The New Crown Victoria
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One of the most well known names in autodom is poised to get its first major overhaul in just about 30 years. Ford’s Crown Victoria, introduced in 1979, has had only insignificant changes since its introduction, but a new plan by Ford to overhaul the crown jewel of its fleet is apparently in the offing. Thanks to central authority help - Australian basically - the new Crown Victoria will be a clean break from this model and will help to spawn extra models for brothers Mercury and Lincoln. Yes, you may not have considered a Crown Victoria up to this point, but the coming new “Crown Vic” may change change your opinion about that.
You have to go back all the way to the late 1970s to when “downsizing” was a term used by the auto industry to describe a shell game where giant automobiles were dropped down a nick in size to sit on a platform rather smaller than the previous model. Indeed, throughout the 1970s Ford’s full-size offerings the LTD/Galaxie 500 were massive beasts of burden. When the point the then new Galaxie five hundred Crown Victoria was released at the end of the decade, Ford was playing catch up to General Motors who had earlier mastered the whole downsizing strategy.
Initially, the Crown Victoria had a broad appeal for drivers wanting a big car with all the accoutrements. As time went buy the car grew less and less fascinating as buyer tastes changed, but the Crown Victoria’s style did not. As a pursuit, presidency, or fleet automobile the Crown Victoria has done very well, but Ford has only made modest enhancements to the car over time. Indeed, America’s #2 automaker has invested heavily in trucks, vans, SUVS and select automobiles, but the Crown Victoria quickly began to show its age. Today’s model is awfully outmoded and it hasn’t had an exhaustive refreshing in more than ten years, so an overhaul is warranted.
Ford’s impetus for change is coming from an unlikely source: a foreign govt. According to reports sources, Ford’s Australian operation has received a $1.4 bln grant from Australia to build a production and research facility that will be used to design and build several new models. One of the Australian automobiles slated to benefit from this move will be the Ford Falcon, a full sized automobile which may become the root of the all-new Crown Victoria.
While some have theorized that the the new Crown Victoria will be built in Australia and imported to the U.S, this is doubtful to happen. Instead, Ford will expand the Falcon’s production to 1 U.S. plant, make some technical refinements, and sell the vehicle as a Crown Victoria. It’ll be focused to police departments and fleet buyers essentially with some residual sales for personal buyers. In addition, the Crown Victoria will spawn a new Mercury Gran Marquis while a slightly stretched and lots more elegant version of the automobile will become the replacement for the current Lincoln City Car.
Yes, the Crown Victoria is well past its useful age. Thanks to some aid from down under, the 2010 model should be a refreshing change. At least Ford hopes you will think so.
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