When something looks this boring, with a new nameplate and weak specs that do nothing to grab attention, no wonder the 500/montego flopped

Karl, how come for the most part(gm seems to be trying now) domestic automakers keep the good stuff from other places(ford australia, opel, ect.) in Europe? Do you think a Falcon would have been a better answer to the 300C/Charger?

The 2008 Sable looks nice.
New head lights, tail lights, and wheels on the outside,
light colored wood and 2-toned seats that makes it look like Ikea on the inside.

one reason you dont see Euro product from Ford/GM here is that most of those models were never designed to be sold here in the first place which means a lot of cost is involved in making certain changes for emissions and/or safety compliance. Another reason is that their Euro models are well equipped and expensive compared to what they sell here. Small and midsize European cars from the Big 2 have tons of high end features that would have them competing with near luxury models in the US which wouldnt work out too well. People are not going to pay $30k for a compact Ford or Chevy even it has HIDS and navigation when you can get an Acura or Audi for that money. There have been several attempts to sell Euro style cars here by GM and Ford but most of them didnt go well. remember the contour? People here thought it was too small, too expensive and boring looking even though it was very close to what was being sold in Europe as the Mondeo.
 
When it comes to importing models from Europe (as Saturn is going to do) you have to deal with the exchange rate which makes Euro stuff expensive here. Then there's the UAW which isnt crazy about the idea of domestic automakers importing cars while laying people off. Theres's also the issue of spare capacity in Europe to provide cars for the US market. Producing the same cars here would be nearly impossible unless the product plan called for US/Euro production from the start. That may be happening with the next generation Aura/Vectra/Malibu but as of right now that capability doesnt exist. GM cant even build Euro versions of the epsilon platform cars in the US if they wanted to because of minor differences in the construction of the two versions.

Very intersting points, 1487. But surely, if the Japanese, Koreans and Europeans can succeed with selling more or less the same cars everywhere in the world, our Big 2 should be able to do the same, right? (Of course, the Japanese, Koreans and Europeans don't have the UAW to deal with.....) I guess a question is: what are the Asians and Europeans doing correctly to enable them sell the same models they sell everywhere?
 
Your post has also been very informative in one respect: I've all the time been under the impression that emissions and safety systems are simple add-ons that don't cost too much. It seems like I have been wrong all this time. Aren't the European and US safety and emissions standards more or less the same? And if an European car has to be modified for US emission, is it not a simple matter or replacing the exhaust pipe with another one that has the appropriate catalytic filters?

They could always just build global designs here. There aren't many complaints when American designers and engineers get laid off. I think on the safety and emissions front there are small differences that can be easily addressed, but only if you design a car to allow those changes to be made. Bumper standards are different, they prefer to reduce CO2 and we prefer to reduce NOx emissions, they have different rear lighting requirements, etc. You have to be pretty dumb to not make those things interchangeable, but given that Ford uses different seat rails in every single model... they're capable of it.
 
And styling is a big issue with the Montego. They claimed the best selling sedans all looked bland so it was okay for theirs to be bland too... but the Camry and Accord have never been this bad. Their designs have always at least looked modern (especially around the headlights), unlike these.

I have a problem with the Big 3 when it comes to naming their cars. They're too fond of retiring car names. When you look at the Golf, Corolla, Camry, Accord, Lancer, 3-series or the names of many foriegn vehicles, they have remained the same since the models were created. That brings some interesting historical aspect to the cars.
 
But Ford Escort? Gone. Pontiac Grand Prix? Gone. The Ford Focus name is too new to be interesting (historically) and by the time it is old enough to be interesting it would be retired. Whether or not the Montego/500 was a bad car, I think the name should stay. (Although the 3rd gen Golf GTI was bad in terms of engine power, the name stayed and the power issue was addressed in the 4th gen...........and the Golf GTI still has the prespect of the 1st and 2nd gen models.) So I think people will give the Montego/500 the due respect when the necessary improvements are made for 2008. I think naming them Taurus/Sable is a wrong move.

Golf gone
Rabbit redux

"Fifty bucks never killed anybody."
 
Heh. That was a seriously underrated movie.

"Sorry Roy. The mayor had to go this way to prove there was no conflict of interest."
 
"Yeah, well, I'll tell you something, this country is going to the dogs. It used to be when you bought a politician the SOB stayed bought!"

Used Cars is very good. I also recommend Repo Man.
The opening to Cadillac Man is brilliant - trying to sell a car to a widow on the way to the cemetary to bury her husband

I should rent USED CARS. I've never seen it.....

Here in the Uk we used to have the Austin Rover Montego, (also badged as an MG with pretensions to performance; they stuck a turbo on it). After, mainly, fleet owners had spent 9 years living with the thing they got it just about right - then dumped it. It was so bad that a number of owners re-arranged the rear badge from MONTEGO to WONT GO - easy to do, (invert the M and lose the E), and very appropriate. Maybe it's the name that's jinxed ?