Well, I think it was a combination of things... Let's start with the dealers. They didn't really want the Contour, and didn't really know what to do with it. Remember the Tempo/Topaz? You and I may think it was a pretty crummy car, but they sold a lot of 'em. Halfway between the Escort and the Taurus in size, and halfway between the Escort and the Taurus in price. And that's what the dealers wanted- a nice little sedan halfway between the Taurus and Escort in size and price. Instead, when Ford replaced the Tempo/Topaz they ended up with the Contour/Mystique- almost as small as the Escort, and almost as expensive as a Taurus. You can bet the dealers weren't real happy about that... Strike one.
Now let's pretend you're a salesman at a Ford dealer trying to sell these things. You're probably pretty good at crunching the numbers and dealing with people, but you're probably not all that up on the mechanical stuff. After all, you're not selling BMW's... and most people coming into the Ford store looking for performance are going to be the Mustang type- brute force, rear wheel drive, sledgehammer horsepower. You might get a few looking at the SHO, but most of your car buyers (trucks are another story) are going to want a nice family sedan. And what are they going to see?
1) The back seat is TINY!
2) Stick shift? AAAAGHGHH! half of
these these things have STICK SHIFTS!!!!
My wife can't drive a STICK SHIFT! Show
me one with an automatic!
3) Damn, this thing rides like a TANK.
4) The cupholders SUCK! You've got to be
kidding me!
At this point, the salesman isn't real happy. He's well aware that this guy can go right down the street to the Chevy store.... he can just hear the Chevy guy telling the customer "Hey, look at this Malibu... Standard V6, automatic... power everything, cruise control... crushed velour interior, fancy trim... it's nice. It's BIGGER than that Contour... it's got a BIG back seat and it's a SMOOOTH riding car. And you know, we've got rebates now- I can put you in this thing for a couple thousand less than they wanted for that Contour.... Tell you what- if you want to buy today, I can make you a VERY nice deal on that one with the moonroof over there..." Of course, that Malibu is nowhere near the car mechanically that a Contour is... but you know what? Most American sedan buyers couldn't care less about stuff like four wheel vented disc brakes, close-ratio 5-speeds, chain driven overhead cams, 4-link independent supensions, whipping around a corner without even leaning... most of 'em don't even know the difference! But they sure know a big back seat, great cupholders, a nice stereo, and a spiffy interior with plastic wood and mouse-fur interior when they see it... and a bigger car for less money is just what they like. And you can bet the Ford salesman knows that. He may not know- or care- much about the mechanical stuff, but he's gonna be REAL knowledgable about what his customers like, or he's out of a job. So just like PackRat pointed out above, he's going to start talking the Taurus up. They had rebates on 'em, and the truth is he could put the customer into one for about the same as a Contour with a lot of options on it. And the Taurus is a pretty decent ride. I've got a 98 LX for my wife... and no, it's not the howling blast to drive that my V6 Contour SE is- but that's not what it's for. It's got a BIG back seat (the car seats 6 in a pinch), the front seats are REAL comfy, nice interior, good stereo, good cupholders, and- important here in America- it's got some size to it. BIG. HEAVY. Performance? No, not anything near what my Contour will do. But let's be fair- the Taurus does handle and steer a whole lot better than you'd expect out of a family car that size. The 3.0 six is tuned for torque down low and for a nice family car it does the job... it'll get out of it's own way from a stop, and it doesn't have any problem cruising at 80 on the expressway. Like I said- not nearly as much fun as the Contour, but not an unpleasant car to drive either. And they're gonna put Joe Sixpack and his wife and kids in the Taurus for about the same payment? Strike two for the Contour.
And then let's talk about marketing. You ever see a TV commercial for one of these? I can't remember any. I don't even remeber any magazine ads for these things, allthough I'm sure they had a few. I sure don't remember anything like-
"Hey, pal... you an adult? Want to go fast, but you don't to drive a high school kid's study hall fantasy? Tell you what... we'll trade you the mouse fur and the back seat and the plastic wood and the fake hood scoops and spoilers for a 4 wheel independent suspension, no lean in the corners, 4 wheel vented disc brakes, a close ratio 5-speed, and an all aluminum alloy engine with chain-driven overhead cams and 170 HP/165 ft-lbs torque in a car that doesn't weigh squat. And we'll do it for about the cost of a base Taurus! You in?"
You can bet that's the pitch the European car companies would have taken... If VW or SAAB had come out with these, they'd still be making 'em. Ford didn't even make much of an effort to market these. Strike three.
Then you come to the other issues. As gdub250, BrApple, PackRat and DemonSVT pointed out, there were issues with build quaility (especially early on, which is critical to launching a new car), depressed resale value (lots of base models to fleet sales didn't help here), and the SUV situation. Ford knows how to market SUV's, and they can make a lot more money using the production capacity to crank out SUV's based on the Countour floor pan and V6 engine- which is exactly what they're doing with the escape.
Any one of these factors would have been a real problem... put 'em all together, and they're more than enough to kill off a great ride that should have stayed in production.
