By Drew Johnson
Tuesday, Aug 28th, 2007 @ 8:00 am

It appears as though Ford is planning to slowly phase out production of its Panther platform, the architecture that underpins the Ford Crown Victoria, Lincoln Town Car and Mercury Grand Marquis. Ford’s big rear-drive sedans, which are primarily used for fleet, government, taxi or limo use, will see a reduction in volume as well as options for the 2008 model year and beyond.
Fleet sales will continue to rise for the Crown Victoria but dealers will no longer be able to order the car for customers. Lincoln dealers will still be able to order the Town Car for customers, but dealers will have a very limited set of option packages available. The majority of Town Cars will go to limo services. The Mercury Gran Marquis will continue to sell 45/55 private/fleet. Although Ford moved nearly 160,000 of these vehicles in 2006, production should be down to about 100,000 by ’09. The Panther platform was introduced in 1979.

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