Word: carred
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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Finally, in May 1967, Henry Ford and Lee lacocca determined to build a new car, code-named Delta. It was to be inexpensive enough to appeal to three-car families and retired people, yet sufficiently stylish to attract young people on their first or second cars. Ford is attempting to attract young buyers by offering the Maverick in colors that were created at a group brainstorming session, presumably held in a cornfield. The colors include Freudian Gilt, Original Cinnamon, Thanks Vermilion and Hulla-Blue. The standard gag among the executives is that the company will entertain any name except "Statutory...
...Eclectic Car. In all the planning, the primary goal was to build a car that would list for less than $2,000. To do that-and still allow dealers a reasonable 17% profit (v. the usual 21% to 25% markup)-Ford had to pare the tooling costs. So it built an eclectic car. Maverick owes its front suspension to the Mustang; the steering gear comes straight from the Fairlane; the standard 105-h.p. six-cylinder engine and the rear axle were borrowed from the Falcon. Even so, Maverick's development costs added up to a hefty $71 million...
...Maverick. Anything that added to style, size or performance raised the list price. In the fervid debates among Ford's engineers, stylists and cost accountants, lacocca was the final arbiter. The accountants wanted plain gray upholstery; lacocca ordered bright plaids, though the decision increased the price of each car by several dollars. He ordered the body made wide enough so that six passengers could squeeze in in a pinch. "I could have taken a slice down the middle of that car, maybe three inches, still gotten four people in and saved maybe $15 or $20," he says. "That...
Ford offers a variety of options-including a 120-h.p. engine, automatic shift and air conditioning-that can jack up the price as high as $2,700. But the company has urged dealers to discourage sales of the high-markup options so as not to price the car out of its market. How does the car handle...
Volkswagen executives figure-or at least hope-that the new U.S. small cars will not cut deeply into sales of imports but will take markets away from existing U.S. lower-priced models. To reduce their own chances of loss, some foreign producers will send bigger and fancier models to the U.S. Later this year, for example, VW will begin shipping its four-door Audi (U.S. price: around $4,000). Sweden's Saab will soon begin importing a new Maverick-sized car. "If Detroit can come into our market," says Stuart Perkins, head of Volkswagen of America...