I imagine the spreadsheets say $$$. If the town car is $20k more than a crown vic but only has a slightly nicer interior and a few extra add ons I can't imagine how it wouldn't make sense to move the car to St. Thomas.

 

Superficially, yeah. But the Town Car is apparently not compatibile with the current production line, so they would be spending some money for a model that's going to be dead in the next 4-6 years no matter what. It really depends entirely on the numbers, which I certainly don't know. If they're killing the town car out of spite, I agree.

I suppose it's natural that folks on a Camaro board are shedding a tear for another BOF RWD "American Car". Everyone (including me) would love to see something like this:



But the question is whether people who spend $50K+ on an auto want something like that, or do they want an Acura.

 

Why can't they just base a Town Car off an XJ with a different body and a "more Lincoln" type suspension?

 

Yeah, but they wouldn't have to spend much to make the Town Car in the Crown Vic Factory. Think making the Corvette and XLR in two separate factories. Any way, the only way Town Car will be dead "no matter what" is if Ford deliberately kills it, just like GM did the Camaro and B bodies.

I think an AWD Town Car replacement is going to be the same winner of an idea that the X-type was.

 

Since Town Car buyers don't really care about drive wheels, it could actually be successful with a FWD/AWD platform. They'll have to convince the taxi/livery services that the cars are strong enough to appeal to that market.

There may be a few who want a traditional car who'll be unhappy with the loss of a V8 body-on-frame. But they'd all be over 70, right? How many more cars will they be buying?

 

Of course, you look at the current Caddy market. Hi-po stuff that appeals to more than Gran and Gramps. Not your average Impala rebadge or Buick rebadge.

The old folks I talked to at the restaurant I manage at LOOOOVE the RWD deal. Evidently, some do care. Nothing like a RWD burnout for them, either!

I've said it before, trick out Mercury or go Oldsmobile with it.

Lincoln needed to bust out something--base engines as 5.4L DOHCers or v10 usage--or go home. There is no freshness in Fords with $20K premiums on them. Nada.

Ford looks like they are going home with this one.

The vehicles are there....but, they are GMing this one and making another Buick/Pontiac mess out of this.

 

I don't know why a lot of people hate BOF designs. I really like them. Maybe it is because I grew up on Mid-80's Oldsmobiles, and not on....insert inflamatory remark towards Japanese brands.... I generally dislike FWD, and like big roomy cars. I have been exposed to a myriad of unibody vs BOF cars, and see no great advantage to unibody.

 

Yeah, I guess you may be right. Some people not interested in performance or handling will still want V8 RWD, because that's what they've always had and wanted. And if Ford forces them to FWD, then half will probably end up at Toyota or Honda.

I think the number of people with such preferences continues to drop, however. Few people under 50 are going to want a large body-on-frame car with a soft suspension and a V8. Not zero, few.