Ford plans to develop new "white space" vehicles

[Kolesar]

"Ford plans to build fewer large SUVs and to develop new "white space" vehicles--ones that don't fit in traditional categories, and thus run around competing models rather than take them head on."
http://www.cleveland.com/ford/wide/index.ssf?/ford/wide/ford0124.html
I want a station wagon with a wee bit more ground clearance and a four cylinder engine--A VW clone or a big Focus.

[Cobalt Violet]

1. Wouldn't a Vibe or Matrix be a big Focus?

I know they're not Fords.

[The Animator]

2. I've got a Vibe, and I have to say I'm surprised I love it.

I used to drive a truck. A little 95 Isuzu pickup. A lot of sentimental value attached to that truck, and I miss it alot, but this vibe allows me to do just about everything I did with the truck, and a little more. Granted I have to cut lumber down into smaller peices if I'm going to load it into the back, but If I'm hauling my artwork around, I don't have to worry if it starts raining.

[Kolesar]

3. my sweetie bought one too. It is smaller than a Focus even

They cut the car shorter than the Corolla it is "based on" , so the sum cargo space is smaller. Great fuel economy, though.

[phantom power]

4. A Volvo XC-70? (it's 5-cylinder, though)

[Kolesar]

5. 18city/23hwy

Passenger Volume 101 ft3 (HB)
Luggage Volume 42 ft3 (HB)

V50 gets 23/31.
Passenger Volume 93 ft3 (HB)
Luggage Volume 32 ft3 (HB)

My late, bailed, 89 Celebrity was 20/29 and got 22 typically. That's all the further we got in 17 years of development. It had 41 sq ft behind the back seat and 99 sq ft of "passenger volume".

thanks

[phantom power]

6. The last 17 years were mostly spent "developing" SUVs :-)

[Kolesar]

7. True, and our minivans are getting fatter!

I think it's the folding-hidden third seats and extra sliding door. My 2000 Windstar was 4000 lbs at the scrap yard. Now they spec above 4300 pounds. I am sure those humble leaf-sprung Plymouth Voyagers from 1985 weighed 500 pounds less than mine.

[phantom power]

8. Sensors, air-bags and gadgets... Oh my!

Our V70 has front and side-curtain airbags. All these standard air-bags must add some weight to every car. Power seats, rear power supply, 18 inch wheels, power windows, DVD players, 6-speaker sound systems...

All this stuff is becoming more and more standard, as it trickles down. I'm no auto engineer, but that laundry list has got to add up after a while.

I also wonder about how much weight is added by the fact that everything is controlled by computers, guided by sensors, etc. It's like a human brain. Having a large brain confers some advantages (if you use it), but it also eats up 20% of the body's metabolism. The overhead is significant.

Last week I realized that my worst nightmare has come true. Every critical function of my car is controlled by software. Being a programmer, this is a bit like working at a sausage plant and being offered a hot-dog. I had the thing in the shop because there was an intermittent power loss. It was intermittent because it was a computer glitch, and the mechanics had some trouble debugging it. They're hardly mechanics anymore. They're computer technicians.

It reminds me of that old joke about if cars ran like Microsoft. Except -- oh god save us -- now they do.

[Kolesar]

9. Contemporary cars will never be classics because the engine controllers

...will not be supported in 25 years. I actually read that lament on a Pontiac message board. If only that was the least of our motoring problems.
I am still laughing over: "The last 17 years were mostly spent "developing" SUVs " :)

[phantom power]

10. You just made me realize it's even worse than I thought.

I didn't think that was possible :evilgrin:

If I'm still driving my car in 25 years, and not living out of it in some giant nomadic climate-refugee camp, I will rejoice that things have gone better than I predicted.

[Dead_Parrot]

11. White space?

Cool. Coming soon:

Ford. (Ford Stop)
Ford# (Ford Hash)
Ford* (Ford Splat)
And of corse, the Ford©, Ford® And Ford™, although I'm sure I've seen these referred to already.

I'm not looking froward to meeting a Ford Non-breaking-hyphen on the road, though...

If you're car-pooling, you could go to work in somebody else's Colon. Urgh.

[Dogmudgeon]

12. The Ford Colon. Endorsed by Toby Keith.

He's a Ford Truck man.

That's all he drives.

--p!
Oh, to live on
Brokeback Mountain
With the Bald Eagles and the Flags and stuff ...