The same tactic that Chrysler took with the Jeep brand. Now, there are a plethora of Jeep models that are pretty unrelated to the original Jeep concept. Marketing sells. Ford will still sell sedans overseas where there is a bigger market. Just think of Ford as a specialty brand like GMC…but only here. Ford is just choosing to put their R and D into areas that are the most profitable and leaving the rest to others. Heck, they got out of the mid size truck market years ago and are now returning with the new Ranger in America. That could be a huge seller.
Ford might include a sedan version of the Mustang some day, but they won’t destroy their market for a sport coupe. IMO, the main thing that keeps them from having a sedan version is that it might offend prospective customers enough that they would buy a Camaro or Challenger instead.
Hopefully there is nobody dumb enough at Ford to make a 4 door granny car Mustang. We dodged a bullet when they considered naming the Probe, Mustang.
The fwd Probe from the late 1980s and early 1990s, somebody at Ford considered naming it Mustang . . . ?
Talk about watering down a name . . . remember the fwd Cougar? 
Yes the Probe had been considered as a Mustang.
Forgot about the Cougar, but now that you reminded me I remember a coworker had one.
Maybe, this is an opportunity for Ford to make a very good to excellent Mustang. I like Mustangs, but I live in the snow belt, I want drive wheels under the engine. An AWD, or 4WD
Mustang? Just wrong! Cut down on your varieties, and build fewer vehicles with optimal
quality. I did own a '72 Mustang, I liked it, but that car gave me the blues at times. The '93
Ranger was awesome, no trouble at all.
Other car brands may headed in this direction as well, see this article:
Ford is also going to reintroduce the Bronco in 2020…
The article I read stated that Ford would keep only the Mustang and a new CUV based upon the Focus and sell only trucks and SUVs (if this is accurate, what happens to the Escape; or is the new Focus going to be something more like the Toyota Venza?). In reading that, a thought occurred to me. If you remember, back in the day the big 3 all had mutual interests (via stock swaps) with Japanese manufacturers. GM was with Toyota, Ford was with Mazda and MOPAR was with Mitsubishi. In the case of MOPAR there is still evidence of that as the Mitsubishi Outlander is based loosely on the Dodge Journey (in the past the Mitsubishi mid-sized pickup, the name of which escapes me, was basically a rebadged Dodge Dakota). In the case of Ford, the Ranger pickup was built on some assembly lines side-by-side with the Mazda B2000 and B3000 pickups. This makes me wonder if the Ford/Mazda cooperation is still in effect and that Mazda cars will start to show up at Ford dealerships.
I think by “SUV”, that includes all “SUVs” (which is only the Expedition, if we go by the body on frame requirement) and CUVs, including the Explorer, Edge, Escape, Etc…
Actually I think this is something that could benefit Lincoln. The S550 chassis would a fantastic platform for a RWD sports sedan. Something that could compete with the BMW 5 Series or entry level E Class MB’s, and the Caddy CTS. Rear wheel drive and either a high output 3.5L ecoboost or a tuned up Coyote paired with the 10 speed automatic would make for very competitive performance.
I don’t think conventional sedans have the utility they once had. When I was growing up, we, and all our neighbors had utility trailers and we had trailer hitches on our cars. The sedans in the 1940s and 1950s were capable of carrying 6 people. Over time, things changed. I remember back in 1959 my dad was thinking about trading in his 1954 Buick for a new Buick. On a test drive in the 1959 Buick, the center passenger seats, both front and rear, were hard, due to the fact the car was lower than previous model years and the driveshaft tunnel intruded on the passenger compartment. My dad told the salesman that he wasn’t going to pay $3200 for a four passenger car. He waited until 1963 and bought a Studebaker Lark V-8. The car held 6 passengers, had plenty of legroom in the back seat, and we towed our boat and trailer with the Studebaker from east central Indiana to Northern Minnesota for our family vacations. Today’s cars are 4 passenger vehicles and with front wheel drive and uniit construction aren’t capable of towing trailers.
We haven’t owned a conventional sedan as our main vehicle for over 15 years. When I have to give up my horn and am no longer toting my myself and my musical friends and instruments to gigs, I won’t replace my minivan with a conventional sedan. I’ll replace it with a Mazda Miata. Will the Miata be comfortable for my 6’2" frame? No! But if my back is going to hurt, it’s going to hurt over a car worth driving.
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I saw Ford Pickups at the Tesla Store in Highland Park, Il. for utility purposes though not for sale purposes.
My step dad has an 03 F150 that he uses to haul lumber and landscaping stuff home on occasions, but he babies the truck otherwise- constantly washing it and such. He’s made the comment about wanting to park the truck for the winter sometimes and I have to wonder why he bought a 4WD truck if he wants to park it in the winter. Especially since he has a bad hip and my mom, until this past saturday, had an 05 Cobalt that hurt him to get in and out of on the passenger side.
If the Bronco is a body on frame variant of the Ranger with its turbo charged motor, it would be a welcome addition. If it’s just another rebadged version of the Explorer, the it may just get lost in the crowd.
I live in Ohio and just bought a new Mustang as a fun car in March. I also own an AWD 2010 Mazda CX-7 that I use to drive to work and will be my winter “beater” for the time being.
As for the A/4WD Mustang, the high end super cars are using that setup as we speak, and it might just benefit from that setup too. 460hp/420tq in this current generation
Yup!
The ability to transmit maximum torque to the drive wheels is enhanced by the addition of AWD.
Hopefully the AWD naysayers didn’t think that the AWD function on late-model Bentleys and Bugattis was for the purpose of driving in snow and ice.
That’s it! The CX-7 for your winters. I see very few RWD cars here, most
cars are FWD, AWD, or 4WD SUVs.
No mustangs around that I’ve seen. The RWD cars are larger models that wear
snow tires in winter. I am considering a Jeep as my next car, but I’ve been
too spoiled by this 9-year-old Toyota that I drive. The only things I’ve
had to replace, so far are brakes, and rotors. Gas prices may rise this
summer, so that is a feather in the Toyota’s cap.
Thanks for your input.
The '72s were old school cars. Carburated, probably still used points, and early emission equipment.
My '06 with over 100K has been excellent.
Agreed, but unless AWD was an option I suspect it would not be Price competitive with Camaros and Challengers.
Agreed, a stretched version with different sheet metal would be fine as a Lincoln sport sedan. I would NEVER want to see a 4 door badged as a Mustang.