WC-MAN

NO ITS NOT! Its a horrible terrible CAR! Just ask anyone here who has never owned one! They'll be happy to tell you. Can you imagine if Ford decided the F-150 wasn't worth keeping because they listened to the opinion of Chevy and Dodge buyers!?! The Panthers may not be the cutting edge of tech, but with minor upgrades, bluetooth, sync, etc., they are competent competitors. And they run forever! Don't think that is important? Go to a Jeep site and see how many Cherokee fans traded up to a Liberty. They LIKE the old school look, and Cherokees with the I-6 are infamous for 3 & 400K life-spans. They weren't impressed with the bug-eyed buggy look and un-proven tech of the Liberty. Likewise, there are a lot of OLD panthers still going strong, and I thought reliability was why the Honda and Toyotas were so popular?

Nice list, but for those of us born in the seventies, you would have to include the mid-late seventies Monoco/Fury (of which it seems every single one was crashed on the dukes of hazard), the 80's LTD, and the Caprice Classic. VA State Troopers LOVED the Whales!

AFAIK, Panthers are order only items at LM dealers. In other words, they don't keep them on the lots. Until the ready supply of program cars dries up, its very unlikely that the car will be a big seller on the lots new regardless of its popularity. Hardly unusual. Prior to gas going up, most US brand dealers had a lot of new trucks and SUV's on the lot, and few cars since the used lot was full of program cars that were 1-2 years old and almost 1/2 price. Only after gas went up did the "new car herd" get interested in looking for cars.

the EPA numbers are easy to beat on the highway. I get about 24-25 in mixed driving. In optimal conditions, cruise set on the highway flat roads, I can get as much as 29. I find higher than that doubtful unless you are going downhill. EPA numbers are based on mixed driving, and generally, regardless of the vehicle, seem to involve dragging an anchor. Its the EPA numbers that count though. But the Panther is hardly the darling of CFK. You have to show a 10 mpg gain in a car to get $4,500, again using EPA numbers. That means your car has to have a mixed driving rating of OVER 28 mpg*. In other words, you basically have to be looking at a hybrid, or trading a big car for a compact, which few people actually do (a new 4 cylinder Milan won't make the cut for example). We just took advantage of CFK to replace my wife's Bravada with a Jeep Patriot (Chrysler is where I got the CFK acronym from BTW, and we needed the added 3500 they were offering). I asked, the guy had not taken in ANY panthers. Of the few cars he had seen come in, most were very old Camrys and Accords. But far and away we were in the meat and potatoes of the program. He said at least 5 out of every 6 vehicles they took in were very old, very used SUV's traded for one of the small Jeeps or the Caliber or Avenger. You only need to beat the EPA numbers by 5 mpg if you are buying a truck or SUV. Even though, the program is almost pointless without a deal like Chrysler's. 4,500 sounds like a lot, but small cars are often available for 1/2 price by the time they are 2 years old and only have 24K n them. * I used EPA for a 1999 Grand Marquis for comparison It is important to watch them. They originally were going to count the Patriot as a car. But the EPA classifies it as a light truck.

As long as there are Lincoln-Mercury dealers, there is a place for Mercury. THe current product plan simply eliminates overlap. Mercury builds vehicles that are, by and large, not offered as Lincolns. It allows LM dealers to offer smaller products without diluting the Lincoln brand. It also leaves open the option of offering even smaller products. Think of it, a Miata competitor would be hard to justify as a Lincoln, but makes perfect sense as a Mercury. If Ford goes Chrysler and consolidates all of its lots, Mercury will have no place in the market.

It's not like Toyota hasn't made the same mistake with Scion. Other than tC, the ones I see have the same grey hairs that buy Buick..I mean Toyotas nowadays. Look, GM kept too many brands round for too long. End of story. Imagine if Ford was still trying to sell Continental and Edsil too. Or if Chrysler (who also has too many brands) was still trying to sell Plymouth, AMC, Eagle, & Imperial? GM's brand structure dates back to the 50's when there only truly 3 competitive companies and moving from a Chevy to a Pontiac really represented social climbing. GM kept the brands alive by essentially offering the same vehicles from every brand from the 70's on. GM should have cut Olds and Buick in the 80's, then Pontiac might survive today. They didn't, and apparently Buick has better staying power than Pontiac does.

I like the idea of a mustang based cougar with eco-boost. Mustang would continue to appeal to traditional buyers, while Cougar could target the street-mod market.

Ford Europe doesn't offer one on Mondeo?

No market for the Excursion. Sorry. The heavy towing market is weak and most can use a Super Duty truck with a crew cab.

Jellymoulds, I don't know were you live, but in America almost no car offer an option of air conditioning these days. In fact, a lot of people from up north complain about it. Hybrids are the wave of the future, apparantly by Govt. force if nothing else. SO I agree, it would be good to see it offered on the whole line. I also think Ford needs to act quickly to match GM's Volt, but I would advise trying to adapt the Escape or Fusion to the job rather than coming out with a whole new model. Personally I would love to go Hybrid next time out, but their are few current Hybrids that meet my needs.

So the Taurus is about to give up one of its major advantages for a sloping roofline? That makes sense. My next car needs to seat four tall adults, and I could give a damn about a sloping roofline. I agree with Fords new position, if the government doesn't drive them out of business, they may emerge from this in the drivers seat as THE American car company.

Couldn't hurt. However, you need to hold on to those customers. Those 20-somethings will want something bigger or nicer next time out. The suburban ones will want a bigger vehicle, the urban ones will likely scope out a smallish luxury car. Ford needs to make sure its marketing addresses this. I suggest this tactic for the Edge or Flex, mothers are one of the largest social networking groups. I guess this is okay for women, but I don't see the Fiesta considered a "cool" car for 20-something men.

This was posted today? Even the rags had this out months ago.

Is that the standard paint job? I want red with black stripes. Who knew Daewoo could make such a good looking car.

Here is a stupid idea. Let every company make what ever kind of car they want. Then let the customers vote with their pocketbooks. Companies that do not produce cars people want go out of business, and the ones that do remain. Unfortunately, given this model, Americans have proven they want BIG POWERFUL CARS. Not good for the enviroweenies who put politicians in power. Better that the government produce the cars comrade.