[Shotimes] Sorta OT: Ford to replace Taurus with Futura

[colin cooney]

It has ALWAYS amazed me how disconnected the dealerships are to Ford. But 
its gotten WORSE over time. I guess that in some way reflects Ford's 
collective happiness to be in the No. 2 spot. Safe, perhaps reliable, 
incredibly stifled, and lacking in forethought. Until the market demands it. 
My Dad worked on the Windstar for a while and actually sat in meetings where 
people said there was no need for a driver side rear door, until the Caravan 
had completely dominated the market. Then when they were spicing up the 
Windstar a few years later, they had gotten ok on 17" rims for the Windstar, 
however the tires then rubbed the suspension components. This was like 2 
months after the Explorer tires thing, and people in the meeting were 
suggesting that they just stonewall the obvious problem and take their 
chances. Unbelievable!

One big question mark : where has Ford trimmed their profits from? When the 
Sho was debilitated, I started driving - yep, an 02 Focus ZX5, and I've been 
looking over some of those websites.It's a solid little car, BUT the front 
brakes are a gamble, its obvious they are a liability and a moneytrap for 
non-DIY people, the windscreen just developed a phantom crack from nothing. 
I swear, I can remember something that looked like an airbubble in the 
windscreen all winter, and when the temperature went up on Saturday I walked 
out to a 9 inch crack across the driver's side. It's got an automatic, (not 
my call) and the shift into 2nd is obvious, like you are a puppy that just 
wet the carpet obvious.

I know its a hit in Europe, but I wonder if the workforce in the states is 
up to the tolerances demanded by this European design? And if they can 
manage it, what extra steps have Ford taken to insure a profit?

The Mondeo (Contour/Mistake) was extremely popular (car of the year) in 
Europe, then production started in KC, changes were made by Ford executives 
who #1 didn't believe anyone in the US wanted a car with European styling 
(duh, take a look at BMW and Mercedes) and #2 then proceeded to lower Taurus 
& sable sticker price by 2grand during the month of the North American 
launch. Everybody who was looking for a Tempo/Topaz replacement decided to 
stretch and get a Taurus/Sable, and Ford declared the Contour a break even 
car, then proceeded to discount it in later years.

Remember when the 87 Mustang GT 5 liter came out? AAgh! I received my 
license in the mail the day my dad got a red/titanium with t-tops from a guy 
who needed our Aerostar. I didn't even understand why they were putting a 
hot engine in a Taurus in 88, until my Dad used the term "sleeper". The 
T-Bird SuperCoupe was awesome, even knowing the front struts would need to 
be replaced , of course I didn't have any income at the time. Even the 85 
Tbird Turbo Coupe was bad ass, compared to the Capri and the Escort, until 
the Escort GT of 86 that is.

Ford trucks, of course, Rock, but cars like I mentioned put the average 
buyer back in the "Chin music " game. Until some of those cars came out all 
I heard about growing up was Corvette and Trans Am. But people got excited 
to go LOOK at a Ford, my 16 year old friends and I did, alot. Don't even get 
me started on the Maclaren conversions.

Piddly little offerings of "special vehicle team " cars do more to scare me 
personally, because I hear about basic cars that my niece and my nephews are 
riding in having basic mechanical and soundness faults. I frankly wonder why 
the Atlanta plant wasn't studied in depth to plumb the depths of the success 
of the SHO. I'd be willing to bet some of it had to do with the people who 
were building them. I'd bet that a high percentage of them would have 
actually liked to own one. Not like Dagenham where you got to churn out 
Fiesta after Fiesta.

The Futura looks pretty dim to me, it looks like a wannabe Buick or , gasp 
OLDS.





>From: "Josh Salaets" <jsalaets@msn.com>
>To: "Ron Porter" <ronporter@prodigy.net>,   "Bruce Malachuk"  
><bmalach1@nycap.rr.com>, <shotimes@autox.team.net>
>Subject: Re: [Shotimes] Sorta OT: Ford to replace Taurus with Futura
>Date: Wed, 16 Apr 2003 22:47:35 -0700
>
> > IMHO, any special models will all be SVT-type models in the future, with
> > only SVT-certified dealers handling them. And no SHOs.....as I said, SHO 
>=
> > Edsel in the dealers' minds.
>
>Rumor has it that Ford is going to start allowing all of their dealers to
>begin selling the SVT Focus.  I don't know if this is a good move or not.
>On one hand, dealers can't use the excuse that they are the only 
>"certified"
>dealer around to mark up their prices, while on the other hand, the car 
>will
>fall into dealerships that have less knowledge about the car than SVT
>dealers, and SVT dealers don't know next to nothing.
>
>One sales guy that apparently knew "all there is to know about the car" 
>said
>it has a real nice 5-speed.  I had to remind him it was a 6-speed.  Another
>one said that I might as well buy a ZX3 before the SVTs were available,
>because there wasn't much difference, and the SVTs would be very hard to
>come by.  Funny, since now the dealers can't GIVE them away! : )
>
>Josh Salaets
>95 SHO MTX (See it at: www.cardomain.com/id/sh0gun)
>85 Omni GLH-T (Yeah, it's fast)
>NWSHOC Member
>Eugene, OR
>_______________________________________________
>Shotimes mailing list
>Shotimes@autox.team.net
>http://www.team.net/mailman/listinfo/shotimes


_________________________________________________________________
STOP MORE SPAM with the new MSN 8 and get 2 months FREE*  
http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail