Ford Freestar -

The Ford Freestar was a minivan made by the Ford Motor Company, manufactured until November 2006. It replaced the Ford Windstar for the 2004 model year. The name change accommodated Ford's strategy to rename their cars to words beginning in F. The Freestar, along with its Mercury twin, the Monterey, are built in Oakville, Ontario, Canada.
The Freestar offers a place for up to seven passengers, it features an electronically controlled 4-speed automatic transmission as the part of standard equipment. There are five trim levels available: Freestar (base), SE, Sport, SEL, and Limited. In the United States, the Freestar offers two available gasoline-powered V6 engines. The smaller 3.9&# L (available only in the United States) develops a maximum power of 193&# hp (144&# kW) at 4500 RPM and 240&# ft·lb (325&# N·m) of torque at 3750 RPM, while the larger 4.2&# L offers a power of 201&# hp (150&# kW) at 4,250 rpm and 263&# ft·lb (357&# N·m) of torque at 3650 RPM. While the smaller engine is on the base model in the United States, the larger 4.2L engine is standard on all models in Canada.
Contents2 Mercury Monterey4 Successor6 Notes
7 External links Name change
The Freestar name change was a bold move that may have led to its early demise as perhaps a textbook example of how a name change can kill what was once a strong product line. [1] The Toronto Star cited one naming expert who called it the Ford Fiasco.. Naseem Javed, president of ABC Namebank International predicted It will cause confusion and chaos for consumers. Others called the scheme to rename Ford's with a word starting with the letter F as just foolish. Ford said that dealers suggested the idea, and that it fit the the $600 million redesign of the Ford minivan. Joe Greenwell, vice-president of marketing and operations for parent Ford Motor Co. believed the new name would stimulate interest in the product.Mercury MontereyOakville, Ontario, CanadaMercury Villager4.2 L Essex V64-speed automatic120.8 in201.5 in76.6 in68.8 inBuick TerrazaFor the 1950-1974 full-size car, see Mercury Monterey.
The Mercury Monterey minivan was the Mercury variant of the Freestar. It filled a gap in the Mercury lineup left after production ceased of the small Nissan Quest-based Villager in 2002. Sales of the Monterey minivan were very low, as the Ford design would prove uncompetitive against stronger entries from Buick and Chrysler, and a decline in interest in the minvan market. Only 567 were sold in August 2006, when production ended after a short run of 2007 models. 1,354 were sold that month the year before, a decline of 58.1 percent. The Oakville Assembly plant underwent retooling for the Ford Edge and Lincoln MKX crossover SUVs. The last model rolled off the assembly line on August 25, 2006.
Since Monterey went on sale in October 2003 it has sold 31,814 units as of February 2007.
Slow Sales and Early Retirement
The Freestar, and its sibling Monterey, were criticized for poor interior quality, and its overall lack of refinement compared to the competition. Sales of the Freestar in 2006 were down 20 percent from 2005, and its Mercury sibling, the Monterey, had seen sales slump 40 percent from 2005.
When the Windstar was first introduced, it was a strong seller that had beat Chrysler to an aerodynamically styled minivan. When the Freestar was introduced, despite an extensive redesign, its main innovation was a folding third row which had already been adopted by competitors, and it placed last in many reviews. It was no longer competitive when Japanese makes had finally adopted the layout and size of the class-defining Chrysler minivans, and its early retirement also contributed to Ford's financial problems, as they had also discontinued the Taurus, Thunderbird, Ford GT and renamed the Ford Five Hundred back to a name more familiar to the buying public, reversing the F naming strategy which had failed.
The Freestar used the code A5 in the 5th and 6th positions of the VIN.
Successor
The successor for the Ford Freestar is the 2009 Ford Flex which debuted at the 2007 New York International Auto Show. It is uncertain if there will be a replacement for the Mercury Monterey. There is also rumour about an upscale Lincoln version coming in 2008.[2]