Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General General if only Ford were the same as VW....

I'm not easily offended so it's ok
I agree about the Miata. You can definitely create a whole new market. I think the early GTI is another fine example of creating a market with an established vehicle type. Who thought you could make a performance compact hatchback successful? But, my example previously shows the choices that have to be made when deciding which product course follow. I feel the SVT Focus was a great direction for us, and it feels good to see it ranked highly, and in most cases highest in it's class by almost every major magazine.

Well, on the GT-40, I'll withhold judgement on Ford's path until I see more. There's obviously upcoming product I'm unaware of (which better include a sports sedan)!

Competitive examples: Specialty coupe is the class the last generation Thunderbird is in. Current competition is the Monte Carlo, Grand Prix, Solara, Accord Coupe, Sebring, off the top of my head. I see no comparable model in any of Ford's brands.

Sporty coupe: I'll give the Cougar as presence, but it needs ponies [which are easily available, but noone will do it! (SVT 2.5L or a 3.0L)]. However, I think Ford should have a car here too. Current market is Tiburon, Celica, Prelude, Eclipse, and Stratus R/T coupe.

Entry mid-size: This is the late Contour's class. I'll grant the Mazda 6 as an entry, but that's too far of a stretch to say Ford has one. Examples include Sebring sedan, Stratus sedan, Grand Am, Alero, Galant, Optima, Sonata, Leganza, and the current 626.

Economy car: This is the late Aspire's class. It's made a major comeback with models like the Echo, Rio, Accent, and Lanos.

Sorry to be so lengthy, but you did ask for examples.

On choosing vehicles: First, you'd have to prove to me that I can't do both. People like to throw out items as mutually exclusive that really aren't. I would look long term in making my decision, not just in terms of what would make money now, but what would cultivate the greatest profits in the long run. That said, I would need to see actual figures before I made a decision, if there was 100% absolutely no way I could do both (which I don't believe to be the case. Ford has a lot of loose cash and commercial paper credit available on their balance sheet, people they're laying off that could engineer and build the cars, plant space to build the cars lying idle...).

That's what I meant by a "how do we make this happen" attitude versus a "we can't do it" attitude.

I think there was a communication lapse in the last part. What I meant by a ready market is that people are already expecting to find these vehicles at their local Ford dealer, and are aware of the new product. I barely heard about the SVT Contour before I bought one, and I am a total car enthusiast. To quote you, a entry-mid-size sports sedan "has a strong potential in it's class, [and] has an obvious customer". It just needs some advertising to make that obvious customer aware that this product exists so they can hightail it to the Ford dealer and buy it.

I think this class of car has a strong potential to create Ford customers out of people who would never think of stepping into a Ford dealer.

Maybe I'm just nostalgic for the days when Ford did this... think the mid 1990's when there was the Escort GT, Probe GT, Mustang GT, Mustang Cobra, Thunderbird SC, Contour SE, Taurus SHO... a broad range of enthusiast cars for a broad range of enthusiasts.

Or for the mid 1980's when Ford had great ad campaigns... "Have you Driven a Ford, Lately", "Mustang Kind of Day", "Taurus for Us"...

Sorry to ramble, but it's the cars that Ford made while I was growing up and the ads that made me a Ford fan. I grew up in a Chevy family.

Maybe some one cn help me withthis but Ford has said it will stick to its guns introducing twenty new modles over the next three years! we have already seen a few with many more to come.

I couldnt agree more that we need some more cars at Ford but I thinkthey are on the right path!

I think some of the bad feelings directed towards Ford stems from the fact that many CSVT owners feel abandoned and unimportant to Ford/SVT. The Contour is the black sheep of the SVT Family. But I really feel it was not Fords fault. Lets think about when the CSVT was released and what other cars were around. Obviously BMW and Audi had their 3-series and A4s respectively, but I don't remember any WRXs or IS300s running around. My point is that at the time the CSVT matched or exceeded the performance of the European sedans for thousands less. What it lack3ed in interior refinement it made up for in pure driving pleasure. Unfortunately, except for the 4000-5000 people on CEG, the general public wasn't buying and therefore in few years neither were we (meaning we couldn't)
We are a strange group of enthusiasts. We don't fit into the SVT Focus crowd, too ricey, but we also don't fit into the Cobra camp, not sophisticated enough. Therefore we feel alieniated and must turn to other manufactures for our business.
My question for Troy is as follows: What vehicle do you have for me that will compete with the BMW or Audi in the same way the CSVT was able to? Unfortunately, unless you start importing ST220 Mondeos you don't have a vehicle that will compete.

Thanks

Andy

I would be surprised if an SVT Crown Vic flew given the Mercury Marauder is destined to fill that market niche already, but hey, that's just me.

I would love to see a Taurus with a nice 6 speed Manual and about 300 horsepower. GTP fighter yeah? The focus is a decent car, but much uglier than the ZX2 or even the last body style 4 door escort.

Yeah, that's where Ford made a bad choice to copy Volkswagen. They lured away that HOC Head Designer when he shouldn't even be allowed to design a headlight switch.

New Beetle- ugly, Passat - ugly, Jetta - Ugly, Focus - ugly, ZX3 - almost Aztek ugly.

So that's where that ugly design came from...

Troy:
I'd like to see something in the low to mid 20k/under 30k range to compete (a good blend of performance, handling, build quality, etc.) with vehicles such as:

Subaru WRX
Acura RSX Type-S
VW Jetta 1.8T
VW VR6
Pontiac Grand Am GT
Dodge Neon SRT
Nissan 350Z
Nissan Altima 3.5
etc. etc.

I'm not saying any of these cars are great - each has drawbacks/deficiencies in my book. With the exception of the Mustang, what does Ford have to offer to compete with these vehicles?

Excuse me for dragging up an old thread, but...

I think the best thing Ford can do to replace the CSVT is exactly what they ARE doing, according to certain rumours... and that is to bring over the Ford Mondeo as a Ford or Mercury product.

Of course, what Ford ISN'T doing is also important. The rumours state that if/when (2004) the car is imported as a replacement for the Sable, that it would have a standard Duratec -- 220HP 3.0L V6.

What Ford should do, IMO, is try to keep up. That is, with Nissan, VW, Honda and the like in squeezing as much HP out of it's displacement as possible. 5V per cylinder (Audi/VW), VTEC (Honda), dual-stage mufflers (Nissan) and the like. Be as efficient as possible.

There's not one reason why a normally aspirated 3.0L V6 can't be pushing 240HP. That may be the peak, but... that's the peak and that's where automakers are supposed to be aiming... because that's what I, the consumer, buy. I want quality and I know quality when I see it.

I want power, performance... responsiveness, quick handling... comfort, luxury... and I want good fuel economy, practicality. Yes, in that order. These opinions do not reflect the majority of American consumers, but they DO reflect a certain, very LARGE niche market called "Sports Sedan Enthusiasts". Those of us who love S4s, M3s, M5s, the easy tunability of the 1.8T and the AMG C-Class.

The only reason I OWN a Ford is because there was once an SVT Contour. Oh, and on the subject of advertisement... I had never heard of the SVT Contour until I started to research the car market... a lot. I never saw a magazine ad, I never saw a commercial (not even for the standard Contour) and when it was advertised, it was advertised by local dealers as "cheap transportation." That's just ALL WRONG. Oh well, water under the bridge and a big mistake, huh, Ford? :p

Eh. Someone just get me the Mondeo or at least a supercharged Mazda Six and then maybe I'm still in the Ford family. Otherwise, Audi, BMW, VW, here I come.

.RMk..