Filed under: Sedans/Saloons, Ford, Mercury, Police/Emergency
Crown Vic prepares to give up its scepter
click above image to view more pics of the Ford Crown Victoria
According to Ford sources who gossiped to Ward's Auto, the Ford Crown Victoria won't be available on retail lots after 2008. From 2009, the only folks who can buy one are police and taxi drivers. Even that frontier is being threatened, with police departments snapping up Dodge Chargers and Chevy Impalas. New York's taxi fleet has to go hybrid by 2012, and Ford is pushing the Escape Hybrid to replace 2,500 Vics on Big Apple streets.
If you've got to have a full-sized rear-driver from the Blue Oval, the Mercury Grand Marquis will still be available. The Marquis is apparently much more popular with the public than the Vic, with nearly 38,280 Marquis' sold by dealers in the first nine months of this year. Compare that to the Crown Victoria, which moved 3,000 Vics to retail buyers in all of 2006. I guess this means we'll have to start looking out for Charger headlights in our rearview mirrors at night...
[Source: Wards Auto]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
compy386 8:24AM (11/01/2007)
I was under the impression this already happened.
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tanooki2003 9:03AM (11/01/2007)
Yaaay Finally Ford NA is stepping in the right direction.
Death to the god awful panther platform has finally started. Maybe now they will come up with something at least modern within the 2 year span that will replace this ugly fat pig-mobile. This car, along with the Grand Marquis do not have a place in this universe anymore and should have been dead in 1999.
...Next on Autoblog News a mob, mostly consisting of senior citizens, of pro RWD, boat sized, turtle slow American sedan lynch group holding flaming torches flood the outside of Ford Motor Headquarters.
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LloydChiro 12:12PM (11/01/2007)
Turtle slow? Well, compared to the Charger it is. But compared to most of the econo-boxes out there, it's fast.
Besides, it's a sleeper. After buying my MGM Panther, I find that I can get away with multiform huliganisms like driving sideways on slick roads and passing other cars and I still don't stand out from the crowd.
Here's what Ford should do. They need to develop the platform, and not let it stagnate. Put in a modern engine and transmission. Tighten up the chassis and suspension. Refine it. I think it's a great package; it's body on frame just like the legendary Mercedes G-wagon. The G-Wagon is centuries old, but Benz has made it luxury, and it is a cult car.
Will 9:08AM (11/01/2007)
Glad the Grand Marquis is staying around because in my opinion it is still the best full-size sedan on the market today. Thats to bad for the Crown Vic it a pretty nice car to but can't say that I will miss it..
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Igor Holas 9:15AM (11/01/2007)
welcome to 5 months ago ..
the 08 Crown Vic is fleet only and was removed from the fordvehicles.com at the beginning of the summer.
GM and TC will continue to be offered through retail for a couple more years. CV and TC will definitely continue to be produced at least for fleets until the new RWD sedans come online between 2010 and 2012.
Igor
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Jerk Face 9:17AM (11/01/2007)
I had to drive a Grand Marquis as a rental when my car was in the shop and I hated every second of it. I can't believe people still buy these things!
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geo.stewart 9:51AM (11/01/2007)
its all about what you want.
its not my cup of tea either, but neither is the camry, accord, corolla,...
I can see where it would be appealing though. full size, bulletproof, cheap to maintain, and there are enough baby boomers on up who want that feel.
put into perspective. 40K cars a year is 8x the no of challengers being put out next yr.
that's 2x jaguar sales
thats 1/2 of audi sales
= Mini sales
= saab sales
=porsche sales
Jared 9:50AM (11/01/2007)
I drove a Grand Marquis rental car last year. I can't believe they get people to actually buy this piece of junk. The interior sucked. Quality control was poor (rubber sealing was pulling away from one of the doors). Interior room is relatively poor for so large a car. Performance and handling were a joke.
Put a fork in the Panther platform. It's done.
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Sam 10:01AM (11/01/2007)
damn, i always liked Ford having a car from the 1970s in the showroom.
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Gavin 10:22AM (11/01/2007)
All this means is that more oldies will be buying more Camrys...I swear, every time I'm out on the road I'm stuck behind a Q-tip doing 25 mph in a Camry. Never truer a slogan was uttered when the ad said: 'The Car in Front is a Toyota'!
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Yggdrasilly 10:31AM (11/01/2007)
I took my driving tests in a Ford LTD, back in the 70's. It was a little scary: looking out over the vast, windswept expanse of the hood, I expected to see a brace of F-14s poised on smoking catapults: gentlemen, there are MiGs in the area...
I flunked the first time--parallell-parking did me in. To this day I can't imagine how anyone managed to back one of those things into a parking space.
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TriShield 10:57AM (11/01/2007)
This car should have been killed or redesigned 15 years ago. It is easily one of the worst new cars on the market in every respect.
We would be better served if the Australian Ford Falcon and Fairlane were sold here instead, and if that had happened years ago when the BA came out.
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Dan Roth 12:16PM (11/01/2007)
It _WAS_ redesigned 15 years ago. And then again in '98-99 (I think).
The '92 Vicky was a huge improvement over the earlier Panther cars. The Crown Victoria is NOT a performance car, but it's relatively bulletproof, relatively expensive to maintain, has a huge trunk and is roomy. Of course, the Taurus/Sable are actually better cars, with slightly more interior volume, but they're also more expensive to build and buy. The Panther is a bargain if it's what you're looking for.
Justin 11:12AM (11/01/2007)
Damn, I was hoping/wishing ford would be able to update the interior and drivetrain and tweak the styling. I saw one (on streetfire I believe) with the 5.4 S/C with a slightly cowled hood and better wheels, and I've been in lov ever since!
The ultimate sleeper, yet big, comfortable, rwd, and v8.
And no, I'm 20.
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Daniel Cowan 9:53PM (11/02/2007)
Justin,
You've proven that I am not crazy. I am 21, and since the 300 came out in 2005, I have been rooting for the underdog. Aging platforms don't mean better cars, but the low key idea of all 3 cars is what I like about them. If they do get rid of all of the cars, the names should live on somewhere down the road. The Town Car is still of course the standard in american luxury. Justin, if it did have a 300 horsepower engine, like with the Matauder with 302, it would be able to have a fighting chance. I know someone that has 2004 Marauder, the last year. The family hasn't mentioned any problems. I will say that the back seat does not have as much room as the new Taurus and Sable. However, the gangsters get a hold of these cars like they did with the 80s buicks and 90s Caprices and Impalas, and the age group may not have such an old fanbase. We'll see if they can be like the movie with Queen Latifah and soup them up. We shall wait and see.
That One Person 5:18PM (11/03/2007)
I know what car you are talking about. Sweet ride.
The problem with the 5.4L is that it isn't an easy fit. But I think if Ford spent some money on the Panther platform, a 350hp 5.4L would be great and maybe have the 300hp 4.6L as a base engine.
There was an article in C/D (I believe) that featured a propane powered V-10 CV. Pretty wicked.
Bob-omb 11:13AM (11/01/2007)
The only reason the Crown Victoria is relatively reliable is because they've made tiny improvements over 20 years instead of introducing new technology. Also, the car's not exactly safe in crash tests. A Honda Fit does better in a side crash.
Gee. A Big Three automaker took one of their best selling cars and never updated it for a decade. They've never done THAT before, have they?
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Brian Dreggors 12:00PM (11/01/2007)
*coughCOROLLAcough*
dan 11:25AM (11/01/2007)
In factory trim, Marquis and CV alike are bingo yachts that would make most of us sea sick. But the platform is just a stiffer set of shocks and 3V heads away from being a very nice car.
Go drive a used Marauder some time and tell me that's the worst car sold in America and should have died in 1999. That wasn't a nice car for a 20 year old platform, it was a nice car period.
It wasn't worth $35,000, and it wasn't marketed at all, so of course nobody bought one - but as a $3,000 Ford sport package and not a $15,000 model name change no one ever heard of that was only available in the geezer showroom it would have been a real hit.
Ford doesn't have the first clue about building what people want.
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M Bell 5:25PM (11/01/2007)
Excellent point. I have driven far more Vickies than I care to admit: this part of Canada seems to be where RCMP Vickies go to auction, and they sell for really cheap, so they're commonly bought by university kids who need something with space to haul their stereo equipment back and forth to university, along with that one pot and pan they borrowed from mom.
On the other hand, as a fan of the 94-96 Impala SS, I was excited to see the Marauder, and went to test-drive one when they managed to get two on a local small-town Ford lot. The dealer kept trying to talk me into a Mustang, and seemed nervous of what I'd think of the Marauder, but I really enjoyed it. It had a smooth ride, but was still taut around corners. Power was plentiful and easy to access, with none of the weary loading of the transmission so inherent in the Vickie. (You know, that 3 second roar of the engine before the car moves when you stomp on the gas to pass...)
Yes, it's old; yes, it's outdated; yes, it's probably past its prime. But even recent automotive history is riddled with examples of vehicles that survived for decades on the same platform. The Bentley Arnage still springs to mind. Last year they threw a new transmission in that car, and CAR magazine said it suddenly became nimble(-ish) and youthful(-ish) again!
That was part of why the Marauder appealed to me; if anything went wrong, I could repair most of the parts on that car for a fraction of the cost of a tune-up on my Mercedes. The platform itself isn't bad; it's how it's currently being used that is the problem.