Guest gooner52 Posted November 4, 2006 Report Posted November 4, 2006 just found a bit of information on a us website (Introduced in 1995, the Ford Galaxie was a seven seater MPV. The Galaxy was a joint effort between Ford and Volkswagen say they both had a part in designing and building it. Ford was not the only one to sell the model though, as Volkswagen sold it under the Sharan nameplate. The only differences between the Sharan and the Galaxy were small cosmetic elements. Both the Ford Galaxy and the Volkswagen Sharan were built in a factory in Palmela, Portugal. Ford planned to market the Galaxy as a true luxury vehicle with a very plush interior with careful choices in color, tone, and quality. Ford also took the time to make the interior as functional and simple as other Ford vehicles but added upgraded features such as integrated controls for the stereo as well as an optional satellite navigation. Eventually, the Galaxy was done away with as Ford wanted to put more focus on its line of sport utility vehicles and sport utility vehicle crossovers. Truly in touch with the response of the buyers, Ford did away with the Galaxy so it could continue to provide the market with exactly what it wanted and needed from Ford vehicles. ) so was fords gonna stop making galaxys after the mk1..this is not the case,so what changed there minds whats your view,why ford carried on with the galaxy are the mk2s for sale in the us market Quote
Guest VR6! Posted November 4, 2006 Report Posted November 4, 2006 the Galaxie is a totally different vehicle! as for the Galaxy making it across the pond? it didn't! well OK it did but only a very small number to Canada/North America and those vehicles were given to the emergency services for trails, the Sharan (Mk2) on the other hand has made the trip and is available in Mexico :D there was an agreement between Ford and VW that neither of them would release the Galaxy in the North America as sales of it would interfere with the sales of other vehicles, MPV's/minivans that Ford had/have on the market at the time, these vehicles are still available in the states and if you look closely you can see features on them that were used in the Mk1 Galaxy! it appears the article the article you quote is full of errors and shouldn't be take for the gospel! posting the link would help! Quote
seatkid Posted November 4, 2006 Report Posted November 4, 2006 IIRC FORD did want out back in 2000 when the MkII was launched. However, they were tied in because of legal contract issues over the VW/Ford agreement (they were committed to take a certain number of vehicles and the market for MPVs had collapsed), and also the fact they had no replacement model available. At around that time they sold the Autoeuropa factory in Portugal (or their share in it) to VW. Unlike the Mk 1 which was a "joint" venture, the Mk II was largely VW's design effort, hence no Ford gearbox on the PD for example. The agreement was finally terminated in Dec 2005, no more new (MkII) Galaxy's were made, any sold in 2006 were just stock (and there was a lot of stock). During 2006 Ford launched their own design and built Galaxy based on the SMAX - that built in Gent IIRC and has no relation whatsoever to the previous models. The MkII design continues life as Sharan/Alhambra and has had a mild facelift recently. Rumour is a totally new Sharan will be launched in the near future. The forum may benefit form rejigging with seperate sections for Mk1, Mk2, Mk3(VW) and Mk3(Ford)...... Quote
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