> Many of the smaller Ford cars seem to be designed by the European subsidiary and then either exclusively sold in Europe or later sold in America
Yes, as in 2011 when they unified their UK and US markets. That is, a decade ago. My understanding is that at that point you could get the same models in both areas, for the most part (this is when the US finally gor access to the sport models of the Focus, like the RS). The Mondeo came over earlier, in 2006 (as the Fusion).
The Ford Fusion (Mondeo in the UK, but functionally identical from what I can tell) outsold the Mustang 2:1 in the US in 2019 and 2020. Ford does sell more SUVs and trucks than cars, and also stopped selling many cars in the US 2020 (and some more, including the Fusion), but even the Ford Fiesta sold similar numbers (if still less) than the Mustang.
> Ford obviously aspired to unify across the two markets, but the differences between them are so large it doesn’t seem practical for most of their range.
Before everything started changing in 2020 (Ford is pulling out of the car market in the US except for select models), what models were UK specific? That is, not just a name difference?
Prior to 2011 there seemed to be major differences, and after 2019 there are obviously major differences, but it feels like people here are ignoring almost a decade of history just so they can justify the old perceptions they had which weren't accurate during that time.