Ford did a lousy job of marketing the car. Every American and Japanese car company periodically cranks out some mediocre car and then tries to convince everybody that it's a BMW 3-series fighter. Then Ford actually accomplishes the feat, and never bothers to tell anyone about it!
Furthermore, the Contour did not match mainstream American tastes very well. There are two primary types of car buyers:
-People who want an appliance for comfortably getting from point A to point B. The Contour didn't fare well because it was cramped, had an unproven reliability record, and was fairly expensive for its class.
-People who want a prestigious and/or cool-looking car. To these types it doesn't matter if the Contour could blow the doors off a ZO6 and had the interior of a Maybach. It's a 4-door Ford, 'nuff said.
