Ford Press Release Roundup
Ford's PR machine is working overtime. Before 10 AM, FoMoCo sent out seven press releases. The first missive trumpets the fact that the 2009 Focus will be available in a SEL trim line with a lot of standard stuff that's optional on other Focii. And all Focii will now have electronic stability control (standard on the Hyundai Elantra). The next release tells the world that $1,995 buys you a glass roof panel for your 2009 Mustang. Release three: The Blue Oval Boys are moving up the introduction of an "industry-first innovation" (the Blind Spot Mirror) by a year, and making it standard on the 2009 Edge. Release number four reveals the pains to which FoMoCo goes– "driving, shaking, baking and freezing the vehicle"– to keep the Flex from living up to its name. Another news flash! The Lincoln MKS is available in luscious White Chocolate, Sangria and Cinnamon (dieters can delight in Tuxedo Black Metallic, White Suede, Brilliant Silver Metallic, Smokestone, Light Ice Blue and Dark Ink Blue). The penultimate press release brags that the MKS "outsold the Acura RL, Infiniti M35 and Cadillac STS" in July, thanks to "unique marketing and education efforts underway since the vehicle was introduced in November." Finally, Ford wants us to know that their powertrain lineup "underscores four key pillars of the company's 'Drive one' communications effort: Drive Green, Drive Smart, Drive Quality, and Drive Safe." Interestingly it says nothing about driving me crazy. And the day's not over yet…
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"the MKS "outsold the Acura RL, Infiniti M35 and Cadillac STS" in July. They attribute the sales to "unique marketing and education efforts underway since the vehicle was introduced in November." Or it could just be the initial buying surge that any new model seems to experience for the first couple of months." Or it could be that sales of the RL, M35 and STS are and always have been pathetic. How did they manage to leave off the 9-5 and S80 (oops, no dissing relatives)?
Wow, a Lincoln sedan is outselling the STS. Who would have thunk! It is sad to see what has become of the Cadillac Seville ... er STS. Ever since the 1998 redesign (which merged the Seville and the Oldsmobile Aurora platforms) it has lost whatever once made it something special. The success of the CTS lineup seems to have come largely at the expensive of the STS (Seville) and DTS (deVille) product ranges. How typical of GM, one new product does reasonably well at the expense of the two products which used to be the bread-and-butter. The lurch back to rear wheel drive for Cadillac has by and large been a marketplace failure. Way back in 1967 Cadillac took a big leap forward with the world first modern large FWD luxury car. Now GM is chasing the herd rather than standing proudly alone. Enthusiasts gush about the perceived advantages of RWD, but the majority of people who buy Cadillacs mostly either don't care, or prefer FWD. Perhaps with the MKS Lincoln will pick up the mantle of building American style luxury cars on FWD platforms. All other things being equal, FWD has a fuel economy advantage, especially in local driving, due to less rotating mass to be accelerated and decelerated. Driveline friction losses are also lower with FWD.
$2,000 is too much for a roof. Test one in a hail storm(softball size) and see how it fares. Does anything happen if I(or someone else) stand on it? Does it have any sort of UV coating on it?
I had a chance to drive the MKS yesterday. It's a beautiful car and had a very nice interior, but the driving experience wasn't as polished as I expected. The MKX (I know - different kind of vehicle altogether) drove better.