American Dream: We drive the Interceptor, the full-size sedan that could save Ford

Ford Interceptor Concept (Front View)

Ford Interceptor Concept (Rear Three Quarter View)

Ford Interceptor Concept (Side View)

Ford Interceptor Concept (Front Three Quarter View)

Ford Interceptor Concept (Engine)

Ford Interceptor Concept (Rear Plate)

Ford Interceptor Concept (Headrest)

Ford Interceptor Concept (Steering Wheel)

Ford Interceptor Concept (Interior)

Ford Interceptor Concept (Front View)


By 2010, the Panther platform that underpins the Crown Vic, Grand Marquis, and Town Car will be 31 years old. To put that in perspective, even the legendary Model T lasted only 19 years. The Panther cars are cheap to make and, despite their ancient chassis and ergonomics, sell in reasonable volumes-combined sales totaled almost 157,000 units in 2006. They make good money for Ford, but all three are hopelessly outdated cars with little appeal to private buyers. They survive on taxi, police, and livery vehicle fleet sales, and even that market is trending down: 2006 sales were 10 percent lower than 2005, for example.




Throwing replacements for the three Panther cars into the mix changes the economies of scale significantly. Even allowing for natural shrinkage in Mustang sales and fewer sales of the Panther trio's replacements (which would be more expensive and aimed at private buyers rather than low-margin government and fleets), you're still looking at a global rear-drive architecture with a potential volume of over 200,000 units a year.

As you read this, Ford staffers are racing to meet a July deadline set by Mulally. The global rear-drive architecture plan is just one part of a radical rethink of Ford's entire product development process. At stake is nothing less than Ford's survival as an automaker into the next decade: Having taken out an unprecedented $23.4 billion in loans to fund badly needed new models, Mulally and his team are literally betting the farm on this.

Interceptor. Ford North American design chief Peter Horbury's team actually never called the car by that name while working on it in Dearborn, where the computer model was done by Swede Andreas Nilsson, and California, where the model was turned into a full-size clay under the watchful eye of Freeman Thomas, the man behind such icon cars as the VW Beetle, Audi TT, and Chrysler 300C. "Galaxie was the name we used in the studio when we were working on this," says Horbury. Check those taillights. Yup, '66 Galaxie.




The Interceptor isn't a retro car, but it clearly draws on design themes that for the British-born Horbury defined the great American sedan at its very best. "A lot of cars have lines that swoop upward and backward," says Horbury with a sweep of a hand. "We did it the other way around here. On Woodward Avenue in August [in the Dream Cruise] you see these fabulous '50s and '60s American cars, and they all have that graceful line that flows down toward the rear, rather like a yacht sailing by."

Look closely at the Interceptor and you'll see that, although there's a slight wedge in the beltline, the shoulderline falls gently away toward the tail.

There's a lot of subtle, almost subliminal design in the Interceptor. The front end is anything but subtle, however, clearly referencing the massive Super Chief pickup concept Horbury unveiled at the 2006 Detroit show. "It's a statement to say this is the Super Chief of cars," says Horbury.

He insists the way the Interceptor looks "isn't a million miles away from what's possible." Those showcar wheels would come down to real-world 18- or 20-inch items, and the roofline-currently the same height as a Mustang's-would be raised to ensure adequate headroom for all passengers.

Big sedans will never be the huge-selling heartland cars they were in the 1950s and 1960s; that territory today belongs to midsize, four- and six-cylinder front-drivers like the Toyota Camry, Honda Accord, Chevy Malibu, and Ford Fusion. And George W. Bush's call for CAFE to hit 35 mpg by 2017 threatens to marginalize them even further (although, as European automakers have proved, it's possible to get 30 mpg or more out of a big car right now if you stick a high-torque diesel V-6 or V-8 under the hood).




But if the reactions to cars like the Chrysler 300C, Pontiac G8, and Chinese-market Buick Park Avenue are any indication, plenty of Americans still like the idea of a roomy, stylish, and affordable rear-drive sedan. These cars recall the quintessential American automotive experience, an experience lost when American cars downsized and went front drive in the 1980s, leaving personal-use pickup trucks to take up the slack.

Ford, the company that put America on wheels, the company that gave us the Model T, the Mustang, and the F-150, shouldn't walk away from its heritage. Build the Interceptor, Alan. Call it the Galaxie. Build an upscale Mercury version, and a Lincoln flagship, too. Find a way to make them fuel-efficient; make them hybrids or diesels if you have to. But build them.