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The 500 and Freestyle are meant to be bland. They essentially take over from the current Taurus but are a new pardigrim in the industry, being much larger, taller, and at the same time more effecient than anything we've seen before. Basically it's taking where the midsize segment has been slowly headed in the last few years (bigger, blander, more luxurious) and taking it to its logical end. For the price it's very hard to imagine how a top-trim Camrey or Accord could compete with the larger, more capable, more refined 500 for a similar price - especially considering how manageable the outside dimensions are and how effeceint it will be with a CVT or 6-speed auto.
The Futura will do almost the complete opposit. It's style (from people inside the development loop) is said to be as progressive as the original Taurus was in its day. The mechanicals, similarily, push the envelope in all respects: AWD, industry-leading 4-cylinders, 6-cylinders (3.0 and 3.5), the possibility of diesel power if that's where the market heads, and a new Ford developed hybrid powertrain (that's said to be power rather than economy biased). The fact that it's developed on the Mazda6 platform would also indicate that it will be a very sporting ride, with a 300hp version in the works and manual transmissions offered over the whole range.
One very important aspect of the Futura (and 500 to a lesser extent) that's often overlooked is the fact that it will be AWD, which means that nobody for the forseeable future will be able to touch Ford in terms of the horsepower race (any more horsepower and the FWD Maxima/Altima/Accord/etc. will be undriveable).
...It's incredible how short-sighted the market can be, as if a company is only worth it's latest quarters sales numbers. It's still a gamble at this point but if I had any money I'd consider buying Ford stock now while everyone seems to be negative on it.
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