I heard a disturbing rumor...

Stephan

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:Bang I heard that in 2007, the Town Car as we know it will be no more. The rumor goes on to state that Ford will be abandoning its RWD models in their entirety save for the Mustang and trucks. Does anyone know whether or not this is fact or fiction? I would certainly hate to see the Town Car disappear. It seems odd that Ford would abandon RWD when both Chrysler and GM are bringing it back. Anyway, any info you can share on this would be much appreciated.
 
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If it goes as I think it will, they will continue to move to the FWD platform with an AWD option. I just looked at the Mercury Montego that has the AWD setup. It would make more sense to me if it was an RWD platform with an AWD option but that is just me.
 
Stephan said:
:Bang I heard that in 2007, the Town Car as we know it will be no more. The rumor goes on to state that Ford will be abandoning its RWD models in their entirety save for the Mustang and trucks. Does anyone know whether or not this is fact or fiction? I would certainly hate to see the Town Car disappear. It seems odd that Ford would abandon RWD when both Chrysler and GM are bringing it back. Anyway, any info you can share on this would be much appreciated.
I don't know yet but the rumor might be true. They are thinking of putting the town car on the ford five hundred platform with a FWD or a AWD standard.
 
95CrownVictoriaP74 said:
Well from what I have read, Ford plans to keep the Crown Vic through 2010.....it would be stupid to kill off the Town Car if that is correct.
Man, I sure hope you're right.
 
ford hates lincoln... and they really hate selling cars.

my next car will be a 00-05 deville or a ls430.
 
Nakoa said:
ford hates lincoln... and they really hate selling cars.
I'm curious as to why you feel this way. I believe Ford is stumbling with Lincoln in trying to decide what they want it to be. Their core market, Baby Boomers like me, are dying out and the younger folks have been brought up on imports.

When I was a kid growing up, imports or "foreign cars" were just the little gas savinge puddle jumpers like the VW Beetle, the Renault Dauphine, and the occasional Jaguar. We didn't equate most imports with luxury cars like they do today.

I like a really large, RWD, luxo-boat, but I'm now in the minority and eventually Lincoln (Ford) will have to settle on a direction like Cadillac did and go for it.
 
jaguar is lincoln's worst enemy. That is Ford's luxo brand now. Lincoln is now GM's Buick.
 
CobraConti said:
jaguar is lincoln's worst enemy. That is Ford's luxo brand now. Lincoln is now GM's Buick.
I never thought of it that way before, but you may be onto something here. The only problem with Jaguars is their small size. I'm a big guy and like a large, heavy car. I guess I'll just have to buy the last new Town Car whatever year that is and drive it until the wheels fall off.
 
yeah the direction ford is taking lincoln is just terrible. at least lincoln is adding more cars to their line-up. but the sad thing is that, once the zephyr comes out and in a couple years, they are going to phase out the LS. so in reality lincoln is just going back to square one, with no sense of direction.
 
Funny you should mention that one of the top guys at the local dealership told me that hes heard that the boys in Detroit want to stop producing the towncar because they want to appeal to a younger market and you could tell he was pissed while saying that.
 
they can kill the towncar if they release the continental concept. =)
 
I don't really care as long as they beat even half of their Competitives. The acura TL has been a great seller and they need about the same preformance to compete the acura TL
 
The worst enemy of domestic brands is the perception that american cars are crap. I've talked to many people who are dead set serious against domestic companies. Despite that many of the lower end econo cars espically are now in many cases a colaboration of multiple companies. Or even many models even high end say for example daimler-chrysler. Or like gm with their honda engine or the mazda 2.3 in the focus. Many buyers are definatly not "car people" and do little if any research. I pointed out to one of my co-workers that the top three in jd power for 05 were porsche, lexus, lincoln. With some expensive imports like mini at the wrong end of the list. People call cars like lincolns old people cars but how many would rent a honda civic, or corolla limo? Its all about advertising and perception many buy on the statement a vehicle says for them. Like mini-vans now common used to be (hippie) VW mainly) pickups for construction, or country folks (now used as "family vehicles") And those "" huge cars used to be called muscle cars. Many buy not what they want but what they think is popular. While some do buy on need or research many are set before and aren't even disuaded after an unimpressive test drive. People are convinced that they need an import and you would have to pull a wallmart on the imports to unseat them from peoples minds. By this I mean to sell at a loss with a better or equal product to force out the competition, or to get your product out there. Like toyota losing 2K on each prius to get them out there. Car and driver did an awesome article addressing many issues. That the prius is the only big hybrid seller due to its look unlike the rest of the line (green image), not just a hybrid conversion, like honda does. They also address that the fuel econonmy of these hybrids are not meeting econ expectations if driven the same as before. That the battery capacity will decline as it ages and what to do when these battery packs are shot. Also the $4K->7K replacement cost of these mfg rated at only 100,000 miles. Now this isn't at 100% this is just a functional battery. But they continue to sell even though the prius they figured even with incentives would need to be driven at least 67,500 miles per year for 5 years vs a corolla or have gas prices over $10 a gallon to equal out the overall cost of ownership and upkeep. But its imported so its ok, they are stalling out at 35 & 65 mph but its imported so its under the rug. When the focus had a similar problem in its first US model year due to heat effecting a electrical componet I've still heard it being mentioned.
 
purelux said:
... Its all about advertising and perception many buy on the statement a vehicle says for them. Like mini-vans now common used to be (hippie) VW mainly) pickups for construction, or country folks (now used as "family vehicles")...

Man, did you hit the nail right on the head! I work with a young woman who really wanted a Mercury Sable, but ended up with Moutaineer because SUVs are "IN". She really doesn't like the Mountaineer, but bought one due to nothing more than peer pressure from her demographic.
 
This weeks Automotive News states that the new Lincoln will be a FWD vehicle with AWD option. May be manufactured in Atlanta. Several weeks ago they stated that Wixom may close in 2007. They stated that there are several Lincoln models being discussed. Also stated that the LS may be history. Automotive News is the industry publication that is usually the bible. Most likely correct.
 
purelux said:
The worst enemy of domestic brands is the perception that american cars are crap. I've talked to many people who are dead set serious against domestic companies. Despite that many of the lower end econo cars espically are now in many cases a colaboration of multiple companies. Or even many models even high end say for example daimler-chrysler. Or like gm with their honda engine or the mazda 2.3 in the focus. Many buyers are definatly not "car people" and do little if any research. I pointed out to one of my co-workers that the top three in jd power for 05 were porsche, lexus, lincoln. With some expensive imports like mini at the wrong end of the list. People call cars like lincolns old people cars but how many would rent a honda civic, or corolla limo? Its all about advertising and perception many buy on the statement a vehicle says for them. Like mini-vans now common used to be (hippie) VW mainly) pickups for construction, or country folks (now used as "family vehicles") And those "" huge cars used to be called muscle cars. Many buy not what they want but what they think is popular. While some do buy on need or research many are set before and aren't even disuaded after an unimpressive test drive. People are convinced that they need an import and you would have to pull a wallmart on the imports to unseat them from peoples minds. By this I mean to sell at a loss with a better or equal product to force out the competition, or to get your product out there. Like toyota losing 2K on each prius to get them out there. Car and driver did an awesome article addressing many issues. That the prius is the only big hybrid seller due to its look unlike the rest of the line (green image), not just a hybrid conversion, like honda does. They also address that the fuel econonmy of these hybrids are not meeting econ expectations if driven the same as before. That the battery capacity will decline as it ages and what to do when these battery packs are shot. Also the $4K->7K replacement cost of these mfg rated at only 100,000 miles. Now this isn't at 100% this is just a functional battery. But they continue to sell even though the prius they figured even with incentives would need to be driven at least 67,500 miles per year for 5 years vs a corolla or have gas prices over $10 a gallon to equal out the overall cost of ownership and upkeep. But its imported so its ok, they are stalling out at 35 & 65 mph but its imported so its under the rug. When the focus had a similar problem in its first US model year due to heat effecting a electrical componet I've still heard it being mentioned.
:I
 
theyre doin the same thing to the towncar as they did to the fleetwood.RIP.
 

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