Ford’s hunkered down Interceptor concept, shown at the 2007 North American International Auto Show in Detroit, was apparently never slated for production, according to chief designer Freeman Thomas. The concept, which looked like Ford’s even more aggressive answer to the Chrysler 300, was popular with show-goers, but apparently never had a chance of making it into showrooms.
In an interview with The Detroit News, Thomas said that the Interceptor serves merely as a canvas of new vehicle design ideas. Two integral elements of the Interceptor’s design language will make it into future Ford cars: the chiseled edges that are part of the “linear machine look,” according to Thomas, and the rounded squares that make up much of the car’s detail elements.
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07/12, 8:16 AM
posted by:
RicardoHead
So this doesn’t make it to production, but the Ford 500 … uhh Taurus …. does???????
How the hell does that happen?
07/12, 8:20 AM
posted by:
Deanster
Classic. Let me save LLN some time:
“From here on out, desirable concepts from GM and Ford are not to be built.”
xxxxing IDIOTS.
07/12, 8:35 AM
posted by:
sunshine1810
No wonder why Ford is losing money. All of their better cars are found in Europe/Asia. The United States gets the leftovers. Ford constantly renames cars and trucks thinking a new name will give it new life. One of the few cars that Ford introduced that people showed interest in and they don’t even build it. Stupid.
07/12, 8:38 AM
posted by:
angelo
yeah, now they’re going to name CAFE as the reason too…
07/12, 8:46 AM
posted by:
RicardoHead
So is this how a Board meeting at Ford goes? ….
.
“Gentlemen, we need to to come to a consensus today on the future direction of our offerings in North America. We are under considerable pressure from our competition. We have a choice between producing
…. A) exciting, interesting cars that people want, or
…. B) boring, vanilla cars that offer nothing over the competition.
What is your decision, men?”
.
.
… “B”
07/12, 8:47 AM
posted by:
infamouz9325
so ford had a good idea but decides to put into effect its worst ideas rather than its good ones. i wish they would go bankrupt now so that the readers of lln could stop wasting their time with such a idiotic company
07/12, 9:04 AM
posted by:
55amg
yet another bold move
07/12, 9:09 AM
posted by:
Me
55amg, LOL! Too right…
07/12, 9:09 AM
posted by:
Blakkarr
FORD… What the deuce are you going to do? Cowards. The company that beat Ferrari can’t get the gall to build anything that will enthuse the customer and make a tidy sum as well.
I… hate… FORD… NOW!!!
07/12, 9:20 AM
posted by:
maximus
i never liked this one anyways
07/12, 9:52 AM
posted by:
musclemustang94
Well hopefully something similar to this makes it into production. I didn’t think this one would. Ford really needs to learn that people like aggressive looking cars, and this one was definetly aggressive.
07/12, 9:58 AM
posted by:
Stuart
GOOD MOVE – This car should have been the new Lincoln Continental Anway. All they need to do is put the lincoln grill on there and it will sell like hotcakes.
07/12, 10:10 AM
posted by:
tripleonefive
Of course it wont make it to production Its a great looking car that people would buy. This makes sense in Fords mind. Another thing is they are thinking about plug in cars by 2010 How about you make good cars now so you will be around in 2010
FORD= Fix Or Repair Daily and that will never change
07/12, 10:15 AM
posted by:
Blakkarr
Sorry snap reaction. I still don’t like FORD much anymore… I forgot they are working on bringing the Falcon over to the US. Still It ticks me off that FORD just up and says, “This car is not coming to market.”
Stuart might be right though, This could have made one kinkin’ LINCOLN, with the right grill… maybe along the lines of the MKZ/Zephyr but not the Navigator and MKX/Aviator.
As you can tell my patience with FORD is about done. At least GM says they will definitely do something besides giving up.
07/12, 10:21 AM
posted by:
global_lightning
Amen to the Continental, and make it a 4-door convertible. “Ford Interceptor” would make a great replacement for the 30 year old Crown Victoria. We’ll see how these design elements trickle down in the production vehicles. The Fusion’s up for a redesign and the next Focus coming soon.
07/12, 11:51 AM
posted by:
Htay5500
my interests decreases for ford unless they bring their euro/aussie fords. oh well. NEXT!!
07/12, 11:58 AM
posted by:
AMGoff
Ford’s still up to their old tricks I see. I wonder how that board room conversation went…. “The Chrysler 300 sold like hotcake… people must like big, bold American cars… We have one that may be even better… screw ‘em, let’s bring back the Taurus!” They did the same **** with the Bronco concept, people loved it and they didn’t care. This is why the General is gaining strength and Ford is just sitting around waiting for the inevitable.
07/12, 12:09 PM
posted by:
LP640
ha ha lol 55amg ford are just plain stupid no wonder they are on their way down
07/12, 12:14 PM
posted by:
Wickedated
You guys are bashing Ford for not bringing in this concept but you forget that Ford is already in deep financial trouble, they probably don’t even have the money to launch anything new. Obviously, if they could, they would. If you guys on the internet think it’s a good car, believe me, everyone at Ford knows it too. But, without cash, it’ll forever be just a concept. They gotta use the little money they have for other things such as paying back debts.
07/12, 12:41 PM
posted by:
sunshine1810
Ford is in deep financial trouble because they don’t make anything that people want. The cars/trucks that people want, they refuse to build. If everybody wants chocolate, Ford makes vanilla. This is one major reason why they are in need of cash.
07/12, 2:32 PM
posted by:
Get Real
Ford’s CEO loved the car and was “surprised” Ford was not going to build it.
This is a quote from the Detroit Press 7/11/2007.
Ford is a mixed up company with crazy people running it.
The engineers try, but the suits are going to kill the company.
FORD: Put the Mustang 3-valve into the Crown-Vic frame, then wrap this body around it. You can make it cheaply, it will go fast, and it will sell.
DO IT NOW !!!!
07/12, 4:03 PM
posted by:
jackjimturkey
It’s Sleek!
It’s Cool!
It’s …
a no-go?
they should just name their next rig the Whiteflag
07/12, 4:38 PM
posted by:
AMGoff
Agreed Sunshine, it’s decisions like this that are the cause of their deep financial trouble.
“This car should have been the new Lincoln Continental Anway. All they need to do is put the lincoln grill on there and it will sell like hotcakes.
Comment by Stuart, posted on July12 at 9:58 am”
Is there some sort of astronomical phenomenon happening today? For once I’m actually in agreement with Stuart… I think I need a drink.
07/12, 5:12 PM
posted by:
0GSharK6
It’s completely and utterly idiotic NOT to replace the current/aging Crown Vic / Grand Marquis models with this car. This would make a badass cop car, or a badass looking car in general. Only problem I could see with it is people turning it into the next generation of donk/box/bubble cars.. but oh well, it still looks badass.
07/12, 5:54 PM
posted by:
autonutt
Anyone opining that Ford has “no money” to put the Interceptor (a vehicle that could be direct and desirable competition to the Chrysler 300, upcoming G8 and RWD Impala, and various imported RWD sedans) into production seems to forget that they seem to have PLENTY of money to piss away bringing the bloated, styleless and pointless Flex to market with no identifiable market position or competition (other than the similarly sized and priced Explorer, Taurus X and Edge, of course).
07/12, 7:34 PM
posted by:
1c3d0g
Incredibly stupid move, if I may say so! Ford’s management really has its head up its ass, I’m truly convinced now. THIS was supposed to be the car that could bring lots of FAT profits for them…and they refuse to build it. I still can’t get over their stupidity on this one…
07/12, 7:36 PM
posted by:
Fromes
thats ashame, I thought the interceptor was just the car ford needed, now they will just slap the intercepters grill on a taurus…
07/12, 11:22 PM
posted by:
enzomedici
When you’re in trouble like Ford is, that is no time to play it safe. You have to step and create kick ass cars. Their playing it safe strategy is driving them right into the ground. What idiot would actually buy a ford car?
They are just as dumb as GM.
The only place ford builds cool cars is in Europe, but we never get them in the US for some absolutely asnine reason.
07/13, 8:12 AM
posted by:
JohnnyBlazE
FORD= Fix Or Repair Daily and that will never change
triplleonefive.
Obviously not following reliabilty trends in the UK eh?
07/13, 1:53 PM
posted by:
tripleonefive
Uh no Im talking about the United States John E Blazzzzzze We dont get the good stuff hear Even the Focus is good in Europe
07/14, 12:27 PM
posted by:
BLISS
BOLD MOVES IS WHAT THEY ALL ABOUT….SO GO AHEAD AND DO SOMETHING POSITIVE.
07/22, 10:08 AM
posted by:
DaHarder
FORD obviously has little interest in increasing sales/showroom traffic in the US…
Why else would they choose to produce that FLEX monstrosity over the Interceptor?
They’re Clueless!
08/21, 5:47 PM
posted by:
Mclaren19p
What the hell is Ford doing??????????? They will always be in financial difficulties if they don’t put some imaginative cars on sale. Chrysler had the guts to put the 300C into production and that hepled them (briefly, because the rest of the lineup was crap) so Ford can put this into production. They do have platforms to use, like their division in Austrailia (heck I better move to Austrailia) so why not use it?