Crown Victoria Reborn
One of the most well known names in autodom is poised to get its first major overhaul in nearly thirty years. Ford’s Crown Victoria, introduced in 1979, has had only small changes since its introduction, but a new plan by Ford to overhaul the crown jewel of its fleet is reputedly in the offing. Thanks to central authority help – Australian basically – the new Crown Victoria will be a clean break from this model and will help to spawn additional models for brothers Mercury and Lincoln. Yes, you may not have considered a Crown Victoria up to this point, but the approaching new “Crown Vic” may change change your mind about that.
You have to go back all the way to the late 1970s to when “downsizing” was a term used by the vehicle industry to explain a shell game where giant automobiles were dropped down a nick in size to sit on a platform rather smaller than the prior model. Indeed, across the 1970s Ford’s full size offerings the LTD/Galaxie 500 were enormous beasts of burden. When the point the then new Galaxie five hundred Crown Victoria was released at the end of the decade, Ford was playing catch up to General Motors who had earlier mastered the entire downsizing strategy.
Initially, the Crown Victoria had a broad appeal for drivers wanting a giant automobile with all of the trappings. As time went buy the vehicle grew less and less desirable as buyer tastes modified, but the Crown Victoria’s style didn’t. As a pursuit, presidency, or fleet vehicle the Crown Victoria has done very well, but Ford has only made modest enhancements to the automobile over the years. Indeed, America’s two automaker has made significant investments in trucks, vans, SUVS and select autos, but the Crown Victoria quickly began to show its age. Today’s model is awfully outmoded and it hasn’t had a comprehensive refreshing in more than ten years, so an overhaul is warranted.
Ford’s impetus for change is coming from an improbable source : a foreign government. According to news sources, Ford’s Australian operation has received a $1.4 bln Grant from Australia to build a production and research facility that will be used to design and build several new models. One of the Australian cars slated to gain from this move will be the Ford Falcon, a full sized car that will become the root of the all-new Crown Victoria.
While some have theorized that the the new Crown Victoria will be built in Australia and imported to the U.S., this is unlikely to happen. Instead, Ford will expand the Falcon’s production to at least one U.S. Plant, make some technical refinements, and sell the auto as a Crown Victoria. It’s going to be focused to police departments and fleet buyers essentially with some residual sales for personal buyers. In addition, the Crown Victoria will spawn a new Mercury Gran Marquis while a marginally stretched and lots more classy version of the automobile will become the replacement for the present Lincoln Town Car.
Yes, the Crown Victoria is well past its useful age. Thanks to some assistance from down under, the 2010 model should be a refreshing change. At least Ford hopes you may think so.
To read more about cars and see some of the most expensive cars in the world, visit thesupercars.org and along the way, have a look at old Ford Mustang.
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