Ford announces new Crown Victoria at New York Auto Show

Is there a new Crown Victoria in Ford's future? Sort of, Ford chief executive Alan Mulally tells the media and dealers as the New York International Auto Show's press preview opened this morning at the Jacob Javits Convention Center.

Responding to a question from a writer who said the Ford Taurus, the automaker's largest passenger car, is too confining for him, Mulally said "We absolutely are going to be there. Going forward we are going to have a vehicle in every class." The big rear drive Crown Vic no longer is sold to the public, nor is the similar Mercury Grand Marquis.

At the show, Ford displayed something a lot smaller but more high tech: a hybrid version of the Lincoln MKZ, a midsize front drive car.

Mulally said Ford's debt is being reduced, it is adding product so that it has a complete family of cars in every market, its market share is up and so are its sales, with fewer incentives such as rebates. "We made it through the worst recession since the depression," he said.

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