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Ford is generous enough to send potential large sedan customers to Chevy and Dodge dealerships.Bingo!
It is called "Push Marketing", it will be a Fields legacy >
For Once and For All the CD4 Taurus is not Coming to the US
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Fields philosophy, if you don't want a truck or SUV phuck ya, see you later.
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There's no doubt large cars sales aren't as strong as they once were but there is potential there I think anyway. The only large car that offers a Hybrid as far as I know is the Avalon.. why is that? Ford could easily go in there and give them some competition. Also look how strong the Charger and 300 have been selling on an even older platform with incremental updates. It reminds me of the Ranger. Lets just leave it there with no updates and if it doesn't sell better then cut it.
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If the next gen Fusion was just a bit wider and a few inches longer, there would be no need for a larger sedan.
The Focus could then also be a bit longer and offer better room.
Yes, the Ranger died from lack of updates. The last one had the same interior as my 96' Explorer! It lead the market in sales (even nearing the end), and still sold well despite the lack of a model with rear seating. Ford saw the end of it early on. The platform could not meet new safety standards, and was end-of-life. I guess the decision to do something just slipped away as they did not have the money to solve all their problems.
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But then that asks could that alienate some customers? Some people don't want a larger sedan and if it grows too much they could get turned off.
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The Taurus had an interesting take on the large sedan because of the command seating position and tallish ride, but that didn't really come with a large interior. For me the latest Taurus/MKS were actually too small compared to the Fusion/MKZ just because there is no front legroom and the roof was too low. The original 500/Montego were better packaged for their SUV floorpan but they looked like depression on 4-wheels.
The Fusion interior is relatively small for the segment and part of that is the dramatic roofline and the influence of the European Mondeo. My guess is that like most vehicles in this segment, Ford needs to separate Fusion from Mondeo and redevelop it for the US market. But considering the shrinking state of the midsize market that seems less likely. Ultimately I think they could sell more Fusions if they had more freedom to develop to local tastes and budgets, but that may not be something that interests Ford anymore.
Building and selling cars really isn't a bottomless pit, Ford doesn't have unending flexible production capacity that can be flipped on a dime for changing trends so they aren't obligated to satisfy every possible customer. They have to be very strategic since margins are so tight, especially at Ford.
The Fusion interior is relatively small for the segment and part of that is the dramatic roofline and the influence of the European Mondeo. My guess is that like most vehicles in this segment, Ford needs to separate Fusion from Mondeo and redevelop it for the US market. But considering the shrinking state of the midsize market that seems less likely. Ultimately I think they could sell more Fusions if they had more freedom to develop to local tastes and budgets, but that may not be something that interests Ford anymore.
Building and selling cars really isn't a bottomless pit, Ford doesn't have unending flexible production capacity that can be flipped on a dime for changing trends so they aren't obligated to satisfy every possible customer. They have to be very strategic since margins are so tight, especially at Ford.
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Ford USA had the lead on the current Fusion/Mondeo design, so don't be blaming the Mondeo for the current Fusion/Mondeo's design.
If you look at the previous Mondeo interior size you will see that Ford USA design team shrunk the interior big time of the current Fusion/Mondeo interior.
It is not pleasant always reading this blame Ford Europe for the weakness of the Ford USA product.
If you doubt what I say come on over and sit inside the previous Mondeo and current Mondeo.
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afaik, the years leading upto^
were high profit years, no?
so no reasonable excuse during the end of the last millenium
"Over its 29-year production, the Ford Ranger was produced over the same chassis architecture. Alongside a major redesign in 1993, the model saw mid-cycle updates for 1989, and 1998...", wiki
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Hahah - looked like depression on 4-wheels. <--- hilarious
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When Explorer went to an independant rear suspension(2001?), I guess Ford had to let the Ranger soldier on by itself. They may have planned a new Ranger to come a few years later on a new truck platform allowing it to offer 4 doors and rear seats, but Ford sales tanked in the US over the next 4 or 5 years.
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Just some out loud thinking here...
The current Taurus has reportedly been extended to 2023. Now whether that is fleet/police only, we don't know. An update isn't out of the question, but very unlikely.
There are rumors that a new Lincoln will debut next decade that is supposed to slot above the Continental. What if that car is the Continental? No reason why the rumored coupe couldn't be a Continental coupe, either. This would give more breathing room between it and the MKZ. It also allows a new Taurus to enter the market and not take away Continental sales.
The current Taurus has reportedly been extended to 2023. Now whether that is fleet/police only, we don't know. An update isn't out of the question, but very unlikely.
There are rumors that a new Lincoln will debut next decade that is supposed to slot above the Continental. What if that car is the Continental? No reason why the rumored coupe couldn't be a Continental coupe, either. This would give more breathing room between it and the MKZ. It also allows a new Taurus to enter the market and not take away Continental sales.
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I believe the Taurus life extension was a fairly recent development and may be a clue to the lifecycle of the current Explorer since it would probably be unlikely that Taurus would continue alongside a next-generation Explorer.
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Or is it a case that Ford's large car buyers are indeed turning to Utilities and trucks...
It's also possible that a lot of older sedan buyers have bought their last cars. as in,
I don't think GM or FCA's large car sales are growing either, even with upgrades.
"You're not building the car I like" versus "You're just not buying them anymore.."
Found an interesting article discussing the life of the large sedan.
It's about Lexus who thinks the way to maintain sales of the sedan is to make it more appealing. According to the sales chart form Left Lane, that seems to be working quite well for Tesla, outselling the competition by 100 to over 900%.
Which could indicate that the survival of large sedans is tied to electrification. The more electrification the better. Plug-in hybrid...NO! Full electric with 300+ miles of range. A low riding, ultra powerful, fast, safe sedan may beat a high riding, clumsy suv anytime when the need is not carrying lots of cargo.
And this won't just be the luxury car segment, but all segments of sedans. Fusion Titanium starts at over $30k. That's more than a Tesla Model 3 after Federal incentives, not counting state incentives.
All I can say is that the new architecture for the C-segment Fords and the new Lincoln small sedan must offer an EV, along with the new architecture for Fusion/Mondeo and MKZ. Just thinking about that, with all the scale Ford will have between C and C/D architectures, Ford and Lincoln could really compete for the new EV customer.
Also, when looking at sales between the Model S and Model X, the S is still about 1,000 ahead in sales each month. Which could indicate that the big spike in gasoline SUV sales may not be such an issue when it comes to EVs, where a more powerful, lower riding, faster cornering sedan or coupe may be more attractive.
Think about it. Would you buy a new 300+ mile MKZ or Fusion EV 5-door sedan with RWD or dual motor AWD, torque vectoring, and 0-60 in 4 seconds, or a gasoline powered Edge or MKX. Notice how the sedan just got so much more attractive.
Now do the same for a New Taurus/Continental EV. It could be that the power of an EV and the sexy self driving technology makes the EV sedan very desirable.
Again, just look at Tesla Model S sales.....
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It's about Lexus who thinks the way to maintain sales of the sedan is to make it more appealing. According to the sales chart form Left Lane, that seems to be working quite well for Tesla, outselling the competition by 100 to over 900%.
Which could indicate that the survival of large sedans is tied to electrification. The more electrification the better. Plug-in hybrid...NO! Full electric with 300+ miles of range. A low riding, ultra powerful, fast, safe sedan may beat a high riding, clumsy suv anytime when the need is not carrying lots of cargo.
And this won't just be the luxury car segment, but all segments of sedans. Fusion Titanium starts at over $30k. That's more than a Tesla Model 3 after Federal incentives, not counting state incentives.
All I can say is that the new architecture for the C-segment Fords and the new Lincoln small sedan must offer an EV, along with the new architecture for Fusion/Mondeo and MKZ. Just thinking about that, with all the scale Ford will have between C and C/D architectures, Ford and Lincoln could really compete for the new EV customer.
Also, when looking at sales between the Model S and Model X, the S is still about 1,000 ahead in sales each month. Which could indicate that the big spike in gasoline SUV sales may not be such an issue when it comes to EVs, where a more powerful, lower riding, faster cornering sedan or coupe may be more attractive.
Think about it. Would you buy a new 300+ mile MKZ or Fusion EV 5-door sedan with RWD or dual motor AWD, torque vectoring, and 0-60 in 4 seconds, or a gasoline powered Edge or MKX. Notice how the sedan just got so much more attractive.
Now do the same for a New Taurus/Continental EV. It could be that the power of an EV and the sexy self driving technology makes the EV sedan very desirable.
Again, just look at Tesla Model S sales.....
Model S and X are lumped into the 'luxury' category based on price, but don't match the leading luxury brands especially with interior luxury design. This is why Tesla calls it's vehicles 'premium', because they are far from MB, BMW, Audi and even Lincoln, Audi and Jaguar with interior design.
If the Model S and X had a gasoline engine, they would not be successful at such a high price point, offering so much less in 'luxury' than it's competition. Which is why the luxury leaders are all set to launch their own 300+ mile EVs over the next few years, because they know they can do the electric powertrain, along with the luxury interior as well.
It's the electric powertrain, the zero emissions, the zero oil, zero gasoline, charging at home, virtually zero routine maintenance and quiet operation that sells. Which makes gasoline powered vehicles just seem old fashioned.
I think the biggest challenge traditional automakers have is that if they offered a true Model S competitor, with battery pricing so much more competitive with combustion engine technology, it would immediately age their current lineup. So they are taking the slow path by offering EVs in sub-compact and compact segments, not to compete directly with their higher volume midsize and large cars where margins are higher. Adding a plug-in hybrid to midsize and large cars is just a place holder until they are forced to go full EV. Their message is 'the market is not there yet', or 'we don't have the charging infrastructure', all while their competition is racing to market with 300+ mile sedan and suv EVs. Model 3 advanced reservations put a scare in the major manufacturers. Close to 400,000 paid deposits on a car where the production model has not even been seen yet. Already 2 years backordered, and wait until July when there is a production model reveal, reservations will spike.
And the infrastructure....at over 300 miles of range and charging at home, so every day you got 300 miles of range(unlike a gasoline car where every day you have less and less range, until you have to go by gas), unless one is driving across country, public charging does not even come into the picture.
So yeah, BMW and MB are coming as fast as they can. Audi is already taking reservations in Norway for it's new 300+ mile e-tron SUV.
BTW....have you heard anything about Ford battery manufacturing anywhere matching what Tesla is doing? How can they compete if they don't have the batteries to do so?
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Tesla is primarily a battery company, that's how they see their business which is why they sell more than just cars.
Hmmm ... Maybe let Lincoln introduce a next-gen, bigger, RWD/AWD Continental and the next-gen MKZ sedan on the S650; then bring the Taurus home. Otherwise the Taurus will cannibalize the current Conti.Ford's sudden announcement of moving the next North American-spec Focus production to China instead of Mexico makes you wonder about other possibilities...
Could they change their mind about the all-new Taurus? Hmmm....
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