We've got plenty of options for names, though I wasn't around when the Falcon first came out.
starting with the one Mad Max drove.
Mine has it on a little window sticker on each side, and the dot pattern at the top of the windshield.
Thinking back to when Ford wanted to tell us a front-wheel-drive car would be a Mustang,
Better yet, a shooting brake, better rooflines. They come in 4-doors too.
This.
I may have an answer:
Hello; Large to midsized sedans had to meet more stringent MPG & emission numbers than pickup based vehicles. As you say this became a way for SUV's to take over the role of a sedan. This even tho the sedan could be and often was some better in terms of mileage & emissions. To me another example of what is wrong with government bureaucrats messing with such things as automobiles/vehicles. The meddling resulted in more SUV/truck types on the road which often did worse than a traditional sedan.
But, Ford didnāt realize anything. Thousands of owners staged a write-in campaign that caused the Probe/MX-6 to become what they were rather than the ānewā Mustang.
Station wagons were the nerdy family haulers of the 60s and 70s. The minivans of that time. The first SUVs were based on truck platforms and marketed as vehicles effective for hauling people and stuff around without being embarrassed to be seen in them. These days there are plenty of potential customers out there who are too young to remember the old station wagons, so there's no stigma with wagons for them.
Ford axed all vehicles where it couldn't compete with Toyota and Honda. Sedans, hatches, and now the Ford Escape. People don't generally cross shop Explorers with hot hatches. An Explorer likely is better for a good sized family.
If the CTS-V wagon still existed today, we might have bought one instead of an Explorer. My wife likes to drive bigger vehicles, thatās the only reason we bought a new SUV last year. My son hauls all his sports equipment in his own car now so we donāt really need a full size SUV anymore. A wagon like the V-wagon wouldāve suited my wifeās want for a bigger vehicle.
Amen brother. Ford is expanding the brand, theyāre in the business to sell cars. Most non-enthusiasts know Mustang. If thereās a suitable sedan version that gives the Mustang ācoolā factor but is still family friendly, it will sell. And to an audience that likely wouldnāt have considered Mustang (or maybe even Ford in general) otherwise. Smart business move in my opinion. We the enthusiast crowd are a very small piece of the car buying pie, and shrinking. Ford knows it. The Ford family wants to keep Mustang alive, this is the best way to do it to justify the production costs
Yeah I think the real [and unfortunate] problem people are ignoring here is that the demographic who used to buy sporty coupes can, by and large, no longer afford to buy almost any new car. Let alone sporty ones that have gone up significantly in price. And if they do like fun cars and CAN afford them, they also cannot compromise on practicality. They need easy ingress/egress, and/or they need to be able to haul the whole family.
I also see those that in the past wouldāve been a sport coupe buyer opt for different experiences. Such as travel, expensive restaurants, concerts, etc. I think some of it is just a generational change. They want to do things differently than we did. Cars arenāt an experience for them. Affordability is part of it for sure, but there are several 20-somethingās right out of college that I know that are traveling for 2 weeks at a time all over the world. They donāt care what kind of car they drive or saving for a house. They want the travel experience now instead.
