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LA Sheriff Still Has 429 Ford Crown Vics in Service Because It Stockpiled Them
- silexia 3y agoI am buying a farm in the farmer has an ancient police interceptor the seller drives around to remote spots... It just runs forever with little maintenance.
- atonse 3y agoI remember these being ubiquitous especially in movies. Do we know why Ford stopped making what seemed to be a universally loved vehicle that was in high demand?
- thmsths 3y agoShift to selling more SUVs maybe? After all the linked article mentions that the crown vic replacement is an SUV.
- RecycledEle 3y agoSee my comment in this thread. Basically, The Management Class that runs Ford and GM could not stand being made fun if for making vehicles (that got 24 MPG in the highway) that were appropriate to the task. Therefore The Management Class killed off a profitable national security asset.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- tehwebguy 3y agoYou think it was that? And not the higher margins on SUVs, or the fact that the SUV version is based on a consumer vehicle that actually sells?
- linksnapzz 3y agoA little of both. The GM B-bodies & Ford Panther cars were probably making $10-15K profit per unit, as someone has said, most of the tooling was paid off. However, in addition to being even more profitable, pickups can also be built on the same assembly lines as a perimeter-frame RWD sedan; so it made sense...if all you care about is maximum profit in the SUV/pickup vertical, and not breadth of market offering for the brand.
- RecycledEle 3y agoThe higher margins on SUVs are eaten up by CAFE fines.
- brk 3y agoAmerican buyers shifted towards SUVs in the 90s, and that trend just accelerated. These large body-on-frame sedans simply weren't popular enough for the automakers to keep investing in the platform. The Crown Vic in particular had some engineering safety issues and lawsuits that most likely also encouraged Ford to scrap it.
- GenerWork 3y agoProbably safety, changing customer trends, and emissions. Crown Vic was based on a platform that had been used since the early 70s if I recall correctly, and the engine (4.6L V8) was being phased out in favor of the new 5.0 V8. That being said, it definitely wasn't profitability. Tooling for the platform had been paid off for literally a decade at least (probably more) by the time production stopped.
- 8b16380d 3y agoCAFE
- snakeyjake 3y ago>Do we know why Ford stopped making what seemed to be a universally loved vehicle that was in high demand? The Crown Victoria was not in high demand except by state and local law enforcement agencies and taxi companies. That is not a large enough market to support an assembly line. The Crown Victoria sold less in a year (20,000-30,000) than the Explorer sold in a quarter (50,000-60,000). Most of the Crown Victorias sales were low-margin fleet models. The Caprice Classic was killed off by GM for the same reason, and the Dodge Charger (~80,000/yr) is not long for this world.
- iancmceachern 3y agoIt was certainly not in high demand
- RecycledEle 3y agoThe disappearance of the large, American made, rear wheel drive, V8 powered car (which got 24 MPG in the highway) is the result of group think in The Management Class. A few left-wingers mocked the cars, so GM and Ford killed off profitable national security assets to avoid being made fun of.
- RecycledEle 3y agoI should explain how I know this. My dad was an officer in United Auto Workers Local 276 (Arlington, TX General Motors assembly plant) in the 1990's, when GM killed off the Caprice and Impala that were assembled in Arlington, TX.
- azemetre 3y agoHow do you know they didn’t kill it off to hurt the union and relocate to areas with weaker worker protections? Seems more likely than the alternative.
- local_crmdgeon 3y agoWeaker union protections than Texas? Think you’re just applying a narrative
- 3y ago
- toss1 3y agoSeems like a smart move by a govt agency — if you have a product that works well for you, and it's being discontinued, get some of your own inventory. I do it all the time with running shoes — if I find a pair that fit & work well, get some spares! Minimize the costs and overhead of switching(finding new product, getting it to work, etc.) Obviously, you'll eventually have to switch, but cutting the switches in half helps.
- pushfoo 3y ago> I do it all the time with running shoes — if I find a pair that fit & work well, get some spares! How do you deal with more technical products? Geopolitical tensions have me worried about the supply of certain HID products and their parts.
- bitwize 3y agoSteve Jobs basically bought enough of that Japanese designer's black turtlenecks back in the 80s to last the rest of his life.
- bombcar 3y agoIt’s called a “risk buy” and is relatively common - Schultz of Peanuts fame filled a room with his favorite pencil when it went out of manufacture.
- iAMkenough 3y agoI appreciate that this interpretation is juxtaposed next to another interpretation calling it a stupid move because unused cars disintegrate and depreciate in value quickly. I’ve always heard a car immediately drops in value after it’s driven off the dealer’s lot, and then loses 15% in value each year after. I’m guessing they lost more than they would have if they didn’t stockpile and instead switched to a newer vehicle with lower fuel and maintenance costs.
- cafard 3y agoDoesn't that assume that you will sell or trade in that vehicle after some years? If you drive it until you can't maintain it, the 15% seems less relevant.
- xhkkffbf 3y agoThat's almost enough for one "Blues Brothers" movie!
- not_me_ever 3y agoProbably one of the biggest waste of tax payers money by the police. Unused cars disintegrate. Literally. The interest that that parked money could have paid for dozens, if not hundreds of more cars. They could have just bought newer, better cars when needed. Don't even get me started on the bad MPG. Oh the stupidity.