Wow -
Really a combination of reasons -
1. It was simply too small to sell as a true "family car" Which is how they marketed it originally, a "smaller" Taurus.
2. Once the sales were not there they never continued to develop the car, by comparison it is so much less well designed and engineered than some of the other choices in the price category. The only development that was done, was by SVT and they did not make very much money on them.
3. The market for small SUVs stole much of the thunder of the small sedan market. Ford went with their cash cow, SUVs, and ignored the fact that the car market would eventually come back into favor, as it is doing right now.
4. FORD2000 died! It went bang with a large thud and so did the CDW27 World Car platform with it. Politics, Profit and many other things are reasons that this came to pass.
Just one man's opinion. (mine!)
It is a shame really. The Contour could have been a success (sales wise) in the USA if it had been better built and not pitched at the "Blue Hair" market. It needed to be more of a fun car, in reality and perception. That is one of the reasons the Jetta is so successful, VW has always marketed it as a young and fun car. You always see a young attractive driver in it. How many times have you seen a Contique an aged driver in it. This is not the market where the volume is.
Just some ramblings
MLK
