When Ford of Europe got into the development programme for its next B segment car, currently carried by the Fiesta and Fusion, they made up a target family to represent who it is aimed at.
So the customer's name is Antonella, she's 25-30 and lives with her parents in Italy.
Her US market cousin is named Kristin, aged 20-35.
For both, they intend to make their next small cars chic and fashionable.
Ford's design chief J Mays says the company sees B segment cars as the automotive equivalent of women's handbags, small items for which they will spend big money if they are stylish.
The 'kinetic design' inaugurated in the new Mondeo will also appear in the replacements for the currently boxy Fiesta and Fusion. The first hints of how that might go have probably already been flagged by the sexy new Mazda2 shown at Geneva in March. BB
