Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General General Why did Ford discontinue the Contours?

I thought the Escape was being built on the CDW27 platform?

I have to agree. I read from several sources that Contours were relatively expensive to build. In the US, smallish compact sedans were expected to have smallish prices. Thus, lower profit margins. Ford did a poor job early on of marketing its attributes as a sports sedan (the only domestic sports sedan) and concentrated on trying to cut costs by decontenting and lax QC which further hurts if you are going to market as a sports sedan, which was the (too late) SVT effort. I think the die was cast already. NEVER played up the fact that it was a German engineered, Jackie Stewart tuned, Porsche engined sedan that ran lap for lap with BMW & Audi.

The lessons learned were applied to Focus. Engineered to be cheap to build, market niche identified and agressively pushed (more advertisement/press on SVT Focus BEFORE IT CAME OUT than CSVT had during 4 years of life!)

The Escape is a Mazda designed platform. Not a "Tour SUV".

Ford expected the Contour to be a "home run" in 1995, and wanted to sell them for closer to MSRP without rebates. Same expectations for the 96 Taurus. When they didn't take off, Ford HQ gave up on them and pushed SUV's.

Excellent synopsis Dan, I agree.

all the reasons have been properly stated on why the 'tour aint tourin no mo....i see tons of contours now but during the years when the pre 98's were being produced i didn't hardly see any at all...and in soCal if no one's driving a certain type of car theres a good chance that it isn't selling very well overall

actually i've been aware of the contour for a yr or two before it initially went on sale and i loved it when it was previewed...reminded me alot of a baby t-bird....unfortunately when it came out, it still reminded me of a t-bird but i didn't think much of the bird by then and the contour looked old to me so i forgot about it...now that the o.g. contour IS old it looks great to me again

then one day i saw the new restyle on a shiny new black contour and i was in love....the newer one is what put the older back into my head...

now i see boatloads of contours....looks like they're selling better as used cars than it did as a new model

BECAUSE FORD HATES US !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Available in FAQ section on home page.

CDW27 Dead?

Hmmm, I doubt it. Especially if you include all the variants of the platform. They invested wayyy to many pesos to dump the whole thing now. The X-type uses "over 20%" of the contour. But ask a ford mechanic and he'll tell you that the 20% is almost 100% platform and the rest is all jag powertrain and interior/exterior. Next time you have a chance do to your local jag dealership and look to the underside. Take away the powertrain and you will see the tour staring right at you. Not to mention all the rumors and little factuals coming out that the Mondeo might actually be going to mercury. Check out the latest SCC, it has a artical all about it.

Don't get discouraged guys/gals there will be progress. I am anxious to see what happens modwise when the new stang goes to a duratec V6 setup rather than the old pushrod hunk O sheet..

GnuLoCo

I heard (back in '95) that Ford spent 6 Billion to bring them to the states. I believe Ford got two great engines (2L Zetec and 2.5L Duratec) out of it, but the high costs doomed it from the start, especially when you consider it cost Chrysler only 990 Mil to design the Cirrus/Stratus combo (though I wouldn't be caught dead in a Stratus). Irregardless, it seemed Ford killed the Contique even before they introduced 'em.

My thoughts exactly Tom.