Sticking With A Sure Thing
Part Two: Competition Is a Tricky Thing
However, Ford's success was not without imitation. In 2000, hoping to ape the Falcon-Family launch three years back, that had sent them scrambling for a solution, GM introduced four new models, all on the V-platform. The Buick Roadmaster Mark 3, Chevrolet Caprice Mark 5 and Pontiac Bonneville Mark 9, they were more or less the exact same model, with less differentiation than their Ford competitors, and all were based off the Holden VX Commodore. The Fourth Model was the Cadillac Statesman, a barely disguised re-badge of the Holden WH Statesman, which was based off the previous VT Commodore.
GM tried using the same aura of performance and style to sell their V-platform cars that ford had used with the Falcon-Family, but they were unfortunately a bit too late, as the Fickle Public had turned their attention to Sport-Utilities like the Ford Explorer and Jeep Grand Cherokee yet again, sales weren't even close to what Ford had pulled off previously, and were in fact less than the contemporaneous sales of the Falcon-Family.
The V-platform cars were also penalized by a number of unfortunate problems, including the Cadillac Statesman's penchant for triggering the pyrotechnic seatbelt pretensioners and cut off the fuel pump if someone leaned too far forward, likely to grab something, a fact that GM tried to cover up for 3 months, before an Incident with famed Rapper Jay-Z's Statesman resulted in his paralysis. This horrifying act unfortunately put a black mark against the otherwise superb V-platform models, killing the sales of the Statesman and requiring GM to pull it from the market, shredding all of the unsold cars, in late 2000. The sales of the other V-platform cars would never recover from the stigma.
By comparison, Ford's contemporary issues with Firestone were nothing. Whereas GM had tried to cover up the problem, Ford, still led by the Dream Team of Nasser and Trotman, had brought the Issue out into the daylight, launching a recall of unheard of proportions, spearheaded by Television Ads in Prime Time hours, to replace the dangerous Firestone tires with safer alternatives. For MY2002 Ford would introduce stability control in all of their Ford, Mazda and Mercury branded SUVs. All in all Ford did not turn a profit in the Second Quarter of 2000 for North America, but it had built up a strong reputation for honesty and integrity that it holds on to vigorously today.
Ford's other brands were in a different place with their Competition in 2000, Jaguar's launch of the S-type the Year before had proven to be a success, with the new model barely keeping pace with it's rivals, the Audi A6 and BMW 5 series. The S-type's Platform mate, the Lincoln LS had been released at the same time in a completely Different Climate, with Cadillac still suffering from the fallout of the Statesman, it led Lincoln to domination of the Luxury Car market in the US. However, Ford still couldn't compete in the “Big Leagues” of Luxury SUVs, their last attempt, the Navigator was an utter failure, and often compared to the Edsel in terms of Ford's missteps. Then an announcement, almost perfectly timed arrived, BMW was looking at selling Land Rover! Nasser and Trotman leaped into action, and although Ford was still incorporating the newly acquired Volvo Cars, They lodged a bid for the famed brand, competing against Volkswagen, Honda, and Renault. Ford was fortunately able to lodge the winning bid, setting the Company up for it's ongoing Successes.
The first product of Ford's purchase of Land Rover was the MY2002 introduction of the new Lincoln Aviator, a re-badged Land Rover Freelander mark 1, with a an almost completely redone body shell. Unlike it's predecessor, the Navigator, sales took off , people just couldn't get enough of the useful sized and stylish Lincoln, even when it was sold next to the Mercury Mountaineer, a larger, Ford Explorer-clone with a somewhat smaller price tag. Among the People who Purchased the new Lincoln were Florida Attorney General Charlie Christ and President Al Gore himself. Ford internal memos reveal that Nasser and Trotman were highly uncomfortable with the idea of selling a Range Rover based vehicle as a Lincoln because of it's large size, somewhat poor fuel economy, and the fact that it was a brand new model supposed to debut at the same time as the new Lincoln.
Ford's other new product launch for 2002, the eleventh generation Ford Thunderbird was successful, how ever it's success was quite short lived. While on sale for only a scant four years, it proved one thing: Retro Styling sold well. The Initial success of this luxury coupe, based off of the Jaguar S-type and Lincoln Ls, was enough to convince the higher ups at Ford of Doug Gaffka's so-called “Retro-Mustang” project.
Maybe Ford would beat Isuzu and Toyota to market of AWD turbocharged coupes with the Escort Cosworth model. 
