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Future Vehicles Future Crown Vic and Grand Marquis
152 messages, Last post on Jun 07, 2008 at 4:54 PM
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Replying to: hwyhobo (Oct 01, 2007 10:11 am) It would be great if Ford would do exactly as you've said. New exciting styling, new platform, new powerplant/drive-train (possibly a clean-diesel/electric hybrid), better build quality & reliability, and a new marketing attitude. Then they would have a winning hand. Forget about chasing market share or pure numbers. Build 'Must Have' vehicles, the numbers will automaticly happen, but the best part is they will be PROFITABLE. Because of my past relationship with the Ford Motor Company product marketing, I spend a lot of time looking at and studying their new models. I believe they're on the right track. Quality is much better than just 10 yrs. ago, engineering is vastly improved, interiors are near European in quality (Ford has been taking a few pages out of Audi's book), and safety is top shelf. The tepidity and missteps of management, executive in-fighting and turf battles, along with stale products are what lies at the root of Ford's problems. Now that the insiders have been suppressed or pushed out, and under the new leadership of Alan Mullaly, Ford stands a good chance of putting the shine back on the blue oval. A lot of good product has been launched lately. Quality is high, warranty claims are way down (strong contributor to Ford's most recent quarter showing a profit), and subvention & incentive costs (on the new products) is very low (compared to products they replaced). So things are looking up. Still, Ford is hampered by a very small monetary war-chest. They have to be careful how and when they spend their meager resources. I do understand they can't re-do all their stale product all at once. I know new vehicles like the Flex, the MKS, a new F-Series P/U, a new Ranger, and the new TwinForce engine family and PowerShift dual clutch family of gearboxes all have to take precedence over many other worthy needs. So until Ford can get some of those new products on the ground and start to fill up their coffers, which can fund the new CV/GM/TC replacements, as well as other new product further down the pipeline. I'd be content with a major facelift and powertrain stroking. It's probably all we even stand a remote chance of getting. Besides, it's better than letting the CV/GM/TC just languish in the gutter; totally untouched and unloved. So when sales continue to drop, some bean counter will use that as justification for the axe. History will bear witness to that being another one of Ford's major missteps; and the point when FoMoCo handed GM and Chrysler the limo/livery, police, and large rwd market on a silver platter. Doesn't it make sense to plug that 3-5 year gap, between the current Panther platform and the future stretched-Aussie platform repacements, with something that might defend your dominant market position until worthy replacements are available? Especially since you can probably make a profit doing it. Maybe the problem with my rationale is that it makes sense. Ford's recent history has been to continually do things that don't make sense, like shooting themselves in the foot. |
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| I'm not a geezer and I'm buying a new 2008 Grand Marquis LS, and I'm a first time buyer of this type of car. I think GM and Chrysler have made a mistake abandoning this type of car and I hope Ford doesn't do the same thing. I hope this car has the durability and low maintenance cost it is supposed to have, because I plan to keep this car a long time. If Ford stops making them and we can't get this type of car anymore, then I'm going to be keeping this a real long time......if I like it as much as I hope I do. | |
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Replying to: ionosphere1 (Dec 17, 2007 12:31 pm) |
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Replying to: ionosphere1 (Dec 17, 2007 12:31 pm) I'm with you, I too hope Ford doesn't abandon this type of car. But it doesn't look good for the Crown Victoria/Grand Marquis/Town Car. Ford has decided to let them soldier on unchanged at least through 2009, but beyond that is not real clear. It seems most likely that they will be discontinued after that. There is a high probability that Ford will return to the large U. S. rwd market later with a version of their Australian rwd platform, which will probably (hopefully) be a world-class competitor. That's good and well, but it appears that Ford may abandon that market for 2 or 3 years while they prepare their replacements. That, I think is where they would be making a big mistake. A significant face-lift, a mild re-engineering, and a nice powertrain massaging for the 2009 model would allow this trio to soldier on for another 3 or 4 years. Ford could get a nice up-tic in sales and defend their dominance of this market segment for a relatively small price, while buying the time needed to prepare the world-class competitive replacements they will ultimately need for long term viability. Hopefully someone at Ford is listening to people like us and doesn't abandon this type of car. So unfortunately, you may have to plan on keeping your '08 Grand Marquis LS for a pretty long time. I know you're gonna love it, so that's not gonna be a bad thing. I wish you lots of luck with your new geezer's car: sorry, I mean youngster's car. 
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Replying to: peetiedog (Dec 19, 2007 9:36 pm)
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| Also, the dealer required me give a $3,000 non-refundable deposit, because he said the color I picked, Norsea Blue, that he would not be able to sell it if I changed my mind. Wonder if that's really true? Why would this color make the car unsellable? | |
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Norsea Blue is awfully close to Nausea Blue???...
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Replying to: peetiedog (Dec 19, 2007 9:36 pm) My question is have any of the lovers of these cars driven a new Taurus or Sable? I can't speak to the durability but I think you would find the Taurus/Sable to have a more comfortable and quieter ride, more rear seat room, better driving dynamics, better visability, stronger performance and better fuel economy, while taking up about a foot less garage space. |
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Replying to: ionosphere1 (Dec 20, 2007 8:04 am)  Excitement in a new car is always a good thing, but I assure you, your new Grand Marquis will give you more comfort and reliability than any other car within $10,000 of your car's price. These cars are basically bullet proof. Your salesman's correct in that when you order the car, Ford allows you both 'Price Protection' and 'Incentive &/or Rate Protection'. There are a couple steps he has to perform to accomplish it for you, but it's basicly pretty easy for him to do, so you need not worry. The worse thing that could happen is that things stay as they are; if there was a price increase, you'd get the price in effect on the date of your order, and if a bigger incentive is offered, you'd get the better of the two. Normally the wait time on an ordered unit is about 6 weeks +/- a week or two, but around this time of year there's always a holiday shut down for about 2 weeks. There was also an additional delay caused by Ford moving all Town Car production to the St. Thomas plant where the Grand Marquis' are made, which could easily account for another couple weeks. But the wait will be well worth it. Check with your salesman from time-to-time for updates, he should be able to give you production & shipping updates on your car's e.t.a. The "must take delivery from dealer's stock by 01/02/2008" is there to prevent dealers and customers from trying to get their deals grand fathered back into expired programs.  As far as doing some minor improvements, I think it should go beyond just adding back-up sensors and an updated dashboard. For 2009 model they should make some substantial improvements, like a significant facelift (front of the A-pillar & rear of the C-pillar), maybe even new door skins, definately update the interior and dashboard (maybe add a Nav System & improved seating), and definitely some re-engineering (improved suspension, increased horsepower & torque, etc), and then add some more goodies (like memory seats, heated & cooled seats, Sirius radio and dual-zone climate control). Move the big Merc Cruiser a little more up-town. Make the car more of a Buick competitor. It doesn't have to be a total re-design, but give it some changes one can easily detect. Even old geezers and us near geezers like toys and luxury, and shouldn't have to defect to Chrysler, Buick, or Toyota (Avalon) to get it. Make the car look like a new car and give it a nice bump uptown, and a lot of people will trade their old big Merc's in for a new one. These are the kind of changes Ford could do for just a few thousand dollars per car. They could even pack in a little extra profit margin (into what are already profitable cars) and reduce incentives by a couple thousand dollars, which would make it more than economically feasible and attractive for them. These steps would give them a great stop gap car that can soldier on for another 3 or 4 years, until they can come up with a suitable world-class competitor. I'm sure sales would bump at least 25 - 50%, once again IF the car were done right. There are a lot of people out there who have 3 to 7 year old, low mileage, above average Grand Marquis', who are not willing to trade-in perfectly good cars in for another one that's no different than their current one. But give them a car that looks like a NEW car, and WHAM!, you got their attention and their open checkbooks. A person will bump from a $31/$32k car to a nicer, newer, $35/$36k new car, IF you give them a significant upgrade. Of course that means they would have to do an equivalent upgrade to the Town Car as well. But then I'm not sure Ford can handle that kind of success. Someone up in the Dearborne Ivory Tower is committed to the death of these venerable old buggies. Sorta like when they tried to kill the Mustang and replace it with the Probe, all the Mustang enthusiasts were up in arms; even Ford couldn't ignore how stupid that move was, no matter how blind they were. The worse part is that Ford can't seem to learn from their past mistakes, they just keep shooting themselves in the foot and choosing to roll down the 'Suicide Hill' to extinction. It seems the only reason they're still here is because they occasionally screw up and produce a winner. And that's too bad, because my whole family was and is a Ford family. Until recently, defection to another automaker was treason. And the worse part of that is, in my heart of hearts, I still want them to succeed. I hope somebody up there in the Dearborne Ivory Tower wakes up, and soon. Because if Ford dies, a little part of me dies with them.   Anyway. Good luck to you Ionosphere1, I wish you the best with your new Grand Marquis. Pass on the good news every chance you get, to all who will listen. 
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You seem to be quite knowledgeable. The salesman told me that when they receive an invoice for the car, that it would be about 2 weeks from then that they would get the car and he would call me when he gets the invoice. There is an item on the printout they gave me that I didn't notice until I got home. Something called LMDA Assessment for $700. Looking online, it appears to be some non-negiotiable fee related to advertising? Do you know about this $700 fee they tacked on? If it does have to do with advertising, then it is a ripoff, as Ford DOES NOT ADVERTISE the Grand Marquis. If Ford were to make big improvements for 2009, I would be jealous, as it won't help me.
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