Ford Motor plans to develop a total of ten new cars and SUVs off of the Mazda6 platform, for each of its Ford, Mercury and Lincoln nameplates. Other than the Lincoln Zephyr featured here, the future models will include a gasoline-electric hybrid Ford sedan for 2006 (name to be announced).
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| Ford plans a total of 10 new cars and crossover sport utility vehicles to be built off of the Mazda6 platform. (Photo: Rob Rothwell, Canadian Auto Press) |
Mazda has been busy spinning off a variety of its own models from this flexible architecture, starting with the 4-door sedan that initially stunned the automotive press into giving the Mazda6 award after award, and most recently finishing off with a 5-door hatchback version and a sport wagon. Without doubt Mazda is hardly finished, with its next-generation MPV expected to ride on 6 underpinnings, plus an all-new crossover sport utility the brand originally dubbed Nextourer when it was introduced on the auto show circuit as a concept in 1999.
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| Lincoln desperately needs a car like the Zephyr to help turn sales around. (Photo: Trevor Hofmann, Canadian Auto Press) |
The new Zephyr, the first new model to be introduced since the rear-wheel drive LS debuted in 1999, couldn't come soon enough for the beleaguered luxury division. Unit sales of Ford's premier domestic nameplate have been on a downward trajectory as of late, with 2004 looking as if headed for a fourth consecutive drop. U.S. sales fell below 100,000 units for 2003, and 2004 doesn't even look as promising with sales through February so low 75,000 for the year seems doubtful. That would be less than half of what Lincoln achieved in 2000, when its new LS helped sales to rise above 155,000 units.
The good news to Lincoln is its new Zephyr should cost less to produce than the LS at the end of the day. After all, the LS shares architecture with the Jaguar S-Type and Ford Thunderbird roadster, both pricey models, while the new model will come from more common stock.