Cortina phase out in Canada

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Dave A
Posts: 160
Joined: Sat May 05, 2007 4:43 pm

Cortina phase out in Canada

Post by Dave A »

I have the Cortina priority phase-out booklet which was sent out to Ford of Canada dealers on Oct 19/73. It claims the biggest reasons for discontinuing the Cortina was a product cost escalation due to economic increases that materialized in Europe but more importantly Ford Of Canada was solely required to absorb all fixed costs associated with safety, damageability, emissions and noise regulations (with very short lead times) since the 72-73 model was imported only to Canada and not to the U.S. clearly placing the Cortina at a disadvantage. For these reasons the Cortina was priced $158.00 above the Maverick in 1973. If they had of imported the Cortina for 1974 if would have had to of been priced $275.00 over the Comet and nearly $500.00 over the Pinto. The second major reason was the changed competitive environment versus north american small cars with north american subcompacts competing successfully due to the advantages of a shorter supply line and the ability to meet customer tastes more exactly with domestically produced cars.
They denied product quality being the reason. They admitted quality concerns with the 72 model ran high however in 73 the problem virtually disappeared with the Cortina generating fewer complaints than did the Maverick and Comet. They also mentioned the Cortina being the best best nameplate in Britain for 22 months straight at the time and would continue in other world markets.
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satkyn
Posts: 25
Joined: Wed Jan 16, 2008 9:31 am
Location: Czech rep

Post by satkyn »

hmm, interesting
1971 Cortina Mk3 1,6OHV XL - virtual car
1972 Cortina Mk3 1,6OHV L Estate - by foot
1960 Taunus G13AL 12m
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