Bob Cosby

2014 Ford Mustang Sedan - First Look

92RS shearn

Early April fools huh? I see the article is post dated to tomorrow.

Indelibility

Silverado C-10

Yup, definitely not real. I would have believed it more if it had been in 2009 for the 2010 refresh, but the car is way too far in it's cycle for this kind of drastic change.

That said... I ummmmmm... actually.... kinda like it.... *ducks down below desk*

91_z28_4me

Glad I am not the only one. Would make for an interesting Lincoln, in a few years.

Silverado C-10

If they hid the rear door handle like they do on the fugly monstrosity below (sorry for the "T" word pic, but they have the only hidden rear handle that popped in my head) most people would have to take a second glance to see that it's a 4 door. I own one of these cars, they would only have to be stretched a few inches to have more sedan like rear seat room. And I honestly do think it would greatly boost sales. The Chevelle was available as a 2 door, 4 door, and wagon and they sold very well.

King Moose SS

I loled.

Speaking of 4-door sport fords. Why isn't the Falcon stateside yet?

guionM

Because when the Falcon was last redone, Ford North America decided against locking in both RHD and LHD into the structure. They essentially wanted to protect sales of the Panther cars (Crown Victoria & Town Car, both created and manufactured in... North America) in the Middle East.


The next Falcon isn't going to be RWD, but a derivitive of the Ford Taurus on the D3 structure. Ford has been debating the merits of putting the Crown Vic replacement a RWD chassis based on the D2C (Mustang) and the D3 at least since 2006. Back then, the notion was that Mercury would share the Falcon, and the larger Crown Vic replacement would be a twin of the larger-than-Falcon Ford Fairlane.

A combination of "One Ford" (which seeks to shrink the number of car platforms to just a few), and a management that feels that outside of the Mustang, there's no need to use a RWD chassis pretty much shut expansion of D2C into a new, longer, sedan chassis.

More specifically, a certain vehicle line executive for large FWD platforms made what upper management (ie: first Bill Ford, then later Alan Mually) considered a superior case for the D3 on financial grounds, and the idea that with AWD on the platform, no one would miss RWD.

IMHO, I feel this is a mistake, but also IMHO it's but a series of moves Ford is/has made that are mistakes.

Couple of examples:

* Killing the Aussie I6 engine: this engine rivaled BMW's 6s in smoothness, power output, emissions (Aussies were similar to the US) and advanced technology. Look up the later examples, they rivaled Ford V8s.

* The direction of Lincoln: While GM recognizes that to compete in the luxury market, you need to invest in the hardware to be credible and they have done so with Cadillac. Meanwhile, Ford believes nothing more than edgy styling and advanced electronics is enough to make Lincoln a serious competitor in that same luxury market. And they actually seem befuddled that they not only can't get the cars to sell, but that they are being viewed as being closer to Buicks than Cadillacs, let alone an alternative to BMWs or Mercedes Benzes.



BTW-FWIW: Your picture is the old BA Falcon. The current one is the new FG, which has a little of Ford's new design philosophy and flush headlights in the front end.

Here's a couple of current FG Falcons.





...and yes, that does say "Boss" in the hood stripe.

It has a supercharged 5.0.

ehaase

Your post was excellent. However, my understanding is the Taurus is moving to a stretched CD4 for the 2015 or 2016 model years. Wouldn't it make more sense to also move Falcon to a stretched CD4 platform?

guionM

Almost forgot about the chassis switch.

AdioSS

am I the only one who thinks those 4 door chops look good?

bossco

I liked them

guionM

No.... I like them too. I see them as American versions of the BMW 3 series... M3 in particular.

The really cool thing is the fact that future muscle sedans (say in about 5 to 8 years)will likely be similar to those chops. Rear drives, about the size of Mustangs and Fusions, about 300 to 400 pounds lighter than today's Chargers.

Most will be powered by turbo 4, and V6s will stand in for V8s (with NA V6s soon to be running 340hp, no one's going to notice). Meanwhile, V8s will be low volume higher price options (ie: current SRT LX cars).

Irony is that while GM and Chrysler will likely have vehicles like this chop, Ford's current plans employ nothing like this.

99SilverSS

It actually does look good from some angles. Rear not one of them.

Well played R&T.

Eric77TA

But what about Camaro's youngest brother?