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Ford To Stop Selling Every Car In North America But the Mustang, Focus Active (techcrunch.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: Ford today announced it will phase out most cars it sells in North America. According to its latest financial release, the auto giant "will transition to two vehicles" -- the Mustang and an unannounced vehicle, the Focus Active, being the only traditional cars it sells in the region. Ford sees 90 percent of its North America portfolio in trucks, utilities and commercial vehicles. Citing a reduction in consumer demand and product profitability, Ford is in turn not investing in the next generation of sedans. The Taurus is no more. The press release also talks about a new type of vehicle, though it sounds like a crossover. This so-called white space vehicle will "combine the best attributes of cars and utilities, such as higher ride height, space and versatility." Currently, Ford sells six sedans and coupes in North America: the Fiesta, Focus, Fusion, C-Max, Mustang and Taurus. This lineup hits multiple segments, from the compact Fiesta to the mid-size Focus, C-Max and Fusion to the full-size Taurus. The Mustang stands alone as the lone coupe.
I love my antiquated '94 Corolla wagon, not that it's a great car or anything (although it is), but largely because it's got a low and wide profile. Makes it fun to negotiate a curve. Who wants to drive around in a high box?
The floorpan on most of these crossovers is only an inch or two higher than the cars they're based on. The suspension is dramatically more advanced than your '94 Corolla Wagon, or even a car from '94 that actually handles like something other than a moldy dog turd. Basically any modern crossover will run rings around your wagon in the twisties.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
I think Honda might have been the first to do this about three decades ago when they based all their cars on just two flexible platforms. The Accord, TL, RL, TSX, Crosstour... all the same car. The smaller was the Civic and the RSX. The SUVs are similar, Pilot/MDX and CRV/RDX. They keep changing the model names to throw us off the trail, but the manufacturing is very carefully designed to minimize infrastructure, support, and design. I never figured out where the odd US models like Fit and Element fit that scheme, but they sure seemed expensive for so few units if they were unique.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporate_average_fuel_economy
Your on crack now. An inch or two or three adds up fast. Also 'cars they're based on'? You mean the tall slow cars they're based on, in the few cases that's true. Most are based on light truck chassis.
Do you realize the work that's done to get a chassis down 1 inch on a fast car?
The modern car will not only have a higher CG, it will weigh much more. Congress passed rollover protection, perhaps they had never met the car industry and expected them to use better material, in any case modern cars are heavy pigs by 90s standards.
The tires are better, but the old car will have modern tires.
Suspension is dramatically more advanced? The only breakthrough in suspension to hit the roads since 94 is electronically adjustable damping (that works), which you will only find on high end sports/GT cars, not your average mall utility vehicle. Don't buy the bullshit. Macpherson struts are _not_ new. Even with the adjustable shocks, you don't go faster, you can just dial in a little comfort. Suck it up, you should be able to drive over a coin and call heads or tails, just by feel.
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Ford sells a ridiculous number of trucks, that is why they are phasing out less popular models. They somehow suckered people into thinking $60k for a truck is a normal price. One model is over $100k when maxed out with options!
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Which in reality causes worse consumption.
It would be more effective to scrap the CAFE rules and put euro tax levels on the fuel.
If builders built buildings the way programmers wrote programs, then the first woodpecker would destroy civilization.
Who the hell cares which car goes around corners faster when exceeding the speed limit. The compact/mid SUV much easier access and egress, better vision, far more effective loading area, in fact the most logical body shape for a car. The low end cars are very competitive and the compact/mid SUV leaves more price to play with and upmarket in fitments and more scope for batteries, flat bed front to back. Who knows, eventually a two door rag top mustang mid SUV.
Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
The compact/mid SUV much easier access and egress, better vision, far more effective loading area, in fact the most logical body shape for a car.
You spend a few minutes or even seconds getting in and out, or loading and unloading. You spend hours driving. Sedans have better aerodynamics than crossovers. The most logical body shape for a car is a sedan or wagon, given that we live in the real world with wind resistance.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"