By Bill Damsky
The MyFord Touch got beat up again in the media, this time by Car and Driver. It’s May print edition gave the Ford Focus SEL good marks but the MyFord Touch system was panned.
“MyFord Touch, Ford’s new technology suite, stinks. One juror called it ‘a killer,’” said the magazine. “It is slow to respond and demands a tremendous amount of attention. It’s as though someone forgot that this system was intended to go in a vehicle…” Ouch!
Back in January, Consumer Reports also found the MyFord Touch system to be too complex.
Ford also got some good news recently. It topped General Motors in monthly sales for the first time in a dozen years. Ford sales for March surged 43 percent on sales of over 142,000 cars and trucks. GM saw a smaller 11.5 percent gain to 141,951 vehicles. Some industry watchers say Ford may keep its lead for the near future.
Source: Car and Driver (print edition), MarketWatch
Photo via Car and Driver
This is a case where C&D is parroting the position taken by Consumers Reports. Why do people refuse to read the owner’s manual, especially with a product with such extensive capabilities and redundant control options as MyFordTouch? On Automotive Traveler we commented on the debate. http://automotivetraveler.com/jump/3009
As Barry points out, we’ve had to deal with this issue for decades. In Ford’s case, as the product is aimed at mainstream users, the education issue is even more important.
Congratulations to Ford! Let’s see how long it takes them to learn what our industry has yet to learn: It doesn’t matter how cool the technology is if it doesn’t work as it should, or if a consumer can’t figure it out! Rushing new technology to market just to say, “We had it first!”, is a strategy that is no strategy at all. Any retailer that deals with consumers face to face will say the same thing.