rmc523

Heres my version.

Even if the name Capri is too feminine (I'm not biased either way), isn't Mercury trying to target that feminine market anyways??

I hope that is a picture of a pre-production CTS. Look at the way the door panel stitching and wood meet the stitching and wood on the dash (circled in yellow). They don't line up very well at all. Those window switches look pretty low too, that could just be the effect of the picture angle though.

Pretty good -- your first guess. Its the lower front end of the new Sable. After I flipped it over, I thought it might look as a possible Mustang front end. I did add the Mustang emblem as ANTAUS said (obviously).

Ford has their 'PowerShift' transmission coming out sometime soon, so that will solve the lack of a manual shift feature complaints (In Ford products as well as Lincolns). Also, the author complains about the lack of a joystick for the nav system. He's complaining about one of the easiest nav systems to use? In my 04 Expy, the 'joystick' is annoying, touchscreen is much better. If it had a joystick, then he'd be complaining that it has one.

The air vents are strangely shaped IMO, they dont match anything--they dont even match each other

not bad

But it wouldn't be a rebadge for North Americans (even though it would be for Europeans - who wouldnt get it anyway) b/c we dont have the Focus CC here. It WOULD be only a Mercury here and NOT sold as a Ford. There obviously is a market for this type of car, look at the G6 hardtop convertible, and even Sebring convertible, I see quite a few of each around me, I think it be a good product for Mercury to have, to revitalize the lineup with something special, something exclusive to the Mercury brand.

There: it's relevant to this forum.

http://www.autoweek.com/apps/pbcs.dll/arti...E/70813021/1024 So here comes the Indians, I guess they dont think the compact truck market here is dead, but as they said, "If we fail in the U.S., we fail in the U.S. If we succeed, we need more products." Diesel engines in the compact truck market...interesting concept, I guess we'll see how they sell, maybe that'd be a way to increase Ranger sales here? I thought this was interesting..."All five offerings will be powered by four-cylinder diesel engines mated with a six-speed automatic transmission. Gasoline versions may be added."

http://www.leftlanenews.com/jeep-jt-future.html New Jeep truck (possibly/probably) coming soon I guess. I suppose it will compete with Hummer's H3 truck (or H4).

We dont have the current European 'Ford' Focus, so it wouldnt fit with 'our' Focus. I thought about Mercury Focus, but I'm not sure the Focus name would work with Mercury well(?) People think Ford when they think Focus, in this case, you'd want them to think Mercury. I didnt change much because the car already looked very Mercury to me. The headlights had that 'up into the hood' look that all Mercurys share, and there's nothing that looks like it in the current Ford lineup. These ideas for bringing over Euro Fords as Mercurys would only be short-term though, b/c of Mulally's 'One Ford' thing (or whatever he calls it). All the European/NA products will become one, not a NA Fusion and Euro Mondeo. Mercury would eventually need something completely different to have its own individual product line after the globalization of Fords.

I just used the Capri name because it was 1) the only old Mercury name that I could think of and 2) the Capri was a small convertible in its most recent (I think) application. As I said, I'm not sure about the name. I'm not sure Zephyr would work because of it's recent Lincoln application, people may get confused. Honda uses Jazz (Fit) in the rest of the world, but I suppose this "Capri" would be a NA only car since basically the rest of the world gets the Focus cabriolet. Torino I know was a Ford, was it a Mercury also? I'm not so sure that would work. Not to say that your idea of an alternate name is a bad idea, just some of the names you suggested I'm not sure would work.

What about this as a front end to the Mustang?? (in this case the picture would be taken from below the car -i think you could figure that out though) I'll let you guess what it actually is...

Heres the new Mercury Capri (not sure about the name) to be sold in NA. It would give the Mercury brand a halo car until the return of the Cougar (see my other 'Mercury Cougar' post) and would bring in sales from people considering other similar convertibles (ragtop and hardtop), such as Sebring (yuck!) and G6. Based off the European Focus Cabriolet Thoughts?

Heres the new Mercury Capri (not sure about the name) to be sold in NA. It would give the Mercury brand a halo car until the return of the Cougar (see my other 'Mercury Cougar' post) and would bring in sales from people considering other similar convertibles (ragtop and hardtop), such as Sebring (yuck!) and G6. Based off the European Focus Cabriolet Thoughts?

Thanks as you can see on the Highlander picture I posted, the random circle reflectors in the lower part of the bumper look horrible IMO.

This says it all........however, Ford cannot and will not take the F-150 for granted, constant upgrades are needed and Ford knows it.

they look ok on the MKZ, they at least flow with the design on the highlander they are random circles in the bumper..... they're ugly PS, how'd you post an image thats not reduced like that?

It didnt look terrible IMO, it does have its odd styling points, so do most cars (Toyota seems to have a lot of these vehicles, though) I would not consider buying one, I'm almost 100% anti-Toyota. Now, if Toyota came out with a decent looking car and got rid of that stupid t-badge or whatever they call their emblem, I may consider it, but until then I'm all Ford. The model below was not the one I saw. The one I saw was a lower model, and it was parked in a driveway, so I just saw the back and part of the side.

I saw a new 08 Toyota Highlander today. I didn't know they were out yet. It looked ok, I dont like the reflectors on the lower rear bumper though, they look stupid.

Its not too much different than this...

You should've seen it before I made the wheelbase longer. I stretched it in paint, so i couldnt really make the car longer to extend the wheelbase further without ruining the sketch.

The new Ford 54, with an all new (made up) 5.4L 400-hp Falcon V8. It's a sporty 2-door/seater with a hardtop folding roof. Slots below Mustang (sizewise), and becomes the halo car for the brand (alongside the GT500/GT500KR, and any other high horsepower Mustang/Shelby Ford decides to build)

They could be a tad bit closer, but I suppose they may be spaced as they are to allow more airflow to the engine for the higher horsepower/better engines.