Word: subcompact
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...automaker's acquittal that same day in Winamac, Ind., on unprecedented criminal charges of reckless homicide in the deaths of three teen-age girls in a fiery Pinto crash in 1978. They were the 57th, 58th and 59th people to die in accidents involving the subcompact, which Ford began making...
...Staffeldt ruled that the prosecution could submit only evidence involving Pintos manufactured in 1973; as a result, Cosentino could not present much of his evidence. Neal showed jurors exhibits and portions of nine miles of test-crash films demonstrating that the Pinto was at least as safe as rival subcompacts. Then he sprang a surprise: he produced two witnesses who testified that Judy Ann had told them just before she died that her car was stopped when it was struck by the van. Thus, argued Neal, the closing speed was about 50 m.p.h., which no subcompact could withstand...
...this market, which now accounts for more than half of all cars sold and is growing fast. The top-selling small models are still U.S. products: the Ford Fairmont and the Chevrolet Citation among the compacts, and the Chevette and Chrysler's Omnis and Horizons among the subcompacts. But the third and fourth bestsellers in the subcompact category are the Toyota Corolla and the Datsun...
...memo suggests that Ford might increase profits by loading well-selling models like the subcompact Fiesta and Courier minitruck with expensive options that customers would be forced to accept, and putting on less costly tires. Ford is also attacking internal costs by cutting executive business travel by 50% and symbolically dropping free coffee at company business events and eliminating all magazine subscriptions...
Ford will introduce a front-wheel-drive subcompact code-named Erika by next fall. In the meantime it has just completed a costly effort to downsize its big gas-gulping Lincoln Mark VIs, Cougar XR-7s and Thunderbirds for the 1980 model year and to boost its fleet average fuel economy 13% to an industry high of 21.6 m.p.g. But for a while, Ford's only real strong points will be its overseas operations and its brisk truck business...