It is pretty interesting.....

Basically they set out to beat the Camry, spend $3 billion plus and end up with a car that is almost as good, not as attractive, and costs more. In the end they don't sell everyone gets demoted or retires.....

Guess Ford really has a better way

 

Pretty much the same story happened with the MN12 (Thunderbird & Cougar).

They set out to make a BMW beating car, which they did. But the chassis ended up being overweight & expensive, couldn't be used for the Crown Vic replacement, was impractical for the Mustang, and a few repremands went around for that.

 

They really screwed up with the '96. They took a solid car that was the best seller in America in the early 90s. When the '96s came out they were ugly inside and out. The cars had horrible resale values, you could get one 2 years old for like $6k around here. Then they ruined the SHO,brought out a V8 with no manual and it didn't live up to expectations. Grand Prix GTPs were faster than V8 SHOs.

With the refreshening in '00 they seem to be back on track styling wise

 

Not to mention that pesky issue of camshaft gear slippage which tends to eat motors at a very young age.