Was the Contour such an embarassment for Ford?
I don't think the car was an embarassment....rather Ford and it's marketing. They had a great thing and they blew it. If the regular contour was seen as more thna a fleet rental car, the SVT would have been that much more popular. I remember someone saying...and hearing from an SVT employee himself, that probably the favorite car around the SVT offices is the SVT Contour. Lots of SVT and ford guys own them. I don't know why it is absent form that poster...for the same reason it was absent from the SVT website for a while.
Bottom line is, Ford has a chance to listen to their customers. The SVT Focus is a step in the right direction...but needs more HP. Handling is a great thing to focus on (no pun intended) but 0-60 times are what most people are looking for...including the younger buyers the focus is targeted at. Just look at how many people here are always talking about 1/4 mile times! The GT 40 will bring some change to the opinion of ford by the general public...but the cars that 99% of us can afford also need some design changes. The mustang and the focus can use some more oomph, the mustang can use some better handling. The Cobra is great...again though it's a straight line car. The SVT focus is almost there, but needs more go! The lightning...well...that's fine!
Bottom line is that Ford can either listen to what people want or unfortunatley it's customers are going to buy other people's cars.
