more GT-X / SX

[F3BZ]

tell me this cool dude doesn't look like Richard Geres' japanese brother. ford should've at least brought this power sliding sunroof over.

[David88]

That red one looks like it has the 13" alloys. Sliding roof looks exactly like the escort GT roof.

[TorqueEffect]

Man, why didn't we get all this good stuff? Sure it was designed by Mazda, but it was STILL BRANDED A FORD, AND SOLD AS A FORD!

No, the most sporty looking thing we got on these cars here is the states was a dinky spoiler, some red striped interior bits.
No 13inch alloys, no 3 spoke steelies, no DOHC, no electrical sport suspension, no steering wheel options, no midspoiler, no fancy bumpers, and I wouldn't put it past them that power steering was standard on the GTX.

My guess is the tight ass Ford execs thought it would intrude on the Mustang, the only thing Ford had that was remotely sporty in 1988 here in the states, and they just didn't want this to hurt sales on their larger profit margin Mustangs.
Ford just wanted it to be a plain Ecobox that was mostly for women, so they thought, "Why even have the sporty options?" "No one here in the states takes hatchbacks seriously right?" "Yeah, especially women."

[Prafeston]

Yeah, bummer we didn't get some of these goodies!

[jawbraeka]

my question is, with the japanese hatchbacks, did they make the accessories as well, or was that ford domain?

[sketchman]

This stuff make me mad at Ford, but I can't help but keep clicking these threads anyway.

[bhazard]

Re: more GT-X / SX

My guess is the tight ass Ford execs thought it would intrude on the Mustang, the only thing Ford had that was remotely sporty in 1988 here in the states, and they just didn't want this to hurt sales on their larger profit margin Mustangs.
Ford just wanted it to be a plain Ecobox that was mostly for women, so they thought, "Why even have the sporty options?" "No one here in the states takes hatchbacks seriously right?" "Yeah, especially women."

We had more than the mustang. Thunderbird turbo coupe and then super coupe, as well as 5.0 sport versions. Probe GT. Taurus SHO. Even V6/5sp tempos. None of them were quite as fast as the 5.0 mustang but they were plenty quick and sporty for the time.

[Safety Guy]

I'd think that limiting all the options and goodies for Festivas was simply in keeping with Ford's cost-cutting needs in offering a higher-mpg car to meet CAFE standards. More options and stuff to order would have increased costs in tracking SKUs, stocking warehouses, etc. Less stuff simply equals lower costs, especially as the early nineties found tiny cars to be less marketable. That was probably also why the Aspire was not given a larger engine or at least more power. Cost cutting.

Complain to the bean counters!

Karl

[blkfordsedan]

Right on, Karl!

Ford never intended to sell a lot of Festivas or make a killing off them. Lets face it, you'll never make much profit marketing cheap cars to people who make minimum wage. The people who they targeted for the Festiva are not the ones that would be able to option them out. The profit for Ford was in pickups and SUVs. They needed the high MPG of the Festiva to help with CAFE standards. In Europe and Japan, however, it's different. Small cars with small engines are the bread and butter. If you want to compete in that market, you MUST have the options and features. Two different car cultures.