Leaked email from Ford Employee

[RiceEating5.0]

I was talking about Sporty/performance coupes in general, not just pony cars. It is the best selling performance/sporty car on the market.

F-150 is no halo car. It is the single most important vehicle and is very crucial to Ford success (sell 800k a year), but it is no halo car. Halo is basically the "top Image car", not neccesarily the top seller. Viper/vette sell in very low volumes, especially when compared to Ram/Silverado sales, but they are halo cars within their respective companies. Come next year, Fords Halo car will be the 120-150k GT.

The Mustang isn't the "be-all-end-all" car within FoMoCo, but it is a very important car. Personally, i see Fords lineup as hollow and soul-less without a Mustang. For years, it was the only or biggest excitment generator within Ford. Cars like the mustang may not sell in F-series volumes, but its type of heritage, popularity, and likness is hard to come by. Definitly not a car that Ford should take "lightly".It may not be as important as F-series (due to sheer volume and profits only), but it definitly up there .

 

[GelatiCruiser]

I think most of this stuff is ...but if any of it is true, then it's the worst business decision on the planet. No car company in their right mind (especially one that's coming out with a Street Tuner) would make a car that couldn't be modded.

 

[jstreet0204]

I don't know if any of this is true or not, some of it doesn't make a lot of sense.

As far as whether ford would mess up the '05 mustang, does anyone remember when for though this was a good idea?

 

[Mach172]

I don't know if any of this is true or not, some of it doesn't make a lot of sense.

As far as whether ford would mess up the '05 mustang, does anyone remember when for though this was a good idea?

Geez, I didn't realize it had the 4-lug wheels, I thought that didn't happen until '79!

 

[tylers65]

In 1974 Ford sold 385,993 II's
In 1975 Ford sold 188,575 II's
In 1976 Ford sold 187,567 II's
In 1977 Ford sold 157,173 II's
In 1978 Ford sold 192,410 II's

1,111,718 Total Mustang II's sold in 5 years. Seems to me that Ford was right in thinking it was a good idea.

 

[(&)]

The Mustang II was a good idea. Sales soared. It may have saved the Mustang line. They are also good handlers, and with them being so light, it's easy to make them fast. They may seem pretty lame now, but the II was the exact car Ford needed to get through that time period.

 

[Mach172]

The Mustang II was a good idea. Sales soared. It may have saved the Mustang line. They are also good handlers, and with them being so light, it's easy to make them fast. They may seem pretty lame now, but the II was the exact car Ford needed to get through that time period.

I know the II front ends are widely used by guys building old Chevy's and stuff, a friend of mine used one on his '48 Chevy when he put a 327 in it!

 

[Bee Bop]

The Tarus is being replace with two models a midsized sedan (Futura) and a Large sedan (500). They will keep producing the Tarus for a couple of years for the rental fleets, but eventually it will go away.

Later,

Bee Bop

 

[NicksGT]

The Taurus was eleventy billion times more important than the Mustang several years ago, and Ford totally F-ed up the new model. Yet Ford is still there. It's because the most important vehicles for the business are trucks. The Mustang is important, but it's not like they'd be reeling without it.

Your right. Ford F-ed it up and they are paying for it today. Ford's whole business now depends on trucks and SUVs.

The Mustang is very important for Ford. It brings in new customers both young and old. It is the only car in the Ford line-up, besideds the under-selling SVT focus that you could call a performance car.

The point is there is no other American car, besides the Vette, that gets the press coverage as Mustang. There is a Mustang article in ever other issue of MT, CD, and RT. The Mustang is positive press for Ford. It's a gateway in to future sales. It's the halo car of Ford Motor Company.

Maybe if Ford would find out what makes the Mustang so special, they would be able to design other cars that sell.

 

[vyto2]

I believe the guys post... I was on the mach1 board when he posted that. I have talked to another insider who sounded sad and upset by the cuts ford has been making and the possible affects it will have on the cars. He still works there but sounded like it wasn't a fun place to be right now. As far as ford finding out who he is, good luck, he was on a message board with a user name, not his real name, just hope for his sake he didn't post from work...

 

[66Satellite]

The Tarus is being replace with two models a midsized sedan (Futura) and a Large sedan (500). They will keep producing the Tarus for a couple of years for the rental fleets, but eventually it will go away.

Later,

Bee Bop

Is the 500 going to be RWD?

http://www.edmunds.com/future/ford/....f.mainindex.futuremainindexcontent.num12.1.*

 

[RiceEating5.0]

500 will probably be Fwd.

But it will have an AWD option for sure.

As for the Mustang II, what can one say???? the corevette of that time produced a measly 170-180 horses. Haha. Performance was basically dead. Atleast they tried to give it a sporty image with all the tape and stripe packages they had on the Cobra and Mach of that time.They also tried to fit a 302 into the lineup. Bad times for auto enthusiasts and performance cars in general.

 

[63_Fairlane]

Everyone has put in good input and as usual, the truth depends on your point of view.
The facts are ...

1. Ford killed the Thunderbird/Cougar... two cars designed with IRS and generally good platforms except for being way too heavy and never having enough engine under the hood.

2. For developed and then killed the Probe/Mazda MX-6. Strangely, the Maxda version actually looks a lot like the '94-98 stangs.

3. The SVO.

What do these facts have in common, simple they are all examples of wasted engineering and developement programs that were intended to generate the "NEXT GENERATION" Mustang. All have failed miserably. The Thunderbird chassis was deemed too expensive and the front-driver Mazda platform was rejected by us. The SVO was a wasted side tangent away from V-8's.

 

[63_Fairlane]

As I have said before the best situation for the Mustang is to share drivetrain and suspension components with a well developed sedan and possibly a larger coupe.

 

[93 teal terror]

I believe the guys post... I was on the mach1 board when he posted that. I have talked to another insider who sounded sad and upset by the cuts ford has been making and the possible affects it will have on the cars. He still works there but sounded like it wasn't a fun place to be right now. As far as ford finding out who he is, good luck, he was on a message board with a user name, not his real name, just hope for his sake he didn't post from work...

if it is true then how do they plan to account for the differences from car to car as far as torque goes? they would have to program each computer individually

 

[SadbutTrue]

Tyler, I don't understand why you are arguing about this... but...

Yes, Ford could survive, by the technical definition of the word, without the Mustang. Yes, some associate the F150 with Ford (though i still think more people associate the Mustang with Ford before the F150).

However, why would Ford want to make do without the Mustang? Its a money maker, and Ford is trying to push, with all of its new products, a huge turnaround in all aspects of the company's business. It is depending on the Mustang to sell to a certain extent. If Ford loses it... then the problems it could plague Ford with long term are tremedous, both image and straight sales wise.

But why are we even talking about this, when this is possibly the most anticipated Mustang launch in decades and on image and hype alone the car will sell well for the first year or two at least, even if its a downright crappy car...

 

[tylers65]

Argueing and debating are 2 different things. I in no way want to see the day the Mustang is discontinued. Sometimes this forum gets a little boring with all of the speculation. There is only so much info out there to be found. Sometimes it is nice to take part in a mature, intelligent debate. I am not trying to talk the new Mustang down, I am simply trying to remind everyone that the world does not revolve around the Mustang and what they want it to be or not to be.

This forum spends a lot of time complaining about a car they know so little about. Someone says it will have the 3V motor and noone wants to believe it. But if some guy on another forum says that it will be impossible to mod the new car, everyone blindly takes it as the gospel. 3800 LBS!!!! The sky is falling! The sky is falling! But those pictures of the 2005 aren't real because it's not the way I want it to look.

It seems as though everyone need to take a step back and realize that nothing is truly fact until it is in front of us to see and feel.

Ford could go bankrupt tomorrow as far as we know. If they were forced to liquidate their assets, that would mean no more Mustang.

I am not saying that Ford should drop the car, I am simply saying that we all have to remember that things change. Hell, they could come accrossed some terrible manufacturing defect and the 2005 could be put off until 2007. Then it could change dramatically from what we have seen to offset the defect.

It just becomes frustrating to see everyone so worked up about a speculation. It was nice to have an intelligent, fact oriented debate about something for a change.

 

[Mach172]

1. Ford killed the Thunderbird/Cougar... two cars designed with IRS and generally good platforms except for being way too heavy and never having enough engine under the hood.
.

Really, those cars were IRS? Which model years?

 

[(&)]

Really, those cars were IRS? Which model years?

'89+

 

[NicksGT]

Really, those cars were IRS? Which model years?

The whole last generation before they were axed had IRS.

There is a lot of speculation going around about the new Mustang. I, for one, love debating it. Some of the things, such as a 3800 lbs car seem laughable to me. The car it's based off of weighs that much, has 4 doors, a luxury interior, tons of sound deadening material, its a luxury car for crying' out loud.

The new Mustang will have a solid rear, more plastic and less leather and sound deadening material. Not to say that it will be garbage, but it not going to be a Lincoln LS either.

If the rumors are true, then Ford has lost track of the original Mustang concept. Ford wanted a small, light weight car with a peppy motor. The original car spawned many imitations, imported and domestic.

I'm sure that when the new Mustang comes out, that it won't be as great as some people have made it out to be. On the other hand, it won't be as bad as other people would want it to be. The final car will be somewhere in the middle, a good mix of power and handling. It might not rip the doors off a '02 Camaro SS or out handle an Evo but it will be plenty fast, and have sporty handling.

Anyway, all this speculation will end in a month. We'll just have to wait and see.