Friday, February 23, 2007

Lincoln comments on the new Taurus

What if Abraham Lincoln came back and told Ford what he really thought?

Man, what have to guys done to Ford and Lincoln. I mean, Lincoln used to be a great presidential ride (JFK: yeah, though did it have to be a convertible??) It was a leader only a decade ago and now it's an also-ran joke. You guys know know how to kill every best selling nameplate you have. What have to done to the Focus? A freaking restyle when everybody else as redone their platform? You've got world class Mazda 3 that you could rebadge as a Tracer or Bobcat, and the European Focus! Did any company regain leadership by cutting costs? Econoline E-series is in the top 20 seller, but has anything been done to it? Ranger, what's the point in killing off another top seller after Taurus and Windstar? Can't they reconfigure a Ranger out of an explorer or something? They make a terrific new truck in Thailand, and a killer sport-ute why not bring that over?

What's been done for the Crown Victoria/ Town Car? Sure the 500/Taurus is a bigger slower Volvo, but how many Volvos do Americans buy? Do you think the taxi cabs or cops will ever buy those cars? Bring over the Australian Falcon, and sell it as a Mercury Cougar and Ford Thunderbird. Sell the longer aussie LTD and Fairlane as a fleet police and taxi vehicle, and continental. It's got more horsepower and it's shorter, and you'll keep the Australian factories working, since the market over there is in decline.

And who's idea was it to engineer the Freestyle (now that's a dumb name) when the Mazda CX-9 is a much better vehicle? Why do the Edge and Cx-7 have completely different bodies? Who was the idiot who though renaming the Windstar (which everybody heard of ) to the Freestar would increase excitement and sales when the Toronto paper said it would be the Ford Fiasco and consumers would be confused? Any wonder it died off in two years, especially since the facelift was completely outclassed by all 3 new japanese and 2 new Korean full-length minivans? Didn't anybody know that the Chevy C-name were stupid too (Celebrity? Ugh.)


The Fusion is still a stupid name (though less stupid than Futura). Why not bring back the Torino to compete with the Charger and Malibu?

Who's idea was it to leave Mercury with no cars to appeal to anyone under 50? Mercury used to have compacts and subcompacts back to the Comet and Bobcat - after the retirement of the Tracer, Mystique and Cougar, they had nothing smaller than the Sable to sell.

Who did they think they were kidding with the old aviator? Just like the Versaillees / Granada. At least Toyota changes the body for a lexus.

What's with the MK-whatever name scheme? Who the heck is going to remember any of those letters?

Import the new turbo MPV with lazy boy 2nd row as a Lincoln Villager. Do what chrysler did to plymouth and rebadge everything as a Lincoln, but make the cars nicer than Fords. Give Lincoln an Mx-9. Make a 4 seater Thunderbird , a 4 door continental out of a 4 door Mustang, and a MK? coupe like they used to do, or do a Lincoln-ized 500, but do SOMETHING. Put a V8 in the Taurus 500, god everybody else in the segment has a v8 or a V6 with V8 power.

And the Milan - change it to the Mulan to attract Asians away from Camry's and Accords.

No comments: