Ford Fairlane is on for 2008
According to Automotive News and The
Toronto Star, Ford's new flexible manufacturing plant in Oakville, Ontario, is scheduled to start building the
Fairlane as a replacement for the Ford Freestar and Mercury Monterey by February 2008. The plant will start production
of the Ford Edge and Lincoln MKX later this year.A Lincoln version of the people mover is also rumored for production in Oakville. Both the Ford and Lincoln models will include hybrid versions, representing about 10 percent of total production.
[thanks for the tip, Kyle!]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Ryan 6:14PM (2/07/2006)
Well, it is unique, I will give it that....
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bacon 6:23PM (2/07/2006)
Is that a yatch?
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DJ 6:27PM (2/07/2006)
Read between the lines and what you have is a stretched Edge to allow seating for 6 or 7. I really like the Range Rover inspired styling and hope most of it will carryover to production. I'm guessing the LM version will borrow it's styling from the Mercury Meta One concept (given that it's still being shown on their website).
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Chris Biggerstaff 6:43PM (2/07/2006)
I don't think it should carry the fairlane name because it is nothing like the muscle car of the 50's & 60's. It does look like a good vehicle,but it doesn't look like a Fairlane.
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Jason 7:03PM (2/07/2006)
It might have vaguely Range Rover shape, but not styling. It's fugly whatever it is.
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Chris Biggerstaff 7:09PM (2/07/2006)
Are they going to put a big hood scoop on the hood and call it the Ford Fairlane Thunderbolt? It won't live up to the name of Fairlane because the Fairlane was a muscle car not a minivan, truck, or SUV,ect......
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Jaymez 7:43PM (2/07/2006)
Isn't Ford still producing a Fairlane in Austraila?
Yet another disgrace to a classic nameplate.
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stan 8:08PM (2/07/2006)
I believe you are thinking of the Falcon
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GrowUp 8:18PM (2/07/2006)
Most Fairlanes produced were boring family sedans...not much of a name to disgrace.
Get over it.
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Devin 8:19PM (2/07/2006)
Whether it is a stretched Edge or not, the vehicle lookis damn good. Fairlane is a catchy name whether or not it is on a muscle car. However, i believe that the name would be better applied to the new 4-door car based on the Mustang platform. Ford should definetely make sure the rear doors are sliding like a minivan's, that way, they get cross-shoppers from SUVs, CUVs, and Minivans.
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Dark Leth 8:26PM (2/07/2006)
Ah, you bashers. This thing is more improved compared to the unispired Ford mo-van duo, and is a needed break from "Is that a Sietownandcarasedonna" theme that is prevalent today. It's new, it's postmodernism/retro, and it's not some bug-looking never-gonna-get-made vehicle. Oh, and it's a Ford. Whodathunk?
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JP 8:47PM (2/07/2006)
Kudos to Ford for having balls. Keep this kind of thing (bold design) coming and buyers like me might consider buying American again.
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JGN 9:20PM (2/07/2006)
It's the Ford ElementB
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Justin 10:02PM (2/07/2006)
Why are they calling it Fairlane? Ford still makes a fairlane sedan in australia today. Ford has a bad habit of recycling names in the US. The Fusion name was taken from a small SUV sold in Europe and latin America. The fairlane is taken from the austraian sedan. We would be better off if they brought the sedan over instead of the new SUV.
http://www.ford.com.au/range/fairlane/models/
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Kyle 10:29PM (2/07/2006)
Yeah, my third article posted! I for one think the Fairlane is exactly what Ford needs.It is a vast improvement over the freestyle and carries Fords new look over into the next generation. It has less the mommy look and more of an agressive look as well.
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Dave 10:31PM (2/07/2006)
I like it! As a sworn Japanese client (style, reliability, value), I'd take a close look if they kept mileage reasonable (25+) and prices in check (airbags, sunroof, leather, sat for 30k).
Hopefully by 2009.....
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Phil L. 10:51PM (2/07/2006)
One hope for the Fairlane, as a parent with 3 kids who want to go camping: Please give it a reasonable tow capacity.
Your average car guy probably doesn't know this, but Ford's Windstar/Freestar models have a good reputation with the popup camper towing set. The Freestar's beefy engine (and more important: redesigned transmission) were welcome additions, even while the rest of the minivan world seemed to ignore the Freestar in favor of the Sienna or Odyssey. RVers in Canada (where SUV's and pickups seem to cost more than in the US) even tow small hybrid trailers with the Windstar/Freestar.
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hatchback 12:41AM (2/08/2006)
OK, I'm not old enough to remember the original
Fairlane, but to me
the name will always remind me about Ford Fairline the movie http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0098987/ and Zuzu
Petals. As Ford Fairlane
put it himself: Conversation with Zuzu Petals was like masturbating with a cheese grater: slightly amusing, but mostly painful.
Ford has already done a similar kind of name re-use in
Europe. The Galaxie, a cool looking classic thingy - http://www.galaxieclub.com/ - was re-incarnated
as a mini mini-van http://www.ciao.co.uk/Ford_Galaxy_5080333_4 . OK that's Galaxie vs. Galaxy, but who cares.
Wonder what's next. The Ford Taunus pick-up or the Ford Festiva SUV?
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ev 5:36AM (2/08/2006)
that crap is ugly and most likely it will blow up when you hit it.
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St?ane Dumas 7:52AM (2/08/2006)
Jaymez, yes the Fairlane is still made in Australia as a stretched version of the Falcon http://www.ford.com.au/range/fairlane/models/
the Fairlane was also made in Argentina until 1981
http://jmiracing.tripod.com/cgi-bin/news.pl
http://fairlanemania.tripod.com/intro.html (these 2 sites are in Spanish)
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