with moviestars/sportsstars/etc.

ford has always had their head up their ass when it comes to doing things the right way.
when the focus first came out the promoted it like gang-busters. Sponsored lots of Drag cars aswell as tuner companies and everything was amazing... for a while. then for basically no reason and almost without warning, ford pulled the plug on all of it's Focus-based sponsorship programs and every single drag car and race car disappeared. remember the Meguiars Focus? that did what, 5 passes and then was stripped and scrapped because Ford didn't feel like promoting the product anymore. it was the fastest unit-body FWD drag car ever built at that point and it wasn't even finished!?

ford has a bad nack for doing this and will probably continue to do so untill they ultimately fail and the company goes under.

this was posted on the focusBC forum:

Quote:What the hell is Ford thinking!! They have allready gone after some of the big names first that have Mustang in their name. And.... its going to trickle down to other brand names too!! Some have allready closed shop because of it!

What I dont get is they are going after the very people that make that specific brand name more viable?! The aftermarket brings value to their brand and makes it more apealing to the tuning/aftermarket crowd! Thats what drives sales of these cars??! I just dont get it!??

See attached!






Little did Donald know when he wrote this edtiorial that it would be stirring up the Mustang world the way it has. To alleviate any questions people may have about the editorial, we now post it as it appears in the June 2006 issue of Mustang Monthly.

Some of your favorite Mustang parts companies are facing serious legal action, serious enough to possibly put some of them out of business, and it's coming from the most unlikely of sources: Ford Motor Company.

Over the past few months, a number of major Mustang parts companies have received a letter from Howard, Phillips, and Andersen, a Salt Lake City law office that represents Ford on trademark and anticybersquatting enforcement matters. Loaded with legalese, the four-page document boiled down to a couple of important demands: transfer to Ford any Internet domain name containing the word Mustang and, worse, discontinue using Mustang in the company name. In other words, many of the companies that you and I purchase Mustang parts from are being told to change their names or face a Ford-powered lawsuit seeking $100,000 in damages.

The letter also demands that the companies turn over for destruction all signs, banners, business cards, stationary, and so on, that use Mustang in the company name, along with a cashier's check for $5,000 in damages. One company was given less than two weeks to comply, and another has discontinued its advertising, a potentially devastating move for a mail-order company, until the situation is resolved.

Upon further research, it appears the matter will only be resolved when everyone--parts companies, Web sites, even magazines--stops using the Mustang name, primarily because Ford fears the usage might be construed as an affiliation with Ford. A source at Ford, who asked to remain anonymous, explained that Ford has decided to "reclaim its legacy" by protecting its trademarks and logos. "The intent is to eliminate the use of trademark names," including Mustang and Thunderbird, among others. Apparently, Ford went after companies using Ford in their name first; now it's time to clean up Mustang.

Because so many companies use Mustang as part of their names, the enforcement is being rolled out gradually to prevent overwhelming the lawyers. According to our source, companies contacted first were either high-profile, or they were not participating in or complying with Ford licensing agreements. He went on to state that every company with Mustang in its name will eventually be contacted.

We also talked to Scott Ryther, a lawyer at Howard, Phillips, and Andersen, who confirmed that companies without a current Ford trademark licensing agreement are likely to be contacted first. He declined to comment on how the trademark enforcement will proceed, but when asked if a gas station called Mustang Mart would fall into the gunsights, he replied, "If Ford finds out about it, they'll eventually be contacted."

About 10 years ago, Ford started making noise about the use of the Mustang name. As a result, some companies modified their name to include a descriptive word, such as Classic. When asked if those companies would still be targeted, our source at Ford said, "At the time, that was deemed acceptable. Ford has changed its mind."

So now companies are faced with making a name change, and it won't be as easy as replacing Mustang with Pony or Stang. According to Ryther, Ford is protecting those trademarks too. His suggestion is for companies to change their names to something generic like "Classic Car Parts," then add a tagline about specializing in Mustangs. Sounds confusing to me.

While some companies are breathing a sigh of relief because they decided early on not to use Mustang in their name, others are staring at financial, if not total, devastation. Many of these companies have 25-30 years invested in their name, and any marketing guru will tell you that a name change can hurt company recognition for decades. Whether or not a company decides to fight Ford in the courts or simply decides to comply with the demands, it's going to be expensive, and you can bet that the expense will be passed along to you and me in the form of higher prices for parts.

I understand that Ford has every right to protect its trademarks. But it bothers me that there is no distinction between legitimate companies, many of which have doing business with Mustang in their name for decades, and companies that might be looking to deceive or defraud by using the word. In this case, Ford is going after the very people who support Ford and its products. One of the reasons the Mustang hobby remains strong is because parts are readily available for restoration, maintenance, and performance. I have to wonder how successful the '05-'06 Mustang would be without the strong Mustang hobby that feeds off the parts supplied by manufacturers and vendors.

It's a great time to be involved in Mustangs. The new Mustang is a whopping success, prices for vintage Mustangs are strong, and restomodding has strengthened the hobby with most of the companies we talked to reporting increased sales this year. But if Ford follows through on its path for Mustang trademark enforcement, many of the people who manufacture and sell parts may be forced to find another line of work. And if they go away, then our entire hobby may be headed down the tubes.

I can only hope that Ford comes to its senses and sends this whole Mustang trademark thing down the tubes first.



Rev. Matthew C. Weyuker DBC, MBA, MA, RAS, ICADC, CADC II



http://addiction-specialists.com/mcw01.

http://www.caadac.org/memberregistry.htm

http://www.breining.edu/mweyuker.htm

it's stuff like this that is going to kill the brand, not the product. when you attack the very heart and reason why a product has so much success then you are doing nothing but stabbing yourself in the back.

Ford = brainless!


they don't want to bring the mk2 focus to NA because they think it will steal sales from Volvo or Mazda? WTF? who cares? trim each car differently and it wont hurt sales at all. the RS didn't come here because the enlightend minds at Ford didn't think there was a place for a $40k cnd Focus... but there is a place in this market for a $50k cnd Subaru or Mitsu-s***ty? to say the least i am not impressed with my moms $35k Outback and the couple of WRXs i get to play with don't have me running to the dealer to pick one up...

i can think of 5 people off the top of my head who would have bought a RS Focus for $40k over a VR6 or 1.8T Golf/Jetta which sell for anywhere from $10-17k less than what the RS would. the RS would never be a high seller with a pricetag like that in the US market, that is a given. they would never be able do to the 20-50k+/year like the STI and Evo do but then again, it's not aimed at them. at the same time, the SRT-4 blows it out of the water for power-to-dollar but then again, the SRT-4 is a shopping cart with a healthy engine powering it....

just take a look at what private owners are doing with the Zetec, the SVT version can hold over 20psi when tuned right, and the Zetec can take 12-15psi again when tuned right. why is it so hard for Ford to see this and go.... "hmmm, maybe we should offer the RS engine and trans as an option!?" i dunno about you guys but wouldn't you have flocked to the dealers to get a new focus if they suddenly started selling any model with a RS engine/trans upgrade for $3-6k ontop of the sticker? what about the new 2.3L?? FS and hiboost are getting great power out of these engines with very simple turbo kits and Cosworth has shown that 150hp is a joke for the 2.3L the. ST should have come with 200hp from the factory in NA form... hell they should have made a ST-R version with 250hp and turbo.... butFord wont do that, they are too busy with the mustang and filing suits on mustang tuners to care about anything else these days!


this is exactly why i'm not and never will be a "Ford guy". why would i support a brand when that brand wont even support what they sell?