Is Ford blind to history? - Thread - Urban Exploration Resource

Is Ford blind to history?

I see Ford making what would seem to be some pretty big missteps.

-Discontinuing the Mercury brand.

I hear some of you saying,
"Well why shouldn't Ford discontinue Mercury, you can't measure their market share without a magnifying glass, they barely advertise them and most of their line-up is pretty forgettable."

All of those things are true, but they shouldn't be. After GM's jettisoning of Oldsmobile, Saturn, and Pontiac, Ford was in a great position to go toe-to-toe with GM. Ford V. Chevy, Lincoln V. Cadillac, (more on that in a moment) and Mercury V. Buick.

Mercury should have been set to take on Buick's "Rebirth" and that's a fight I would have liked to have seen. Buick is redefining itself with bold new designs and concepts, even daring to compare itself to Lexus and Infinity on billboards. Weather or not those comparisons are justified really doesn't matter, it's that the new Buick felt it could reasonably make those claims that matters.

The new GM is having Buick lead the charge into the new horizons of entry-level luxury. Maybe this strategy will work out for GM/Buick, maybe it won't, but an aggressive new Mercury division should have been out there leading the charge too.

...but that Doesn't mean Ford doesn't have a plan to take on Buick.

-Repositioning Lincoln to take on Buick.

I knew about this before it was publicly announced, but here you go anyway.

"Derrick Kuzak, Ford's head of product development, said seven new or updated Lincoln product lines would be developed over four years to make up for Mercury's loss. One of these would be Lincoln's first compact car."

They've apparently given up on competing with Cadillac, and really why shouldn't they? Cadillac's return to glory in nothing short of amazing considering the depths to which Cadillac had fallen. Cadillac has firmly re-entered the world of global luxury. Between the V-series performance and Art and Science styling, well I could go on, but Cadillac is back. Where is Lincoln? The sad answer, over in the corner fighting with Buick.

-The end of the Panther platform, or RWD sedans in general.

Not to much to say here, Chrysler made this mistake in the late '80s GM in '96, now I guess it's Ford's turn. The Chrysler 300 and Dodge Charger both seem pretty popular, GM claims that due to overwhelming consumer demand the Fleet and now civilian Caprice will be back shortly.

"Fair enough you might say, but the Chrysler LX platform and the GM Zeta platform are a far cry from RWD platforms that were pulled all those years ago. The Ford Panther platform is now over 30 years old! Even with the tweaks like rack and pinion steering , and hydroformed chassis, it's just too old."

Once again even if that's true, the larger sin is not having a ready replacement. Not for us, but for the fleet market. Remember back to say 2002 or '03? Remember the distinct lack in abundance of the Dodge Intrepid, and Chevy Impala police packages and taxis? Yeah, they were around, maybe your city even had a good number of them, but not many cites did, and even fewer kept them. but for most of North America...

The Panther was ubiquitous, It's Crown Vic Interceptors patrolled almost every corner of the continent, it's Taxi package plied every major city, It's Town Car was the back bone of the livery vehicle industry. It's Grand Marquis made older folks feel less afraid of a rapidly changing world. (not technically a fleet use) Today those things are still true, but not for much longer.

At one time both Chrysler and GM thought that the Fleet market was a market they could do with out, and it ultimately cost them both dearly, but Ford seems not to have noticed.

-Discontinuation of the E-series (Econoline)

Once again Ford is to phase out a staple of the American road. The E-series has been the work horse and in some cases the very life-blood of too many industries to count, Contractors, plumbers, pipe-fitters, carpenters, shuttle companies, caterers, carpet-cleaners, the list goes on, not to mention their use as the platform for specialty vehicles such as RV‘s , and cut-away trucks.

The replacement Ford has in mind is the Ford Transit of Europe, a long established vehicle and one that admittedly seems fairly well respected in it’s home market. The Mercedes/Dodge Sprinter also seems to be a decent enough vehicle, but that doesn't mean it was a good idea to bring it to North America either. The Sprinter has a large variety of configurations and is even available with dual rear wheels, but with a base sticker of $12,000 over the E- series it just cannot compete in the price arena. If you want any thing beyond the base V-6 Sprinter you’d better be prepared to spend a lot more than $12,000 over a base Econoline.

Dodge/Freightliner/Mercedes can offer us a stripped down van, for a lot of money, and a loaded van for a lot more than that. What will Ford offer? Almost certainly lower horsepower, and towing capacity, for a lot more money, but like with the rest of these decisions, only time will tell.