http://www.autoblog.com/2006/10/13/what-if-ford-had-made-all-the-right-moves/ Autoblog Comments for What if... Ford had made all the Right Moves http://www.autoblog.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://www.autoblog.com en-us Copyright 2008 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://www.autoblog.com/2006/10/13/what-if-ford-had-made-all-the-right-moves/http://www.autoblog.com/2006/10/13/what-if-ford-had-made-all-the-right-moves/Oct 13th 2006 8:10PMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2006/10/13/what-if-ford-had-made-all-the-right-moves/http://www.autoblog.com/2006/10/13/what-if-ford-had-made-all-the-right-moves/Oct 13th 2006 8:13PMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2006/10/13/what-if-ford-had-made-all-the-right-moves/http://www.autoblog.com/2006/10/13/what-if-ford-had-made-all-the-right-moves/Oct 13th 2006 8:20PMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2006/10/13/what-if-ford-had-made-all-the-right-moves/http://www.autoblog.com/2006/10/13/what-if-ford-had-made-all-the-right-moves/Oct 13th 2006 8:24PMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2006/10/13/what-if-ford-had-made-all-the-right-moves/http://www.autoblog.com/2006/10/13/what-if-ford-had-made-all-the-right-moves/
In the final analysis, until the quality and reliability are equal to Toyota or Honda, looks and performance can't save any U.S. auto manufacturer. My 81 Lynx died with 30K on it when the timing belt broke and killed the engine. My 86 Ranger lost its transmission at 100K, at a cost of $2K to replace. Now, why am I supposed to buy these cars???]]>Oct 13th 2006 8:29PMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2006/10/13/what-if-ford-had-made-all-the-right-moves/http://www.autoblog.com/2006/10/13/what-if-ford-had-made-all-the-right-moves/
That said... if only things were the way you write about them. I think the key right now is rear wheel drive. One thing that was overlooked was that development costs could have been spread out with Jaguar, perhaps the S-Type. This would have been a much more successful use of this asset than the short lived rebirth of the thunderbird.]]>Oct 13th 2006 8:29PMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2006/10/13/what-if-ford-had-made-all-the-right-moves/http://www.autoblog.com/2006/10/13/what-if-ford-had-made-all-the-right-moves/Oct 13th 2006 8:30PMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2006/10/13/what-if-ford-had-made-all-the-right-moves/http://www.autoblog.com/2006/10/13/what-if-ford-had-made-all-the-right-moves/
I woulld also add a new Mustang based, retro style Mercury Cougar. As it was 40 years ago this would be an up-scale version of the RWD Stang and it would now compete with the G35, IS350, and BMW 3 series.

I would also produce the REFEX with Bio-Diesel Hybred - 65 MPG. They would not be able to produce these fast enough to meet demand!

Ford just needed to up-date the RWD Lincoln LS - it was a great car and with a freshening it could easily go up against the BMW 5 series and the GS300/400 class.

Ford really just needs to got for it with in-your-face American bold styling (as in the 427 concept) and not water down the products as to not offend anyone.

Also - all of these products should be offered with a reasonable choice of engines (small-medium-large). They should also be offered with Bio-Diesel Hybrids that get 60 MPG to over 80 MPG.

Ford would be making a lot of $$$$$. Let's hope they are able to find the one thing they have been missing for a couple of decades - and that is PASSION, PASSION, PASSION for great cars!!!! ]]>Oct 13th 2006 8:40PMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2006/10/13/what-if-ford-had-made-all-the-right-moves/http://www.autoblog.com/2006/10/13/what-if-ford-had-made-all-the-right-moves/Oct 13th 2006 8:42PMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2006/10/13/what-if-ford-had-made-all-the-right-moves/http://www.autoblog.com/2006/10/13/what-if-ford-had-made-all-the-right-moves/Oct 13th 2006 8:48PMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2006/10/13/what-if-ford-had-made-all-the-right-moves/http://www.autoblog.com/2006/10/13/what-if-ford-had-made-all-the-right-moves/Oct 13th 2006 8:54PMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2006/10/13/what-if-ford-had-made-all-the-right-moves/http://www.autoblog.com/2006/10/13/what-if-ford-had-made-all-the-right-moves/Oct 13th 2006 9:07PMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2006/10/13/what-if-ford-had-made-all-the-right-moves/http://www.autoblog.com/2006/10/13/what-if-ford-had-made-all-the-right-moves/Oct 13th 2006 9:13PMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2006/10/13/what-if-ford-had-made-all-the-right-moves/http://www.autoblog.com/2006/10/13/what-if-ford-had-made-all-the-right-moves/
You've also neglected to mention other small cars on offer from Ford: the European, Fiesta-based Fusion, the C-Max (a Focus on stilts, as to call it an MPV would be false advertising, of sorts), and the S-Max, at a stretch. It's a seven-seater, but not in the true sense the way the Galaxy is.]]>Oct 13th 2006 9:17PMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2006/10/13/what-if-ford-had-made-all-the-right-moves/http://www.autoblog.com/2006/10/13/what-if-ford-had-made-all-the-right-moves/
The Chrysler 300 has little staying power due to it's limited appeal. It sold well early in it's cycle but is now fading fast. So building the 427 would not have been a remedy for Ford. Additionally, police departments and taxi companies are not the only ones that buy the Crown Vic, lots of seniors still buy them.

And enough with the Euro version of the Focus please! Ford is right by simply freshening the design of the Focus instead of wasting money importing the Euro Focus, because the euro Focus looks so similar to the current Focus that the average person isn't going to know the damn difference. The currenet Focus is the only car that Ford sells that provides the combination of low price/good mileage/good handling/good reliability. (even Consumer Reports recommends the car). Ford should have spent more advertising dollars promoting the Focus and stressing these great qualities in the car.

Lastly, they should never have killed off the Taurus. It was once the best selling car in America and even when it wasn't it still had major name recognition with consumers, and was periodically recommended by CR. What they needed to do was keep improving it's quality and give it a less offensive design.]]>Oct 13th 2006 9:18PMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2006/10/13/what-if-ford-had-made-all-the-right-moves/http://www.autoblog.com/2006/10/13/what-if-ford-had-made-all-the-right-moves/
And you failed to mention the Charger, which has actually INCREASED in sales. It is selling more per month than it did in the last six months of '05.

Therefore the 427 would have been a hit for Ford. Sheesh, DCX is well on its way to selling over 220,000 LX cars this year. How is that a failure? ]]>Oct 13th 2006 9:27PMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2006/10/13/what-if-ford-had-made-all-the-right-moves/http://www.autoblog.com/2006/10/13/what-if-ford-had-made-all-the-right-moves/
Do a Google search and tell me you wouldn't love seeing it around.]]>Oct 13th 2006 9:41PMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2006/10/13/what-if-ford-had-made-all-the-right-moves/http://www.autoblog.com/2006/10/13/what-if-ford-had-made-all-the-right-moves/
Look at successfull Asian and European manufacturers. They develop models over decades to make them into icons. VW GTI, 3-series, C-class, Accord, Camry. These are badges which represent a certain segment and consitently delivery what the badges promise.

The Lincoln LS and the Taurus are the worst examples of lack of continuity. Here, by all accounts, were two great cars that were killed of because? No one knows, but all the $$$$ spent on building up those badges have been lost.

If a customer, buying a new car every 3-4 years, has to re-educated themselves about your model lineup, they'll just go elsewhere.

Chris.]]>Oct 13th 2006 9:43PMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2006/10/13/what-if-ford-had-made-all-the-right-moves/http://www.autoblog.com/2006/10/13/what-if-ford-had-made-all-the-right-moves/
Ford is in a position where it has to take some design risks. Sure, 300C was a rather short lived fad, but it still brought people back into Chrysler's show rooms and gave the company a chance to re-capture the market and spark interest in the Magnum and Charger. The Mustang helps, but Fords needs more than one interesting car (two if you count the Edge).]]>Oct 13th 2006 9:50PMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2006/10/13/what-if-ford-had-made-all-the-right-moves/http://www.autoblog.com/2006/10/13/what-if-ford-had-made-all-the-right-moves/
otherwise... great article.

and yea, while DCX was releasing cars that resembled their concepts, ford was throwing out concepts as design studies... the only thing i saw with the 427 concept that made it unrealistic was the V10 (and they easily couldve tuned the triton V10 for a SVT 427). Ford retooled the crown vic recently, significantly strengthening the frame... they couldve adapted the 427 concept in that retooling, and still called it a crown victoria.

Ford also could get more street cred for the lincoln brand. the navigator was popularized by hip hop culture, why not try and make the other lincolnc "cool"? Worried about alienating the classic towncar/conti crowd? they don't watch mtv anyway. (and if they do, they want a Navi with 24's). The Lincoln LS from most accounts was a very competant car, just was never pushed well in marketing. Oneof the best commercials for a car ever was for the Mark VII that couldnt make it under the bar when it idled, but at highway speeds, it slipped under it (was an ad for lincolns speed sensitive suspension, and it for the late 80's mark series coupe). aside from the navigator with the dancing automated movement bits, i cant remember any other licoln commercials... caddy on the other hand has had quite a few.

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