[Shotimes] OT Ford's Future Plans for 500 and performance cars

[Tom Katana]

If I remember well, when they started talking about Ford 500, some big
cheese from Ford said that it would be based on new Mondeo platform. William
C. Ford Jr., why do you bother and spend money on developing another car
when you already have a finished product? Ford Mondeo is not perfect,
although most flaws have probably been ironed out, it's based now on an
all-new, redesign platform (supposedly Ford's first vehicle designed
digitally), it uses familiar Zetec and Duratec engines and (especially)
there is this 220hp version. Also, there are tons and tons of aftermarket
performance parts. It would be much cheaper to bring it up to american specs
than to design new car from the scratch. Mr. Ford, bring ST220 here and you
can also bring all the lesser versions of Mondeo (including 5-door and a
wagon). Some of us probably can't even imagine changing to a Contour, some
already own an SVT. I think we can't expect Ford (or any other car company)
to create a car with an engine dedicated to only that particular car like
SHO had. Having in my car an engine that no other car has is one of many
reasons I love my SHO. And so as much as I hate "it's better than nothing"
attitude I'd rather see this new Mondeo here now (or soon) than wait I don't
know for how long for a new, but questionable car. (I haven't had a chance
to try ST220 yet, but all descriptions and articles paint a picture of a
very exciting car.)  Whatever we can say about Europe, and in this case,
european drivers, they can, as we do, differentiate between good and bad
cars. And as far as I know, Mondeo, and all its souped-up versions like ST24
or ST200 have been extremely popular there. If Ford doesn't know how to do
it without loosing the face, well, instead of changing the name to Contour
(or Mystique) leave Mondeo name on - most of the public will probably not
even know the whole story.

Tom Katana




----- Original Message -----
From: "Fred George" <fgeorge@pacbell.net>
To: <shotimes@autox.team.net>
Sent: Thursday, October 17, 2002 16:22
Subject: [Shotimes] OT Ford's Future Plans for 500 and performance cars


> Read it and weep.  In Thursday's Wall Street Journal, "At Ford, Revamp
> Means Rebuilding Wrecked System" provides details of how the
> $162-billion Ford Motor Company went astray, suffered cost and quality
> control set-backs and ended up with a downgraded credit rating from
> Standard & Poors.
>
> Bottom Line?  Look for the firm to shave every last penny from
> production costs, mainly produce bread-and-butter products in the next
> decade and attempt to boost earnings per share. The implication is
> clear. Cost control is king; inpired engineering is out. Don't look for
> new high performance, specialty sedans, such as an SHO-inspired Ford 500
> or Taurus in 2004/05 from the cash strapped company.
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