guionM

In another thread, I posted that Ford had no plans for new sheetmetal on the Town Car (as well as Crown Vic & Grand Marquis) between now and their likely death after the 2010 model year.

The issue with the 2010 model year is that Ford has an agreement with the CAW and local goverment types to keep the St Thomas plant (where the Ford & Mercury "Panther Chassis" is made) open till at least the end of 2008 (the 2009/2010 model year). Everyone including myself logically expected Ford to move the Town Car production there when it closed down the Wixom Michigan plant next spring, and retire all the cars at once. That's not gonna happen now.

Ford has informed the CAW that the plant WON'T get the Lincoln Town Car.

Being that the move to St Thomas would be the cheapest way of continuing the TC (the plant's already set up for the chassis), it almost certainly spells the end of the Lincoln Town Car as we know it.

http://www.autoweek.com/apps/pbcs.dl...024/LATESTNEWS

Ford plans to replace the large Lincoln with a Ford Five Hundred derived FWD based AWD vehicle, that will compete more with the DTS by some accounts. That leaves Chrysler with the livery and limo business.

The next big Lincoln will look much like the Lincoln MkS concept from earlier this year.

http://www.mph-online.com/web/prtranslated/00418

An excellent review that hits all my thoughts on the MKS:
http://car-reviews.automobile.com/Li...s-concept/1642

Threxx

Hey, if they can get a unibody car to produce that same 'cruise liner in the ocean' waterbed type feel from the towncar that old people seem to cherish, then I guess more power to them.

Does buick still make any BOF cars? If not, old people still like 'em, right? So I guess that'd be proof that you don't have to use an oldschool platform design just to make the retirement crowd home that still drives happy.

PS - about the limo business, honestly almost half the new limos I see on the road now are SUVs.

96_Camaro_B4C

And I'd bet there are more Cadillac DTS-based limos than Chrysler 300-based limos, at least right now.

Z28x

Wow, I hope they at least keep the Town Car name.

Kind of funny, Cadillac is going all RWD and Lincoln is going to FWD based.

I've seen DTS and 300 based Limos, and I expect to see more DTS limos now that the Town Car is done. Has anyone ever seen a STS limo

Ken S

Slightly off topic, but I would love to see a new STS slightly lengthen out back, by say, 6-12 inches, for the added legroom and more angle of recline out back. Add the STSv powertrain and brakes, but perhaps still keep the suspension comfortable.. closer to the regular STS ride... Perhaps even another layer of sound dampening.

Tint out the back, put an optional huge center console out back with integrated tables, power, multimedia entertainment, wireless networking. and a bottle holder of course..

Think would make a nice ride.. It would be cool if perhaps a Caddy dealership set themselves up to customise your ride like this.. Complete with custom interior colors and material swatches and stuff.. Would be a cool project, since we've heard hints of GM wanting to move Caddy upscale like this..

Z28x

Your dream will soon come true (at least in China) they are getting a STS-L. I don't think it is out yet, but will be an STS stretched 3.9"

http://www.autonews.com/apps/pbcs.dl.../60601015/1003

WERM

I think this is why the wall street folks have little confidence in fords future. Everybody knows they could just take the Crown Vic / Grand Marquis frame and put a modern body on it, modern interior in it, and give it a more updated powertrain (from the Mustang?). Then, they could sell it for another 10 years.

Police departments would still buy them.
Taxi companies would still buy them.
Floridians would still buy them.
Rental companies would still buy them.
Government agencies would still buy them.

There is a niche for an inexpensive, big, smooth riding, heavy duty car.

The Town Car? I don't think its as important, but it could easily continue to exist and be profitable.

Eric Bryant

Take the stiffest unibody structure in the world, drop the spring rates by 50% and the damper rates by 80%, and then drop the rear roll bar, and I guarantee you'll think it's a classic Buick or Lincoln. No one does this, of course, since it's a huge waste of money to combine the latest-and-greatest structure with a waterbed-like suspension.

I remain unconvinced that Lincoln's new product direction will succeed. And to think that, back in 1999 or 2000, the company was looking to blow right back Cadillac as the premier American luxury brand. What a difference a few years and a few billion dollars makes, and give it up to GM for attempting to return Cadillac to world-class status instead of simply contenting itself with maintaining a cross-town rivalry.

Eric Bryant

GM coulda done this, too, with the B-body platform. I'm convinced that car could still return a healthy profit and fill up one of the plants that GM is trying to close. Might have been nice to have the OK City plant building 100K B-bodies each year instead of having its entire workforce dumped into the Jobs Bank. For as crappy as that platform may have been, even in its time, a freshened interior and GenIII power would still attract certain customers nowadays and provide a nice "bridge" into the Zeta cars.

Good Ph.D

If i had money, Ill tell you what Id' do... But it wouldn't involve a Mercury, or Ford or Lincoln.

They need to make the Mercs the Fords, then Lincoln the Mercs, then pull out a clean sheet of paper...

I know Lincoln has Jag and Range Rover over its head and those make more money then Lincoln ever could... But is this really the best they could come up with? I completely agree with the article posted, a great interior only works if you bother to get inside...

I too was in love with the Continental and Mark X concepts, they were distincly old school American with a lot of great stuff no one has bothered to do. The hard wood floors come to mind, Lord knows how much that would cost, but I don't think you could come up with anything more outrageously decadent.

I think Ford is making the same mistake in the American market that Cadillac is making in the European market. They are exporting the STS, CTS and BLS, the first two being great cars... But all things considered they dont scream American or do much the germans don't. Competing with BMW over here is plausible, over there its ludicrous. Outside of Mustang the only American cars Europeans give a damn about are the Land Yacht Cadillacs of the past which had a quite a following in films... True enough it was always a campy sort of thing, but people liked them.

I would even venture to say that part of the appeal was the fact that they took up 2 European lanes as apposed to 1 and 1/2 of ours and were completely impractical in every concievable way. What says luxury like a car that can only be driven on the main street?

In short, If I want an Acura, Ill buy one, not a Lincoln. Its really sad that they are shooting for the second or third tier premium cars... and missing.

OctaneZ28

My dad has driven Town Cars for the last 15 years.

Time to get him in a Cadillac!

Good Ph.D

Another thing.. Seeing as how the Town Car and the Crown Vic actually have markets...

Why are they saving another "Me Too" Mercury model that I wouldn't know existed if they hadn't told me...

Send the Lincoln badges to Canada and be done with it.

unvc92camarors

Ahh, Mercs and Lincolns all look the same anymore, or atleast very close. Lincoln needs a new styling direction altogether.

IREngineer

You think this is hard to explain, read this:
http://web.camaross.com/forums/showt...07#post3942807

Fbodfather

I have absolutely no inside info. on this......

........but I wouldn't be surprised to see it built in Ontario, anyway. (things have a way of changing overnight.....)

I just don't see Ford dropping that nameplate.........and I suspect it would get a freshening when they move production there.

It's kinda sad -- I have an office in Wixom -- and drive past the Wixom plant on my way there........never easy to watch something like that close. (and it brings back bad memories of Ste. Therese.)