Falcon and Mustang to Share Components

[atvman]

Glad this is back on topic...

If they make the MKR a sedan(and coupe), it should be a similar size to the MKZ. They could then drop the MKZ, which would eliminate the overlap with Mercury.

I think they should keep the MKZ as an entry level Lincoln. Plus, the MKZ is a cash cow, it doesn't cost substantially more to build than a Fusion but it can grab much more money. As long as people are buying it, I see no reason to get rid of it.

[papilgee4evaeva]

I think they should keep the MKZ as an entry level Lincoln. Plus, the MKZ is a cash cow, it doesn't cost substantially more to build than a Fusion but it can grab much more money. As long as people are buying it, I see no reason to get rid of it.

 

Works for me.

 

If the MKR (and for that matter, GRWD) does ever see production, I could see Lincoln's sedan line, from entry to top, being MKZ -> MKR -> MKS (migrated over to GRWD).

[jpd80]

I'll put a kink in the discussion, Lincoln builds the MKR but uses Aussie Fairlane proportions, meaning

it's about 2-3" longer than MKS but splits the internal space of the outgoing Town Car and EL version.

 

You're then looking at a much higher price point...

Edited January 16, 2010 by jpd80

[RichardJensen]

I'm sorry but to me all D3s look like boxes on wheels.....:rolleyes:

 

 

With regards Falcons and Mustangs Wesconet over on GMI is basically saying Mustang and US "Falcons"

will share power trains and most likely, everything forward of firewall. I think the Mustang's shell an rear

suspension are highly specialized and doubt that FNA wants to reinvent that wheel with regards Falcon floor pan and framing. Anything is possible though.....

 

 

This is just a quick thumbnail to what could be achieved with falcon floor pan:

 

In essence the changes needed to use a Falcon floor pan on the Mustang would be as follows;

1. Rear leg room - Mustang 29.8", Falcon 39" so you could shorten the floor pan

in the rear foot wells by about 9 ".

 

2. Wheelbase could then be added by extending the front rails out roughly 5"

acheiving the existing Mustang's 107.9" wheelbase.

 

3. Truncation of Falcon front and rear overhangs to Mustang proportions.

 

4. Addition of Mustang top hat with existing proportions.

Extend the front rails out and you lose the ability to share significant parts ahead of the firewall.

 

Floorpan sharing ahead of the B pillar at the farthest makes the most sense. There is simply no point in trying to gerrymander the back half of any sedan to meet the Mustang's needs.

 

---

 

Secondly, no Mustang derivative should under any circumstances aspire to D class proportions. End of story. That's a stretch regardless of how you put it and with all due respect to jpd, to Australians in general, and so forth, a Lincoln Fairlane would succeed only as a replacement for the Town Car in the mule or pack horse segment of the Lincoln stable. It would, in short, be unacceptable as a competitor to the vehicles it would be priced against.

[2b2]

I'll put a kink in the discussion, Lincoln builds the MKR but uses Aussie Fairlane proportions, meaning

it's about 2-3" longer than MKS but splits the internal space of the outgoing Town Car and EL version.

 

You're then looking at a much higher price point...

I'll see your 'kink' and...

 

according to the best info I've been able to gather the last Fairlane was a couple inches shorter than the current MKS

 

&

re: lineups

I like the idea of keeping F-Awd plus Rwd models

so I'd have a LincStang staying close to the nextgen Mustang in size, ie smaller than the MkZ

I'd also see about making a sedan with a bit taller greenhouse about that size to give some unexpected competition to the 3 series - not a direct assault, more 'alternative'

& make the Rwd Continental larger than the MKZ (just slightly larger than the MKR concept)

(would *love* to see all Rwd Lincoln have the 4.0 inline six!!)

 

...add an MKT-wheelbased F-Awd flagship sedan

- - think I'd eventually do something else with MKS, letting perception & sales largely determine the timing

 

MKX & MKT would be joined by the MKG (KuGa), probably adapted in the nextgen so that Lincoln's could be Very car-like

and that's it for the first go round

 

(apologies for repeating much of this again - it's all the fault of this one boss I had;

if I said something often enough, eventually he'd do it, thinking it was his idea )

[ausrutherford]

Both the MkZ and MkR can exist, look at Lexus.

[rmc523]

Sorry to take the thread back off topic, but I wanted to throw my thoughts in on these things....

 

And, has anyone seen a navigator lately? I can't even remember the last one I saw on a lot or on the street.

 

I see tons of Navigators daily, of course I also see several Ferraris, Lamborghinis, Bentleys, Rolls-Royce's, etc. a day as well....

 

I wonder if there is going to be a 4 door coupe like Thunderbird, if the Mondeo CC that EU had planned is killed. EU could get it which would statisfy all the RWD fans...FJ included.

 

Good question - I don't think anything but a Cortina would make FJ happy though.

 

That's an odd way of looking at it for sure. Very odd. Face it. It's an ungainly looking vehicle.

 

Have you seen one in person/on the road? I think they look great in person - very sleek and classy looking.

[jpd80]

I love this quote from Mulally to the Aussie reporters at the Detroit Auto Show:

 

But, less than 12 hours later, Mulally clarifies things and it seems the Falcon could actually be twinned with the classic Ford Mustang to create a new mechanical platform with rear-wheel drive for use after 2015.

 

"We'll be in the Falcon market, yes. But as we go forward we'll continue to use all our assets around the world," Mulally says. "We have learned so much from the Falcon, because it's a dynamite car. Whatever that Falcon morphs to, for the next one, it will be available for everyone around the world."

 

It's good to have friends in high places....

 

PS,

want a good laugh on how the Falcon debacle unfolded at Detroit?

This article explains how the Aussie journalists got it so wrong, a good read - LINK

Edited January 16, 2010 by jpd80

[Blue II]

I love this quote from Mulally to the Aussie reporters at the Detroit Auto Show:

 

 

 

It's good to have friends in high places....

 

PS,

want a good laugh on how the Falcon debacle unfolded at Detroit?

This article explains how the Aussie journalists got it so wrong, a good read - LINK

 

We knew all along didn't we JP.

 

All we have to do now is get Jelly a RWD coupe, RHD of course.

[syrtran]

We knew all along didn't we JP.

 

All we have to do now is get Jelly a RWD coupe, RHD of course.

Don't go overboard. Give it a V-4.

[jpd80]

We knew all along didn't we JP.

 

All we have to do now is get Jelly a RWD coupe, RHD of course.

It's hard when you know stuff, Falcon is but one specific combination on that platform.

 

A RWD for Jelly?

That would have to be an Ecoboost V6 Mustang...in RHD of course......

 

Don't go overboard. Give it a V-4.

 

Classic Transit or Evinrude......

Edited January 16, 2010 by jpd80

[ausrutherford]

Sorry to take the thread back off topic, but I wanted to throw my thoughts in on these things....

 

 

 

I see tons of Navigators daily, of course I also see several Ferraris, Lamborghinis, Bentleys, Rolls-Royce's, etc. a day as well....

 

 

 

Good question - I don't think anything but a Cortina would make FJ happy though.

 

 

 

Have you seen one in person/on the road? I think they look great in person - very sleek and classy looking.

 

Then we can name it Cortina...

[rmc523]

.

Edited January 17, 2010 by rmc523

[jpd80]

As a regional platform, Falcon achieves huge bang for bucks on tight budget levels, Ford NA knows this because all the Falcon projects are reviewed and approved by the Large Vehicle division in Dearborn.

They know all the concessions made to cost cutting and how to fix them.

 

Ford also knows how to make that platform a whole lot better too, it just takes the right amount of

funding and scales of economy brought by Ford NA sharing the platform with Australia.

You watch the Ford divisions take to this project and make it an absolute winner.

 

Apologies to the War Of The Worlds:

“ No one would have believed, in the first decade of the 21st century, that Aussie Falcons were being watched from the timeless worlds of North America. No one could have dreamed that we were being scrutinized as someone with a microscope studies creatures that swarm and multiply in a drop of water. Few men even considered the possibility of exports to other countries. And yet, across the Pacific, minds immeasurably superior to ours regarded this Falcon platform with envious eyes, and slowly, and surely, they drew their plans against us…”

Edited January 17, 2010 by jpd80

[akirby]

Don't feed the spammer......

[2b2]

Don't feed the spammer......

can we feed the spammer... ...to crocodiles? :shades:

[jpd80]

RJ has replaced the spammer's comments with the Monty Python spam sketch.

[atvman]

As a regional platform, Falcon achieves huge bang for bucks on tight budget levels, Ford NA knows this because all the Falcon projects are reviewed and approved by the Large Vehicle division in Dearborn.

They know all the concessions made to cost cutting and how to fix them.

 

Ford also knows how to make that platform a whole lot better too, it just takes the right amount of

funding and scales of economy brought by Ford NA sharing the platform with Australia.

You watch the Ford divisions take to this project and make it an absolute winner.

 

Apologies to the War Of The Worlds:

Judging by the recent successes, I'd say whatever Ford does with this platform should work out pretty well.

[AGR]

Both the MkZ and MkR can exist, look at Lexus.

Toyota doesn't have an equivalent to Mercury, so both have to be Lexuses(Lexi?). All I am suggesting is that just having the midsize rwd MKR and dropping the MKZ would be a good way to differentiate Lincoln and Mercury.

[sullynd]

Toyota doesn't have an equivalent to Mercury, so both have to be Lexuses(Lexi?). All I am suggesting is that just having the midsize rwd MKR and dropping the MKZ would be a good way to differentiate Lincoln and Mercury.

 

It also solves the issue of the next MKS being based on the same platform as the next MKZ.

[silvrsvt]

It also solves the issue of the next MKS being based on the same platform as the next MKZ.

 

Whats the issue, thats just like saying that the Taurus will be a lesser car because it shares its platform with the Fusion. The Platform will be different, at least in size