Ford has finally realized that the Crown Vic is done. The platform is so old it is still grandfathered by safety legislation written to fix the gas tank problems on the Pinto. The interesting thing is that Ford seems to be turning towards their Australian division for a replacement: the Ford Falcon. GM did something similar when they imported their Aussie Holden division's Monaro as the GTO.
If you want to see what we may not be missing for much longer, Car and Driver did a piece on the Turbocharger Inline 6 version of the Falcon a couple of years ago. They have a more recent article looking at the complete Aussie Ford lineup.
A lot of people have been badmouthing Ford lately. I think they are currently in better financial shape than GM. GM has some deep seated brand issues especially with Buick. I don't think the Ford/Lincoln/Mercury brands are as troubled. The General also has had some real trouble with new models not meeting expectations. Ford's US models line has the problem that they are just old. There are new versions of the Ranger and the Focus on the international market. But they're out there, not in the US. I think Ford has started to learn it's lesson with the success of the Fusion/Milan that are based on Mazda's 6 platform.
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