Ford USA Line-up

LTDmonger · 16-10-2012, 01:05 PM

Hi all
This has been on my mind for a while now and was just wondering if anyone out there has the same sentiments or comments to make.
Now that Ford seem obsessed with the 'one Ford' ie global mantra these days, it seems like it's not only Ford Australia that seem to be losing their unique identity...has anyone else noticed this

I love American Fords and in all honesty have a soft spot for the styling the yanks have dished out in the past but...it's gone

Apart from the F-series and Mustang, if you walked into a Ford dealer in the US and wanted car that 'looked' American, what would you choose?

Lincoln Towncar/Crown Vic....gone, limo markets given away.Police and taxi markets given away.American posters on Ford US forums see the Transit as a replacement for New Yorks taxi fleet

Focus,Fiesta and Taurus...Front wheel drive Lincoln's to rival Cadillac,BMW,Audi and Lexus

No more rwd unless you want a 2 door Stang or truck...no more chrome,no more hood ornaments,no more vinyl roofs or 2 door luxury coupes (love it or hate it)

As a kid I longed to travel to the US to see the 'yankmobiles' now I may as well travel to Europe...everything looks the same.I hate the 'one Ford' thinking and the future looks to be a global saturation of plebmobile offerings.
Any thoughts?

Mad_Pom · 16-10-2012, 01:39 PM

The world is getting smaller and buyer tastes are coverging. North America had the same issue, as Australia now has with large car, no one wanted them in the numbers to support the business. So they adapted.
Americans moved into Trucks & SUVs for larger vehicles and European / Japanese for smaller vehicles - almost the same as here.

Buntz · 16-10-2012, 06:17 PM

American Ford vehicles pre-One Ford looked a hell of a lot worse.

The days of massive chromed up yank tanks ended a long time ago. Those days are never coming back.

TC200six · 16-10-2012, 06:36 PM

The days when the typical American car were like this are gone. Why? it's the same as everywhere, they aren't selling like they used to. An SUVs is the idea of a big car nowadays.

Buntz · 16-10-2012, 06:48 PM

That and cars have to have to protect pedestrians when hit.

Can't have a front grille made out of knives. Not anymore...

FPV GTHO · 16-10-2012, 07:00 PM

As far as RWD is concerned, the situation has pretty much been how it is now since the Taurus first launched in the 80's. Mustang and CV were their only RWD vehicles for a good long time.

Cambo351 · 16-10-2012, 07:19 PM

Probably gonna get flamed here, but I was in the states earlier this year and we had one of the last Crown Victoria's produced as a rental (had been built mid-2011).

It was like stepping into a time machine. It still had green LED's in the odometer FFS. Was a V8 but couldn't tell you what engine, it was slooooow. Column shift auto. Open diff. No traction control. Squishy unsupportive seats. No legroom in the back. Wallowy suspension.

One word summed it up. Lazy. An absolute shocker of a car.

Now, on the other hand, the Taurus SHO; AWD, twin-turbo 3.5L V6, all the bells & whistles, very modern, family styling of the Falcon & Mondeo, absolutely magic!

I near bought an import SHO last year (2010 model) but insurance was unpayable...

2011G6E · 16-10-2012, 08:08 PM

Because they've realised that you don't have to put up with a shoddily-built planned-obsolescence car that falls apart after a few years, and that quality is something desirable?

I've heard that about Crown Victorias from guys who have travelled to the states and ridden in them as taxis...no room in such a large car, wide and long but very shallow boot, etc.

Bring in the Taurus SHO and in a couple of years people will be asking what the fuss was about when the Falcon was dropped...(he says, ducking sharply...

)

You also have to remember that the big makers got bitten, and very badly, when the SUV craze dropped off back around 2000. They geared up to build masses of monstrous great fuel guzzling turdbuckets of SUV's, 10mpg trucks that had the safety of a Lada Niva, and when the fickle public changed it's mind and wanted "normal" cars, they were left with hundreds of acres of unsellable trucks that no one wanted.

They have to move with the times...we could just as easily ask why the FG doesn't have more of the styling cues of the last chrome carrier, the XC Falcon...

aussie muscle · 17-10-2012, 09:44 AM

wasn't the drop off in SUVs when the price of oil skyrocketed?

I agree this One Ford will loose a lot of car culture. Cars are going like music, movies, tv and radio. all homongenised and any culture or locality squeezed out of it.

mike_nofx · 17-10-2012, 11:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TC200six

The days when the typical American car were like this are gone. Why? it's the same as everywhere, they aren't selling like they used to. An SUVs is the idea of a big car nowadays.

image

Yep, unfortunately, gone are the days of the American Family Truckster

mik · 17-10-2012, 11:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mike_nofx

Yep, unfortunately, gone are the days of the American Family Truckster

image

maybe it`s not so unfortunate that some models are gone, that wagon must have amazing lights, but by god it looks horrendous, someone in the design studio needed their asses kicked.

2011G6E · 17-10-2012, 11:53 AM

Clark Griswalds car!!!!!! I'll have to dig out "National Lampoons Vacation" again to see it in all it's craptacular glory!

It's just a movie car and was a parody of everything that was wrong with Yank cars at the time, but it's frighteningly close to some of the monstrosities that left the factories over the years...

Ben73 · 17-10-2012, 01:49 PM

I love American cars and I love the typical large barge with chrome everywhere.
I wish the build quality was better, but with the newer ones they are definitely improving. Crown vics are pretty bad. Been in a few taxis and they were as basic as can be.

Riksta · 17-10-2012, 02:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mik

maybe it`s not so unfortunate that some models are gone, that wagon must have amazing lights, but by god it looks horrendous, someone in the design studio needed their asses kicked.

As has been said, was just a movie car designed to parody what was available at the time.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wagon_Q...mily_Truckster

Ford_The_Win · 17-10-2012, 05:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 2011G6E

Clark Griswalds car!!!!!! I'll have to dig out "National Lampoons Vacation" again to see it in all it's craptacular glory!

You may think you hate it now, but wait till you drive it!

I like the idea of American cars till you see them close up. Crown Vic sounds nice but in reality, it's a cramped, plasticy whale. With all that money for development, they could have turned it into something really special, and actually relevant in the 21st century, but in reality it's the same as Ford still peddling the NC Fairlane right up until 2011. Hell, even the NC was technologically superior and probably better built.

Even the old school barges of the '70s aren't what they appear - Chevy Caprice with the plastic chrome painted bumpers, the yank LTD with lots of fake chrome and painted plastic, engines that were smokey and losing compression at 100k miles. No thanks. Probably the late 50s were when American cars were at their peak, after the 1960s instead of evolving and advancing their tech, they just resisted any possible change and got leapfrogged by the Japs and Germans, and have never caught up. The US Ford lineup is probably the best it has been for a long time and that's because most of the products come from elsewhere.

mik · 17-10-2012, 05:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 2011G6E

Clark Griswalds car!!!!!! I'll have to dig out "National Lampoons Vacation" again to see it in all it's craptacular glory!

It's just a movie car and was a parody of everything that was wrong with Yank cars at the time, but it's frighteningly close to some of the monstrosities that left the factories over the years...

that`s a relief

.