Ford's Diminutive Ka Gets Role In Newest James Bond Film

Ford Ka on the James Bond setThe new James Bond movie with the gangly title "Quantum of Solace" will roll onto American shores before the Ford car it features ever will. In fact, the diminutive vehicle--the Ford Ka--will not ever come to the U.S., according to the company. The company was mum about cross-promotional plans on the continent around the 22nd Bond film. 

While Ford this week announced that it is creating a global plan for small cars in the so-called B-segment inhabited by the likes of Toyota Yaris and Honda Fit, the Fiesta--not the diminutive Ka hatchback--will fit Ford's bill for the North American B-car segment.

In the film--which opens in the UK and France at the end of October, and in Europe and the U.S. in November--the Ka car is driven by Olga Kurylenko, who plays Camille, Bond's filmic squeeze.

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It is a bit of a switch for Ford, which has relied on Bond films to promote "halo" cars like Mustang and premium vehicles, particularly those in what Ford used to call its Premier Automotive Group. The Irvine, Calif. group at one time comprised Jaguar and Aston Martin as well as Volvo, and its Lincoln/Mercury brands. Ford moved Lincoln and Mercury back to global headquarters in Dearborn, Mich. in 2003. The company sold Aston Martin to a UK consortium last year for $925 million and Jaguar and Land Rover to Indian holding company Tata this year for over $2 billion.

The company's Ford Global Brand Entertainment office inked a deal with Sony Pictures and Ford of Europe in 2002 for the Bond film "Die Another Day," in which Pierce Brosnan drove an Aston Martin Vanquish. Then as now, Ford of Europe handled marketing support.

The 2006 film "Casino Royale," the first to star Daniel Craig as the secret agent, featured a pair of Aston Martin cars and Land Rover's Range Rover Sport, Defender, and Jaguar cars. It also featured the Europe-only Ford Mondeo.

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