Amid the latest and greatest examples of high-performance sports machines and sedan/sport-utility crossovers unveiled at a media preview of the Detroit Auto Show, Ford pulled the wraps off, well, a car.
A sedan, no less.
“In the ’60s, big sedans were prestigious. People aspired to buy them just like they aspire to buy SUVs today. But people don’t aspire to big sedans today because the industry builds boring ones,” noted J Mays, vice president of design for Ford as he unveiled the 427 concept, “the reinvention of the big Ford sedan.”
“Forty years ago, there was nothing more popular than the sedan. Up to 1.4 million were sold each year. There were no SUVs back then,” Mays said. “It’s not that people walked away from big sedans; it’s that the industry walked away. If we go back, customers will go back.”
The 1960s were the heyday of the truly American car, and the 427 concept was inspired by Ford sedans in the ’60s, with its vertical headlamps and taillamps and thick bent-bar grille reminiscent of that on the mid-’60s Galaxie, which had a version was called the Galaxie 500 XL 427.
But, “this isn’t a retro car, it’s a big, tough, modern American sedan,” insisted Chris Theodore, vice president of North American Product Development for Ford.
The 427 sedan owes its life to the Ford Forty-Nine concept coupe from the 2001 auto-show circuit.
“The Forty-Nine gave us the germ of the idea for this car,” Mays said.
The 427 is the Forty-Nine refined–and with two doors added. The Forty-Nine was built on a longer/wider stretch of the Ford DEW platform that is the basis for the Lincoln LS sedan, Ford Thunderbird coupe and next-generation Ford Mustang coupe. The 427 is built on a longer, wider and lower stretch of the DEW platform, though Ford won’t detail dimensions.
“Detroit needs to be Detroit, to stop trying to be Japanese or German. Nothing is more American than the big sedan–it isn’t Japanese or German,” Mays said of the car, which was sporting a DET PWR license plate.
The concept owes its name to Ford’s potent 427-cubic-inch V-8, though it is powered by a 427-cubic-inch, 7-liter, 590-horsepower V-10 derived from the 5.4-liter V-8 in the Mustang Cobra R. The concept’s 6-speed manual transmission would give way to a 6-speed automatic in a production model, insiders said.
“Will we build it? People will tell us after seeing it on the auto-show circuit,” Mays said.
If built, insiders said the ’06 model year would be the target date.
The 427 wouldn’t be a replacement for the full-size, rear-wheel-drive Crown Victoria, but a four-passenger companion to the six-passenger Crown Vic and the five-passenger Ford Five Hundred sedan coming out for ’05.
All would be rear-wheel-drive, though the Five Hundred and 427 would offer all-wheel-drive as well as traction and stability control.
“This isn’t a mainstream sedan as it is an image sedan, a low-volume [50,000- to 100,000-unit] car for those who want a serious sedan. It could be a Mercury, too, but has been designed to be a Ford,” Theodore said.
Dodge Avenger: Chrysler and Mitsubishi have vowed to share platforms for their next-generation small vehicles, and the Avenger concept introduced here is a potential Stratus coupe successor built off an all-wheel-drive Mitsubishi platform.
Avenger was the name two years ago on the Dodge version of the Chrysler Sebring coupe built by Mitsubishi for Chrysler at its Normal, Ill., plant. Avenger gave way to the Stratus name, same used on the Dodge sedan.
The next-generation Dodge Neon subcompact will share a smaller Mitsubishi platform as well.
Avenger is a sedan/sport-ute that looks like a mini version of the sculptured Nissan Murano SUV. It is powered by the same 3.5-liter V-6 lifted from the Chrysler 300M and upcoming ’04 Chrysler Pacifica.
Avenger is shorter than the current Stratus coupe (187.2 inches versus 191.3 inches), but wider (72.3 inches versus 70.5 inches) and taller (63.6 inches versus 54.9 inches). For improved ride and handling, Avenger is built on a 113-inch wheelbase (Stratus is 108 inches).
Dodge Kahuna: Possible Dodge “companion” to the Caravan minivan that seats six in three rows but, like the early Honda Odyssey and Mazda MPV, has swing-open, not slide-open, side doors to erase the “soccer mom” image.
The front passenger seat swivels so the occupant can turn and talk to the folks in back and the second seat folds and becomes a table top so first- and third-row occupants can snack.
Kahuna features a stubby Honda Element-like front end and simulated woodgrain bodysides that suggest a grown-up version of the Chrysler PT Cruiser.
It is built on a 122-inch wheelbase versus 113 inches on a Dodge Caravan and is 184.3 inches long (189.5 inches Caravan), 77.8 inches wide (76.6 inches) and 67 inches high (68.8 inches).
Also noteworthy, second- and third-row seats telescope flat into the floor so you can carry two surfboards inside; power sunroof is translucent fabric; and all side as well as rear-hatch window glass slides into the body to create an open-air machine.
It comes in front- or all-wheel-drive and is powered by a turbocharged 4-cylinder engine.
