Word: fords
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...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...
Plenty of hard compromises had to be made on the 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...
...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...
TIME'S Sider took one out on Ford's Dearborn test track, found that "It is no Lincoln, but neither is it a VW. There is no feeling of claustrophobia. It handles well, staying in tight on the curves, starting and stopping fast, turning about as sharply...
Some policymakers at Ford Motor Co. must rue the day, back in 1911, that the company set up shop in Britain. Though its pay scales run well above the industry average in Britain, Ford has been a prime target of wildcat strikes that torment the country's economy and damage its deteriorating trade position. Last year Ford lost 1.2 million man-hours to "unofficial" walkouts, often led by only a handful of professional soreheads. Lately the company has hoped to buy its way out of the strike nightmare by offering its workers a simple tit-for-tat: extra money...