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In 1997, after 42 years in production, Ford decided to discontinue the Ford Thunderbird. The nameplate had many variations throughout its life, starting life as a two-seat roadster designed to compete directly against the C1 Chevrolet Corvette, but then gaining two more seats and spending the rest of its time as a grand touring coupe and convertible, even at one point offered as a four-door coupe, decades before the Mercedes-Benz CLS-Class coined the term.
Towards the end of its run, however, it became a two-door Taurus, with buyers dealing with more dynamic offerings like the BMW 3 Series. With the funnier Mustang filling the gaps left open by the Thunderbird, the release of the Thunderbird isn’t a huge loss for Ford.
The 11th-Gen Ford Thunderbird: A Brief Return
When Chrysler started the retro craze of the late ’90s and early aughts with the Prowler and PT Cruiser, domestic automakers, including Ford, quickly responded. Since the 1955 Thunderbird is an example of iconic ’50s design, Ford felt it appropriate to bring back the Thunderbird name after a five-year hiatus in 2002, wearing sheet metal inspired by the original’s famous shape.
However, the production of this new version did not last nearly as long as the original, only until 2005. Judging by the sales numbers it was able to build during its four-year production run, the new Thunderbird was not met with much fanfare. Sad as it may sound, many factors contributed to the eventual demise of the former storied nameplate.
The 11th-Gen Ford Thunderbird: A Roadster Again
Ford sought to recapture the retro essence that made the original T-Bird stand out from all its other iterations. Part of this essence is the fact that, unlike other Thunderbirds, the first generation was a two-seater. With this in mind, for the new Thunderbird, Ford has created it again, a two-seater convertible. Like the original T-Bird, the latest version also has a removable hard top with a rear-quarter porthole window. A retractable soft top can be used to shelter occupants if a hard top is not available, but no rear seat accommodations are available.
This would be a pitfall for Thunderbird, even if it was meant to be. This has a lot to do with the fact that, despite being able to fit two passengers, the Thunderbird is by no means a small car. It shares its underpinnings with the Lincoln LS midsize sedan. This makes it hard to justify buying a car, especially when smaller, agile two-seaters like the Mazda MX-5 Miata, Mercedes-Benz SLK-Class, Toyota MR2, Honda S2000, and the just-released BMW Z4 has advantages. to handle and take up less space. Cars of a similar size that only fit two, like the Mercedes-Benz SL-Class and the Lexus SC430 (it’s technically a 2+2 but, wait, even a dog can’t fit in the back seats), more outperformed the Thunderbird in both price and refinement.
Why The 11th-Gen Ford Thunderbird Failed So Much: Toy Design
Another deliberate choice for Thunderbird that also fell out of favor with it was its styling. After all, it was meant to be Ford’s entry into the retro-styled pseudo-segment. However, it looked unlike anything else in Ford’s US lineup, which at the time largely followed the New Edge design language found on models around the world. The New Edge uses a healthy blend of curves and geometric elements to keep Ford vehicles looking modern. The Thunderbird tried to look like it did in 1955, but safety regulations and the platform it was based on made it more difficult to do so.
Obviously, the original T-Bird’s protruding headlights cannot be returned to the new one, with the round headlights instead residing in a concave housing, leaving the front end rounded. This, ironically, left it looking more like the C1 Corvette than the original Thunderbird. The emphasis on rounded corners also deviates from the car’s original shape.
However, the copious amounts of chrome and retro detailing made the car look less like a serious contender and more like new. Because of this, consumers do not take it very seriously. Ford thought it could be sold as a fashion item, with even a Neiman Marcus edition, but it didn’t prove to be very effective.
Why the 11th-Gen Ford Thunderbird Underperformed: Ambitious Pricing
Despite its new styling, perhaps the biggest reason why the Thunderbird didn’t sell well was its price. The reason automakers jumped on the retro styling trend is the sales juggernaut Chrysler PT Cruiser, which looks just as much of a novelty as the Thunderbird, if not more so.
Still, it’s affordable to the masses, competing with most sub-$20k hatchbacks like the Ford Focus. Affordable to the masses the Thunderbird, on the other hand, is not.
Thunderbird starts at $34,965 for the base model without a removable hard top. Most buyers will opt for the nicer Premium trim with a removable hard top, which will total $38,465 including destination. That translates to a staggering $64,000 in today’s money. If they were really willing to shell out the big bucks, buyers might instead opt for the aforementioned, more powerful, and robustly built Mercedes-Benz SL or Lexus SC.
The 11th-Gen Ford Thunderbird: What Did It In
A bad combination of impracticality, inoffensive styling, and unattainable pricing made the 11th and final generation Ford Thunderbird a sales failure. To be more granular, buyers felt that a car as polarizing as the Thunderbird, with its cheaply made interior and lack of practical use cases was not worth the near $40k investment.
Instead, the retro-styled four-seater Mustang also achieved what the Thunderbird couldn’t—bringing retro styling and driving fun to the masses.
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