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Ford Design Director Responsible For Lincoln Styling Departs

The styling of the Lincoln luxury brand over the last several model years has significantly helped to turn the one ailing Lincoln luxury brand around. The man responsible for much of the design direction is Ford design director David Woodhouse, the former Ford Motor Company director of global strategic design. Woodhouse has suddenly departed Ford with no real indication of what led to his departure.

Woodhouse announced his departure via a Facebook post on Friday stating it was a “difficult decision” made more difficult because of personal investment in Lincoln. He wrote in the post, “Ending a long-standing relationship with a corporation is just like ending a personal relationship multiplied by the number of wonderful friends and colleagues.”

Woodhouse had worked several positions at Ford before joining its Premier Automotive group that once housed Lincoln, Volvo, Jaguar, and Land Rover in 1999. He became the director of global strategic design in addition to being the director of Lincoln design in July 2017. Woodhouse had a hand in styling some very interesting concept cars during his time at Ford design including the Ford Shelby GR1, Ford Airstream, Ford Reflex, Lincoln Continental Concept, Lincoln Mk9 Coupe, and Lincoln Aviator Concept. The Lincoln Aviator Concept can be seen here and was the concept form of the production Aviator.

Ford has stated that Woodhouse elected to leave the company by gave no details on why. Other key projects that he worked on as include the Lincoln C concept seen in 2009. Woodhouse had worked for Cadillac in Europe in 1998 where he helped to style the Caddy Imaj concept. Woodhouse was a graduate of the Royal College of Art in London. Ford has made no announcements on who might replace Woodhouse in his Ford design director roles.

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Source: Automotive News Europe

Shane is a car guy with a fondness for Mustangs and off-roading.

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Comments

  1. Well, first things first, I pray he finds a new position swiftly so that he is not put under any financial burden. Now that I’ve gotten that out of the way, Ford needs to scrap nearly everything that it is doing right now and start over from square one. Clear out nearly everything they’ve got going on and start from scratch.
    Ford’s first order of business should be the immediate and permanent shut down of anything that has to do with the Chinese market. Instead of focusing on China, Ford should return home and focus on the country that made the company possible, In case you forgot, Ford, The United States of America!!! The second order of business would be to Fire which ever bonehead had the great idea to A.) end the production of the Australian FPV Falcon lineup, and B.) the other bonehead that thought it to be a great idea to NOT offer such a wonderful vehicle lineup in the United states! Once that is done Ford needs to restructure it’s business to cater to markets such as the North American market, the Australian Market, the European market and the South American Market in that specific order. Don’t worry Ford I’m not just picking on you because GM needs to get their head out of their butts and do the same thing as well.
    Once Ford re-established itself here and begins to build businesses back up in America so that the American people can have jobs again and bring back skilled labor jobs and trades to the country, Ford can re-establish itself throughout the rest of the non-asian world, positioning itself more globally than just focused on euro-wannabe chinese knock off cars. As far as the cars that should be produced, take a look at the different markets. It is true that SUVs are becoming more popular these days and some markets need more SUVs than others. Take Africa and South America, for example. These would be markets where small to medium sized SUVs would be the most successful. Most areas of these continents are underdeveloped areas with dirt roads, uneven terrain, families that need more room than a regular sedan would provide along with ground clearance to navigate through unpaved terrain and unpredictable weather vehicles like the Ford Everest, the ranger based Ford Bronco and the Ford Ranger would fit the lives of most people living in these conditions, even something like an F150 or an F150 based Bronco. Make them all V6 diesel powered vehicles and call it a day. Now I do understand that there are a few parts of Africa and south America that have moved beyond their primitive states and evolved into the modern era with nice cities and paved streets and all of that kinds of stuff and here, vehicles like the Ford explorer would do nicely.
    Moving to the European market, Ford has been a part of the European market for a long time. Since the late 60’s or early ’70’s Ford has done some remarkable things over there, particularly with it’s RS brand of performance cars including several hot Ford Focus models and a few Cosworth Escorts. I believe it’s time Ford took it’s Ecoboost engine lineup, merged it with a bit of Cosworth magic and bring about a whole new ERA of RS European performance vehicles, vehicles that can really compete with the likes of the smaller engine AMG And BMW M-series cars. Small to mid-size 4-door and 2-door coupes with turbo-4 and twin turbo-6 cylinder engines with rear wheel drive chassis and small to mid size crossovers with the same engines, DCT drivetrains and all that jazz and reclaim the European performance scene. Also, there should be models of these same cars that are more focused on European comfort.
    Now, I’ve saved the best two markets for last, The UNITED STATES OF AMERICA and AUSTRALIA! I will make this as simple as possible. These two countries are obsessed with V8 Horsepower and that’s what we deserve! It’s time to put the horse out to pasture for all markets and bring in the Ford Falcon as the midsize muscle car coupe and the Fairmont Sedan cars for both the USA and Australia. A modern Day GT-351 with a 425hp 5.8L tech-laden push rod V8 pushing out about 430lb-ft of torque is something that is absolutely achievable backed by a 10-speed automatic transmission would be the entry level performance package for both the Falcon coupe and the Fairmont Sedan along with a 530hp Supercharged 5.8L V8 “Mad Max” special edition car (like how the Mustang has the Bullitt) and a 6.4L Cobra pushing out 495hp, comparable to the Mopar 6.4L 392ci V8. Honestly, that’s all the car anyone will ever need as a street car. Building these two vehicles on the CD6 platform as the S650 platform would be a great idea. a base, straight-6 2.7L Turbo pushing out 375hp/390tq would be an excellent starting point for the car with an optional AWD setup for the inline-6 turbo would make it a perfect coupe/sedan combo. Next in line would be the Explorer with the 2.7L Inline-6 base engine, a 425hp 5.8L V8 GT351 package and a 485hp 6.4L Cobra-390 package (just like the Durango lineup) but lighter, better and more reliable than a Dodge. Above this would be the F150-based Bronco with a 325hp version of the 2.7L inline-6, a 350hp/450tq V6 diesel and a 390hp 5.8L V8 with 400lb-ft of torque. The Ford Ranger would get the 2.7 Liter I-6 and the V6 diesel while the F150 would come with the 2.7L I-6 base engine, a 475hp 6.4L V8 and a supercharged 5.8L Lightning package. Super Duty trucks will get the Godzilla 7.3L and a new turbo diesel V8 engine and that would be it for the Ford lineup.
    Now, I’m well aware that electric cars, and hybrid vehicles are a big part of this new world even with as much as i don’t like it. No matter my personal feelings towards them I do feel that they have a place in this world (as much as i’d like to take every single one of them, put them in a container and ship them to the surface of the sun) At this point i will retract my statement about china and I would say Ford should produce a vehicle line specifically for electric vehicles (i’d Simply call it Ford Electric) and it could be for not only the electric cars and trucks but for E-bikes, home stuff like that cool baby crib that they were working on, etc. Honestly, I could see a serious movement with this segment of Ford for the people who are in love with all things techy and cool in this area with Ford partnering with companies like Google, Microsoft, Ride sharing and all of those things. This is the vehicle lineup that Ford should share with China along with having it in the USA, Europe and Australia. I don’t see this for the African and South American Market because most of the people in these countries do not have the technology to support these types of vehicles. However, I do believe that Ford could do very well with a small amount of electric vehicles in these areas, mostly small SUVs with high ground clearance and mobility things such as bikes and scooters, although i worry about those kinds of vehicles in Africa & South America because of the amount of dangerous wildlife in those regions so maybe just a few Electric-hybrid crossovers and that be it. Lastly, the Lincoln lineup. Lincoln has become a stodgy, putrid, mundane, detestable brand that is downright boring and ugly. Nothing in their lineup is classy or even worth the money that Ford Motor Company puts out to build them. THEY SUCK!!!!! What does Ford need to do to fix this? it’s actually quite simple. Look back at cars like the 1970 Lincoln Town Car, the 1972 Lincoln Mark-IV, the 1939 Lincoln Zephyr and make modern versions of those kinds of vehicles. Use engines like the 450hp/510tq 3.5L Ecoboost, the 450hp/600tq 3.0L Hybrid and the 657hp/550tq 3.5L Ecoboost. Bring out a Tesla rivaling all electric power plant for a Lincoln Mark-10 ultra high performance coupe, do things like that. Sure, keep the Navigator around, that’s fine. But a Zephyr grand touring coupe (American Rolls Royce style coupe or Bentley GT style coupe) and a Zephyr Crossover (aviator but cooler) would be a great way to revitalize Lincoln. This is how you make a lineup Ford. Not by flooding the world with stupid pointless broken boring vehicles that nobody wants and then recalling them all. Make affordable vehicles that people want and can use all at the same time. I guarantee with the lineup above, Ford would save millions and earn millions more. No front wheel drive vehicles, no ugly half-baked vehicles, and vehicles that are built on universal platforms but vehicles specific to each market’s desires and needs. A balance of electric, hybrids and performance so that everyone can get something out of the pot that they can enjoy and afford. All while rebuilding the American brand, and the American country and economy along with other markets more spread around the globe.

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  2. Oh yeah, another thing, the Raptor should not be a dune jumping race truck. It should be a 7.3L high output off road truck for off roading, mudding, and things like that. It’s cool but that whole dune jumping racing thing is stupid!!!!!! There should be a 5.8L S/C Lightning street truck, a 7.3L Raptor off road trail truck and a F250 Super Duty High Boy with a 7.3L and an option Powerstroke V8 diesel. Both for off road trail riding, mudding and that kinds of stuff.

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