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Using the Ford Contour as a "failed project"??? (Non SVT, and SVT)

R

rexxdoggy

Hard-core CEG'er
Joined
Jul 14, 2007
Messages
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Location
Crestview, Florida
So, I was thinking. Wasn't one of the reasons the Contour was killed off because just for a few grand more, you could get a roomier and larger Taurus? The Contour being a mid sized sedan was priced rather heavily, wasn't it?

Anyways, I have a project that I'm doing for my Project Management class and the subject is supposed to be projects that have failed, I.E. Napoleans reign in the end, Netflix's division into Qwikster, etc.

I'm trying to think of reasons I could use and support the fact that the Contour was a "failed project". Any suggestions?

All I have are the pricing. What else, if anything, could I use to support the subject? Or, if I could even do this as a topic at all LOL

Thanks for the help!
 
yes that was one of the reason. for the same price as a base contour one could get a loaded escort. Also for the price of a loaded contour you could get a bare bones taurus.

also a big complete was lack of rear seat space for a family. Also Ford didn't ever advertise for the contour either.

I think lastly the Contour was to european feeling ... we all know the pre98 SE and SVTs ver always likened as a poor mans BMW.
 
Those were some of the things I couldn't remember. What about the cost savings they started implementing during the later years? do you think I could use that as a support?

I had in mind also the wire harness, the dash warp, maybe the oil drainback problems?

But thanks a bunch for those suggestions. That helps me a lot.
 
The Contour took over the Ford Tempo. In 1994 a fully loaded Ford Tempo LX with the V6/auto option cost $12,900, in 1995 a base model Ford Contour GL with 4 cylinder/manual trans cost 13,990. Cost was a big thing for the Contour.
 
As a general stereotype, big, fat Americans like big, fat vehicles. Having owned both a Contour and Taurus, I can say they are both very different cars. The Contour was definitely European flavored with its firm suspension and manual transmission. The Taurus was much more softly sprung, had an automatic transmission standard, rode better, was bigger, and got similar gas mileage to the Contour.

It makes sense that the typical American would choose the Taurus over the Contour. Obviously, we're not typical. ;)
 
Everybody's grandmother owned one.

Frankly I believe the Contour was an wonderful choice for the older generation, with its excellent visibility, ease of access, and simple controls. My elderly next door neighbors (now deceased) replaced their Topaz with a '99 SE Sport around the same time I had my SE ten years ago, and I still can't think of a better car for them. Unfortunately, this particular popularity hindered its image as a sporty vehicle.

Quality is job what? Just a few years in, many Contours (not all!) proved to be incredibly unreliable. People today talk about how trustworthy theirs is - and my SVT has made me a believer - but that's only because the unreliable ones were junked long ago. Over time, the cars contributed to people swearing off Ford for good. I have coworkers today who had Contours or Mystiques ten years ago and, thanks to that experience, refuse to look at Ford. Ever. After the experience with my first Contour, I'm one of them: I don't consider Ford when shopping for a DD. That era remains one of the reasons Ford got into so much trouble in recent years.

Recalls. Too many. More than enough to keep any prospective buyers away.

The car was decontented significantly from 97-98. By 99 the only Duratec was the SE Sport, and in 2000 all Contours (except SE Sports) were fleet vehicles, limited to rental and government lots. This was caused no doubt by declining sales, but unfortunately helped to seal the car's fate.

Sport sedans at the time were still not as popular as they became in the mid-2000s. In the 90s, bigger was better ... and the Contour wasn't.
 
Rouar, that's the kinda stuff I'm looking for. What recalls were there/elaborate? As well as any useful info I could possibly use as to why the Contour wasn't a success
 
Oversaturated market...Ford alone had more sedans than you could shake a stick at (escort/tracer in several variants, taurus/sable in several variants, contour/mystique, Crown vic/gr. marq, focus) and at the time, everyone was buying trucks.
What happened to the contour factory? It was retooled to build more pickups.
Also at that same time the Focus was starting to take over the world so there was just no need for this oddball vehicle in the lineup.
Ford was the first to see where the market was going and recognize that they needed to trim the fat out of the lineup. Major drawbacks at that time are why Ford was able to weather the recession without a bailout and are standing firmly on top today.
Based on the timing of the overlap of the contour and focus, I would tend to believe they planned on a fairly short run for this model anyway...It might not have been a failure at all but a planned short term project.
 
The Contour was a marketing failure in different ways.

1. Transition from Mondeo to Contour. It's been claimed here that Ford spent many millions of dollars to restyle the Mondeo to the Contour. IMO, the name, theme and restyle failed, making the Mondeo less appealing.

2. Ford ignored the true market for this car: young people. Forget the Taurus, Escort and Tempo. Those are terrible, Ford-centric comparisons. When released, the Contour was a bona fide European sports sedan that should have appealed to buyers of VW, Audi, BMW, Saab, Honda, etc -- and did very well in markets where it wasn't poorly restyled and called a Contour. What traditional (old) American buyers hated (firm ride, smaller dimensions), driving enthusiasts loved and raved about in reviews.

3. Ford was lame. During the 90's, Ford's reputation fell through the floor. Older drivers were still buying Tauruses, but my generation (x) seemed to despise the floaty, boaty American driving experience compared to firm-riding cars from Europe and Japan. Those buying Ford and American cars generally did not want a European driving experience.

Ford's reputation didn't start to rebound until a 3-5 years ago as more legacy cars were replaced by European/Mazda platforms, in addition to improved management and marketing.

4. Resistance within Ford. I believe it was Big Jim who had stories from the Ford dealership he worked at. If I recall correctly, he recounted how people would show up to buy Contours and the dealership would instead try to sell them Tauruses because of Ford campaigns made it beneficial for them to do so. Others who worked for Ford had stories of an anti-European sentiment within Ford USA.

IMO, if you dig deep enough, every car has something like bad wiring harnesses, warped dashes, etc.. The fact that the CEG has gone on relatively strong over 11+ years since the Contour was cancelled has served to trash its reputation via owners whom have only driven worn out, already broken, old Contours. On the other side of the coin, there has been almost no good news/press during this span, further distorting reality. From what I've read over the years, the Contour was about average in reliability and had strong satisfaction numbers.

In the years I've spent shopping for Contours, I've test driven a disproportionately high number of Contiques owned by first and second owners who sincerely loved the cars, owned them for a long time, and would have liked an opportunity to buy another new.

The Contour may have been a sales failure, but the cdw-27 may have saved Ford via the critically acclaimed and well-selling Mondeo and by anchoring its robust European platforms. It's clear to me that a lot of cdw-27 engineering and spirit went from the cdw-27 to the C170 to the C1, EUCD and finally Global C.

Edit: Another marketing failure: Fleet cars. Base model Zetec automatic rentals didn't help drive sales, that's for sure.

[edit: corrected CDW-27]
 
Wow, awesome. Thanks a lot Desiato. I'm going to use a lot of that in my report. I have to write a 5-7 page report on it and give a 10-12 minute presentation with a few slides. I'm pretty sure there's plenty of info on this thread to make due in that time. And I still have to introduce what the Contour and SVT model is.

I appreciate it, guys.

Also, if there's more info, feel free to put it all on the board. I have till Monday lol
 
You could also mention how Ford originaly marketed the SVT Contour to older buyers. The same people who might have bought a BMW or Audi A4.

What happened was the SVT Contour ended up being a big hit with younger buyers instead. With a new family, a Mustang GT might not be practical. But with the SVT Contour, he can get the best of both worlds.
 
Read a few books on the auto industry.The book "Ford Tough" about Bill Ford Jr and his time trying to save ford touches on the subject but Nasser and the bean counters had alot to do with the Contour and few other things ( and killing Ford) and like stated they where dead set on riding the SUV/Truck wave, the cars took a back seat & Nasser was busy spending all of Fords money on Jag, Volvo, aston, etc. and other poor investments that pushing any project further wasn't going to happen unless it was a truck due to the high sales segment. it's pretty deep but advertising, the american market and the vehicle line up where only minor things and what really was going at that time. another good book is "Lead foot/iron fist" and Bob Lutz new book which I just started reading. anyways in very early 90's yeah the Contour was a great project but came to late, they cheaped it out to keep it below the Taurus when in fact it is a top model in england and top seller with quality interiors and other features that they cut out to slot it into the american line up.. it was doomed & sad really but is coming back has a Fusion/MKZ so they didn't totally give up and it's a Mondeo sister to the late Contour so maybe we shouldn't call it a "failed project" after all :).
 
Okay, so basically I've got it down to a few slides in for my power point. And this is what I have. I'm still looking into how I can explain the main points in depth, which a lot of it comes from the info you guys have given me (thanks again), as well as maybe a few other main points in some of the slides.

1 Front cover (filler)

(Intro to what my project is)



2 What was it and what was the goal?

- Compact mid-size sedan

- Major project developement to become a one world car with the Mondeo (CDW27 platform)

- Create a sporty 4 door

(Here I explain what the car was, and what the goal of the car was to be. How exactly can I state the goal of the Contour? To be an affordable mid sized sporty family sedan? How can I elaborate more on that?)



3 Why it failed

- Ford ignored the true market (young buyers)

- Many recalls and TSBs

- Resistance within Ford

- Ford had an abundance of sedans

(Once again, elaborate more. Discuss why it was geared towards younger people. Tie in why the resistance in Ford and true market played off each other, why people who went to buy Ford, they weren't looking for something sporty, typically, as the traditional American buyer was older, looking for something more comfortable. And how Ford was campaigning the employees to sell and market the Taurus, which had benefitted the employees in doing so, steering away sales from the Contour. Explain some of the recalls, making the car seemingly unreliable. Also, explaining the part of abundance of sedans, many buyers of Ford were looking for trucks, even a Contour factory was re-equipped to build trucks (How can I expand on that? Like, resources) On top of that, Ford overpriced the Contour, and many buyers turned to the Taurus for more room and comfort)



4 Lessons Learned

- Ford really sucked at marketing and building this car

(Keep this one brief possibly. Or what else could be a lesson learned from the Contour?)



5 What I would've done differently

- Advertised and market to the intended buyers

- Built with more quality

- Introduce the car during the sports sedan boom in early 2000s

(Once again, explain how the market wasn't in favor of the younger crowd., possibly waited to market the car at a different time period when sporty sedans started to become popular during the early 2000s (What resources and data can I use here?) Also, building the car with more quality to help prevent so many recalls and TSBs. Will need more ideas to finish this one.)
 
rexxdoggy said:
Okay, so basically I've got it down to a few slides in for my power point. And this is what I have. I'm still looking into how I can explain the main points in depth, which a lot of it comes from the info you guys have given me (thanks again), as well as maybe a few other main points in some of the slides.

1 Front cover (filler)

(Intro to what my project is)



2 What was it and what was the goal?

- Compact mid-size sedan

- Major project developement to become a one world car with the Mondeo (CDW27 platform)

- Create a sporty 4 door

(Here I explain what the car was, and what the goal of the car was to be. How exactly can I state the goal of the Contour? To be an affordable mid sized sporty family sedan? How can I elaborate more on that?)



3 Why it failed

- Ford ignored the true market (young buyers)

- Many recalls and TSBs

- Resistance within Ford

- Ford had an abundance of sedans

(Once again, elaborate more. Discuss why it was geared towards younger people. Tie in why the resistance in Ford and true market played off each other, why people who went to buy Ford, they weren't looking for something sporty, typically, as the traditional American buyer was older, looking for something more comfortable. And how Ford was campaigning the employees to sell and market the Taurus, which had benefitted the employees in doing so, steering away sales from the Contour. Explain some of the recalls, making the car seemingly unreliable. Also, explaining the part of abundance of sedans, many buyers of Ford were looking for trucks, even a Contour factory was re-equipped to build trucks (How can I expand on that? Like, resources) On top of that, Ford overpriced the Contour, and many buyers turned to the Taurus for more room and comfort)



4 Lessons Learned

- Ford really sucked at marketing and building this car

(Keep this one brief possibly. Or what else could be a lesson learned from the Contour?)



5 What I would've done differently

- Advertised and market to the intended buyers

- Built with more quality

- Introduce the car during the sports sedan boom in early 2000s

(Once again, explain how the market wasn't in favor of the younger crowd., possibly waited to market the car at a different time period when sporty sedans started to become popular during the early 2000s (What resources and data can I use here?) Also, building the car with more quality to help prevent so many recalls and TSBs. Will need more ideas to finish this one.)
Click to expand...
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I don't totally agree with some of it but good start. Te contour wasn't a youth car but both young small family car or 2nd car.It wasn't a sport sedan persay but a product of euro chassis design like the focus vs American design. Ford never campaigned employees to sell the taurus over the contour they too where deperate for a new model since the redsigned '96-'99 Taurus was a huge flop and the escort was getting stale. Build quality was on par with other Ford products and the contour had less recall and tsbs than some of the other products. It was just the wrong car at the wrong price for america at the time....america wanted trucks, suvs and if they needed a small 2nd car they had the cheaper escort or something from chevy, honda, etc. Then Ford gave up on the contour they knew ( the bean counters, Nasser, Jr, etc) that the contour was wrong and a true youth car a small family car was needed a coupe, hatch & wagon and then came the Focus and they redesigned the Taurus for '00 and sales for the 1st year jumped but even that wouldn't last people where still craving suv's, crossovers, mini vans.

I was reading in "Ford Tough" that at one point crazy Nasser almost wanted to take Ford out of the car market and totally build trucks and take the company into other investments, it's in the first few chapters he was crazy IMHO. He was the person who took down the ford oval from headquaters and put of the "ford motor company" in script on the building and on cars, redsigned the oval and changed the color of the blue once he took over like 1st thing. best of luck on your project but I would try and get some more info.
 
You are going to use the clowns on this forum as source material?

You are going to use the clowns on this forum as source material?

If you really need to write a paper on a failed project, look up the harvard business school report on the failed Hewlett Packard Kittyhawk hard drive. Plenty of great source material. And you won't have to rely on our suspect opinions
 
Well, one of the reasons I picked this subject, was because I was somewhat familiar around it to begin with. And it was something I enjoyed. When it comes to school, when there's opportunity to pick my own subject, I want to do something I'm comfortable with, and if I catch myself off, I can bullcrap it with ease without saying things that don't make sense, nor would I have any idea of what I'm talking about. Trust me, my dad offered some good ideas on other ideas, too. But I wanted to do this.
 
skunk said:
I don't totally agree with some of it but good start. Te contour wasn't a youth car but both young small family car or 2nd car.It wasn't a sport sedan persay but a product of euro chassis design like the focus vs American design.
Click to expand...
If a 2.5L 1995 Contour SE wasn't a sports sedan in 1995, what was? The Contour wasn't merely a sports sedan, but with a V6 it sure was. Even in 2011, 170HP is decent power for a 3000lb compact.

skunk said:
Ford never campaigned employees to sell the taurus over the contour they too where deperate for a new model since the redsigned '96-'99 Taurus was a huge flop and the escort was getting stale.
Click to expand...
Some CEG members whom worked for Ford at varying levels over the years have stated that there was internal bias against the Contour. Here's something Big Jim had to say in 2009:

Big Jim said:
The "not invented here" syndrome was a very strong part of this. Training instructors were telling technicians that it was an insignificant car and would soon be discontinued. If that was the message they were giving to the technicians, I can only imagine what the sales people were being told.

When I bought my car, I was working at a dealership. I knew what I wanted as soon as I road tested one. The sales people tried to talk me into a Taurus instead.

I think this attitude from the top at Ford led to not trying to prevent or overcome the quality problems, after all, they were going to discontinue it so why spend any more time with it than necessary. They waited until the Focus was established (sort of) and then told us that the Focus was the Contour replacement. Even today that is an ugly thought.
Click to expand...

skunk said:
Build quality was on par with other Ford products and the contour had less recall and tsbs than some of the other products.
Click to expand...
I agree. I have yet to see data that objectively shows the Contour was any less reliable than its average peer. All in all, they were pretty solid cars, especially if you knew what to look out for.

skunk said:
It was just the wrong car at the wrong price for america at the time....america wanted trucks, suvs and if they needed a small 2nd car they had the cheaper escort or something from chevy, honda, etc. Then Ford gave up on the contour they knew ( the bean counters, Nasser, Jr, etc) that the contour was wrong and a true youth car a small family car was needed a coupe, hatch & wagon and then came the Focus and they redesigned the Taurus for '00 and sales for the 1st year jumped but even that wouldn't last people where still craving suv's, crossovers, mini vans.
Click to expand...
I disagree. Maybe the Contour was the wrong car for US buyers who were buying Ford, but plenty of small mid-sized sedans that were practically the same size or smaller that sold quite well: Accord, 626, Jetta, etc.. Ford wasn't able to reach those buyers, despite a very competitive product. That's a marketing failure.

Regarding the Focus, it sold alongside the Mondeo in most other markets that I'm aware of. They've been a strong duo for Ford.

Personally, I don't see how anyone can objectively argue the Contour was anything but a marketing failure. Most critics loved it, it sold very well in the rest of the world, and data I've read shows customer satisfaction was generally high. Its sales weren't even that bad.

When I joined the CEG in 2004, enthusiasm for the platform was still extremely high. Perception has changed as the cars have inevitably deteriorated and almost all first/second owners have taken their enthusiasm elsewhere. The current typical CEG owner didn't choose the Contour so much as they chose a beaten, inexpensive car. I'm convinced that most new members from the past few years here have never driven a Contour in good condition.

There are many positive articles and reviews about the Contour, but here's an interesting article from a slightly different perspective than most:

http://www.popularmechanics.com/cars/reviews/reliability-report/1270921
 
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