The Reason The LTD Isn't Selling...

[RPO83]

Originally Posted by chevypower

I think Mercedes have it right... more body styles available, you cant just have a medium sedan and a large sedan these days, and expect the company to prosper. Ford have a couple of body styles with a couple of engine options
Mercedes have two large SUVs M and GL with about 4 or more engine options in each
4 two door cars CLK, CL, SL and SLK
2 large 4 door sedans E class and CLS
and 3 ranges which look original and not like anything other companies have A, B and R class

Mercedes have changed their line-up, not relied on what success they had in the 70s and 80s. They could have sat around and did nothing and whinged and said "nobodys buying S classes anymore"

Ford might be better off to globalize the brand, invest more money in to their products, and sell each vehicle produced from different plants around the world, export it to everywhere else and go for a consistancy in their lineup around the world, rather than a different set of product names and vehicles for each country. The Mercury brand should be gone, and the Lincoln and FPV brands should be global.
Fiesta, Focus, Mondeo, Falcon, Interceptor
Focus convertible, Cougar, Mustang, GT
Escape, Territory, Explorer, Expedition
Territory pickup, Ranger, F series
Transit, Econoline (ditch the Econovan)

Lincolns: MKX, MKZ, Navigator and Town Car (designed as world-class cars of course)

FPV: every shape should have an FPV model

engines should also be global and high tech, with a good choice of direct injection E85 compatible petrol and Common Rail diesel engines in each vehicle, with a diesel-electric hybrid option too

What does FoNA do with the Freestyle, Five Hundred and Fusion products and how will they make up the volume loss with Mercury out of play? I'm not arguing against a more fluid line-up as you suggest for Ford, its just that the reality of finding the right product mix for a global market is not as easy as Mercedes-Benz or Volkswagen make it appear to be.

I really can't find any good reasons why a small, mismanaged, backyard operation like FPV should take contol as a global performance arm for Ford when they already have a more capable division like SVT.

The root of this issue lies in the mentality that Ford have had that if the segment is predicted to contract or change then it becomes all too hard for them to attempt to compete in and the result is that they walk away from it or ride it out with a pruduct with minimal investment. A secondary issue is how they cope with success once they get there. Typically when a Ford product becomes a leader of a segment cost cutting comes into play almost immediately and the sales slowly fall back down to earth. They have always been their own worst enemy.