Ford to drop current Freestyle

[BMWDave]

Ford to drop current Freestyle from van plan; vehicle name will likely survive
AMY WILSON | Automotive News and RICK KRANZ | Automotive News
Posted Date: 7/18/05
DETROIT -- As it juggles plans for new crossovers and minivan replacements, Ford Motor Co. intends to drop the existing version of its Ford Freestyle sport wagon.

But the Freestyle name will survive, Ford officials say.

The current Freestyle, which went on sale just 10 months ago, will be discontinued after the 2007 model year, several supplier and industry sources say. With sales below expectations, the Freestyle was squeezed out by a proliferation of sport wagons in Ford's plans.

A Ford source acknowledged that the current Freestyle will vanish.

Significant change

That represents a significant change in plans. Previously, Ford had scheduled a facelift for the Freestyle for the 2008 model year, giving it the Ford brand's new three-bar horizontal grille.

A Mercury version of the current Freestyle will be produced in 2007, as planned.

The Freestyle decision highlights the fluidity of product planning at Ford now. Timing, assembly plants and platforms for several vehicles are in flux, supplier and company sources said. This summer's contract negotiations with the Canadian Auto Workers union likely are delaying some final approvals.

Ford is expected to shift the Freestyle name to one of several crossovers and minivan replacements being developed on the Volvo-derived D3 and Mazda6-based CD3 platforms.

These include Ford and Lincoln minivan replacements - which the company calls "people movers" - inspired by the Ford Fairlane concept shown at the 2005 Detroit auto show. That concept used the CD3 platform. But Ford now plans to re-engineer the larger Volvo platform for the vehicles, sources said.

Ford also has abandoned long-touted plans to use the CD3 platform for its next-generation minivans, sources say. It now appears Ford will drop its current minivans when the Fairlane-styled Ford and Lincoln vehicles appear.

The changes in the sport wagon-minivan segment pushed out the current Freestyle, sources said.

"They're trying to sort out that whole segment," one supplier source said. "They have the Freestar, the Freestyle and then this Fairlane. There's not enough room for all three of those."

Freestyle sales have been much softer than Ford had anticipated. Since it went on sale, Ford has sold 44,066 Freestyles in the United States. Company officials at one time forecast annual sales of more than 100,000.

'We're very happy'

Ford product chief Phil Martens wouldn't confirm the demise of the current Freestyle or the plan for the Ford Fairlane and Lincoln minivan replacements.

"We have made the proper adjustments, and we're very happy with our product plans down the line," Martens said.

Here is the current plan, according to industry sources:

>> A Mercury version of the Freestyle still is scheduled for production in Chicago in 2007. That will recoup some of the investment in the current Freestyle. But sales of a Mercury model likely will fall far short of a Ford-brand vehicle.

>> The 2007 Lincoln Aviator and what tentatively is being called the Ford Edge will be built at Ford's Oakville, Ontario, assembly plant beginning about a year from now. They are two-row sport wagons on the Mazda6 platform. A three-row sport wagon also is being developed for Oakville, suppliers say, though it's not clear what badge it will carry.

>> The large Volvo-derived minivan replacements for Ford and Lincoln are scheduled to be built at Ford's Atlanta assembly plant, probably in 2008. Those three-row vehicles are expected to replace Ford's conventional minivans.

Despite earlier plans, Ford ultimately deemed the Mazda6 platform too small for both its minivans and the Fairlane, sources said. While the Fairlane's styling was praised, some journalists attending the Detroit auto show said it was too small. The two top-selling minivans, the Dodge Grand Caravan and the Honda Odyssey, are considerably larger.

>> The Ford Freestar and Mercury Monterey minivans are expected to die when the Ford and Lincoln minivan replacements debut, if not before. Sales have faltered badly since the vehicles debuted in late 2003. The Monterey especially is tanking, with recent monthly sales of fewer than 400 units.

Too many products

Product plans at any automaker are always fluid, but things at Ford seem especially muddled, sources say.

"There seems to be a lot of confusion, which is not necessarily new," one supplier source said. "They seem to be kind of in an uproar on what they'll do."

Martens rejected that notion: "We know what we're doing, and there was always a plan."

One industry analyst says the switch with the Freestyle shows that Ford recognizes that the market is looking for other things right now.

"It has not met expectations. And the market is rewarding bold styling," said Jeff Schuster, an analyst with J.D. Power and Associates. "But there's a positive spin to this - they're adapting more quickly than they have in the past."

[ifcar]

These are positively ridiculous plans. Anything that doesn't sell to Ford's standards is being dropped instead of being improved. This is a costly strategy, and I doubt it will produce optimum product either.  

[giant_mtb]

Hmm...I don't want Ford to start losing money like GM... <_<    :ph34r:  

[mazda6er]

Wow, this is probably the dumbest decision I've seen in a while. The Freestyle has been routinely praised in auto publications, and is a very solid vehicle. I'm dissapointed in Ford, they should give it more time. How effective do they expect the Mercury version to be in terms of sales numbers? Stupid stuff.

[BMWDave]

Wow, this is probably the dumbest decision I've seen in a while. The Freestyle has been routinely praised in auto publications, and is a very solid vehicle. I'm dissapointed in Ford, they should give it more time. How effective do they expect the Mercury version to be in terms of sales numbers? Stupid stuff.

Yup, this is quite a stupid decision.  The Freestyle is one of their most appealing vehicles at the moment, and to drop it is just plain dumb.

[ifcar]

They cited the car's lack of exciting styling as a reason for the Freestyle's lack of sales success, but decided to kill it off instead of giving it the planned facelift and power boost.

I have to hope/assume that this is inaccurate information or an idea that will be modified.  

[Raghavan]

i thought the Freestar was doing well?

[BMWDave]

i thought the Freestar was doing well?

The freestar is Ford's junky minivan.

[Raghavan]

i thought the Freestar was doing well?

The freestar is Ford's junky minivan.

DAmn, i meant freestyle.  

[giant_mtb]

Yay!  Let's make a brand new car and spend millions and millions of dollars developing and building it, then 2-3 years later, get rid of it!        

[TBR]

Like to note that they didn't spend just a whole lot developing it, it is just a rebodied 500 which is just a stretched S60. Still it doesn't make sense for them to develop it, and 44,000 is a great sales number for a wagon.  

[giant_mtb]

And...who wants a Merc version of the Freestyle...?  :blink:    

[280Z Turbo]

Who wants a Mercury anything?!

[Secret Chimp]

And...who wants a Merc version of the Freestyle...?  :blink:  

That part of the plan confuses me more because it's only going to be around for one year... discontinued after and introduced in 2007, unless I misread.

[giant_mtb]

Who wants a Mercury anything?!

Yeah..Mercury is sort of a weird brand.  It's in between luxury (Lincoln) and affordable (Ford)...it doesn't really have much of a defined niche...it's in between and it's odd.  Although I don't mind the Grand Marquis with it's V-8.       Even though you can barely hear it...even from the outside...but you can still feel it when you rev the engine and when you accelerate. ^_^

[BMWDave]

Who wants a Mercury anything?!

Yeah..Mercury is sort of a weird brand.  It's in between luxury (Lincoln) and affordable (Ford)...it doesn't really have much of a defined niche...it's in between and it's odd.  Although I don't mind the Grand Marquis with it's V-8.       Even though you can barely hear it...even from the outside...but you can still feel it when you rev the engine and when you accelerate. ^_^

Mercury needsto reinvent itself, they cant spend their life being rebadges of Ford.

[280Z Turbo]

Who wants a Mercury anything?!

Yeah..Mercury is sort of a weird brand.  It's in between luxury (Lincoln) and affordable (Ford)...it doesn't really have much of a defined niche...it's in between and it's odd.  Although I don't mind the Grand Marquis with it's V-8.       Even though you can barely hear it...even from the outside...but you can still feel it when you rev the engine and when you accelerate. ^_^

From what I've seen, a Mercury is just a Ford with some aluminum trim.

The CV/GM cars have V8 engines with V6 power. Doesn't sound too good to me.

[ifcar]

If Ford purges the Freestyle from its lineup, then the Meta 1 would be a Mercury exclusive. Perhaps that's what they were trying to accomplish.

[BMWDave]

Who wants a Mercury anything?!

Yeah..Mercury is sort of a weird brand.  It's in between luxury (Lincoln) and affordable (Ford)...it doesn't really have much of a defined niche...it's in between and it's odd.  Although I don't mind the Grand Marquis with it's V-8.       Even though you can barely hear it...even from the outside...but you can still feel it when you rev the engine and when you accelerate. ^_^

From what I've seen, a Mercury is just a Ford with some aluminum trim.

The CV/GM cars have V8 engines with V6 power. Doesn't sound too good to me.

Yup, they arent very efficient engines.  Ford should drop the 4.6 from the Stang GT in there.  Give it a bit more oomph.  But almost all CVs go to fleet sales I believe, so it wouldnt be worth the investment.

[280Z Turbo]

Who wants a Mercury anything?!

Yeah..Mercury is sort of a weird brand.  It's in between luxury (Lincoln) and affordable (Ford)...it doesn't really have much of a defined niche...it's in between and it's odd.  Although I don't mind the Grand Marquis with it's V-8.       Even though you can barely hear it...even from the outside...but you can still feel it when you rev the engine and when you accelerate. ^_^

From what I've seen, a Mercury is just a Ford with some aluminum trim.

The CV/GM cars have V8 engines with V6 power. Doesn't sound too good to me.

Yup, they arent very efficient engines.  Ford should drop the 4.6 from the Stang GT in there.  Give it a bit more oomph.  But almost all CVs go to fleet sales I believe, so it wouldnt be worth the investment.

I wonder if the 5.4 would fit.

That also has 300 hp, but it likely has more torque.

[TBR]

Who wants a Mercury anything?!

Yeah..Mercury is sort of a weird brand.  It's in between luxury (Lincoln) and affordable (Ford)...it doesn't really have much of a defined niche...it's in between and it's odd.  Although I don't mind the Grand Marquis with it's V-8.       Even though you can barely hear it...even from the outside...but you can still feel it when you rev the engine and when you accelerate. ^_^

From what I've seen, a Mercury is just a Ford with some aluminum trim.

The CV/GM cars have V8 engines with V6 power. Doesn't sound too good to me.

But torque is good for fleet buyers, a V6 wouldn't work as well for taxi drivers or police officers.  

[280Z Turbo]

Who wants a Mercury anything?!

Yeah..Mercury is sort of a weird brand.  It's in between luxury (Lincoln) and affordable (Ford)...it doesn't really have much of a defined niche...it's in between and it's odd.  Although I don't mind the Grand Marquis with it's V-8.       Even though you can barely hear it...even from the outside...but you can still feel it when you rev the engine and when you accelerate. ^_^

From what I've seen, a Mercury is just a Ford with some aluminum trim.

The CV/GM cars have V8 engines with V6 power. Doesn't sound too good to me.

But torque is good for fleet buyers, a V6 wouldn't work as well for taxi drivers or police officers.

Re-read my post. I don't think you understood what I was saying.

[Catman]

This second guessing is going to bury Ford.  They're making some great cars that just need some powertrain upgrades and a little more refining.  What they don't need to be doing is redesigning vehicles that don't need it.  

[thewizard16]

This second guessing is going to bury Ford.  They're making some great cars that just need some powertrain upgrades and a little more refining.  What they don't need to be doing is redesigning vehicles that don't need it.

I agree. It's stupid to drop the Freestyle when it would do fine with a few updates, and it's even stupider to change it to Mercury and leave it. Mercury is a pointless brand, in my opinion, rebadged Fords with most of the options a Ford has standard, a bit of extra chrome, and a price that reflects both. If they come out with a new version of the Freestyle which would be presumably better, then what's the point in having a Mercury version of the old one? Ford's profitability may not last if they do bonehead things like this too much.

[Raza]

These are positively ridiculous plans. Anything that doesn't sell to Ford's standards is being dropped instead of being improved. This is a costly strategy, and I doubt it will produce optimum product either.

You're right.  Ford's been doing this for quite a while.  If it's not a hot seller in its first month, they flush the R&D down the toilet, burn the cars, and start over.  I know economists say not to consider sunk costs, but economics is studied in a vaccuum and practiced in the real world.

[ifcar]

When did Ford do this before? Are you referring to the Cougar, maybe?

[TBR]

When did Ford do this before? Are you referring to the Cougar, maybe?

Surely not, they kept the Cougar around for 5 years. The Merkur Scorpio and Mercury Capris (the fwd one) are the only Ford products I can think of where they did something like that.

[280Z Turbo]

How can this make sense economically? How could they lose profits from continuing to build this?

If they keep the Ranger around, why can't they keep this?

Although, I suppose the Ranger benefits more from fleet sales.

[93JC]

When did Ford do this before? Are you referring to the Cougar, maybe?

Surely not, they kept the Cougar around for 5 years. The Merkur Scorpio and Mercury Capris (the fwd one) are the only Ford products I can think of where they did something like that.

The Scorpio was a European Ford which cost too much to export over here considering sales.

The Capri was a Ford Australia product that had the same problem.

[TBR]

I knew the Scorpio was from Europe (didn't know about the Capri though), but they never gave the cars a chance to get a firm foothold on the USA market.