The Ford Fairmont had sold well in its first two years of production but in 1980 was confronted by formidable new competition — Chevrolet’s Citation.
If this were still the good old days we would classify both cars as compacts. After all, the Citation technically replaced the aging rear-wheel-drive Nova. However, the new Chevrolet was considerably downsized, partly with the help of weight-saving front wheel drive used in General Motors’ so-called X-body.
Also see ‘U.S. cars often suffered from weak styling continuity and boxy shapes in 1970-80s’
Thus, if you were just focusing on exterior dimensions, the Citation should have been considered a size smaller than the Fairmont — which arguably competed more directly with Chevrolet’s Malibu. While traditionally considered an intermediate, for 1978 the Malibu had been downsized to the point where it was similar in size and weight to the Nova — but a notch higher in price.
To make things more confusing, the early-80s suffered from high inflation, so 1980 prices were up substantially over the previous year. But when the dust had settled, the Fairmont’s price range was actually lower than the Citation’s.
Fairmont was bigger but cheaper than Citation
According to the Encyclopedia of American Cars, a base Fairmont two-door sedan with a standard four-cylinder engine listed for $4,435 whereas the equivalent Citation went for $4,491. Meanwhile, a Fairmont four-door sedan with an optional six listed for $4,721 whereas a Citation five-door hatchback with a V6 went for $5,378.
Also see ‘Bigger didn’t prove to be better for General Motors in late-70s and 80s’
Ford’s slightly bigger but much fancier Granada was left to compete more directly with the Malibu. As you can see from the print ads below, the Fairmont was mainly sold on low price, good fuel economy and roominess. One of the ads emphasized that the Fairmont’s then-current price tag was lower than the Citation and Malibu as well as three subcompact imports.
1980 Ford Fairmont ads. Click on images to enlarge (Old Car Advertisements)
Even the top-of-line Futura coupe with a turbo engine was pitched as offering “tomorrow’s styling” but “priced far lower than you might expect.”
Did Ford’s ad campaign work? Fairmont production in 1980 was down 20 percent to around 317,000 units. That was far below the roughly 800,000 Citations that left the factory that model year. However, quality-control issues would torpedo Citation sales. The Fairmont didn’t take very good advantage of that because Ford made minimal updates to an increasingly old body.
Even so, the Fairmont and its spinoffs were important to Ford’s shift from the land barges of the 1970s to a mostly front-wheel-drive lineup of the mid-80s.
NOTES:
Dimensions, prices and other product specifications were from Automobile Catalog (2023). Production figures were calculated from the auto editors of Consumer Guide (1993, 2006) and Flammang (1992).
Share your reactions to this post with a comment below or a note to the editor.
RE:SOURCES
- Auto editors of Consumer Guide; 2006. Encyclopedia of American Cars. Publications International; Lincolnwood, Ill.
- Automobile Catalog; 2023. “Search automobile-catalog.” Accessed Oct. 4.
- Flammang, James M.; 1992. Standard Catalog of Imported Cars, 1946-1990. First Ed. Krause Publications, Iola, WI.
ADVERTISING & BROCHURES:
- oldcaradvertising.com: Ford Fairmont (1980)
- oldcarbrochures.org: Chevrolet Citation (1980); Ford Fairmont (1980)
Fairmont was rational car for its time, but outdated once X cars debuted. I remember Torino sales dropped when Granada debuted for 1975, then Granada sales dropped when Fairmont debuted for 1978. LTD II was outdated when it debuted. 1977 LTD II sales were a little better than 1976 Torino sales, then collapsed after that.
And Ford menaged to get some mileage from the Fox-body Fairmont when it was reskinned as the 1983 smaller LTD while the full-size model was renamed LTD Crown Victoria.
From the Falcon onward Ford had a repetitive pattern of introducing a new nameplate that lit up the sales charts then having that model overtaken in the market as Ford amortized its investment (and frequently took out cost) while competitors upped their game instead. I think this is what happens when corporate culture is dominated by accountants, as it was from the Whiz Kids era on.
I rode in my college roommates Fairmont a few times. It seemed decent enough for the times, especially compared to the horrors Phymouth had just inflicted on my Uncle with their new Volare. The 302 was peppy enough with the weight it was asked to pull compared to a friends’74 Torino and it didn’t rattle. I wished my folks had bought one instead of the assorted lemons they purchased.
Steve Saxty’s Secret Fords Volume One edition brings a clay model proposal for Project Linda in 1976 (still envisaged with rear-wheel drive), which was intended to imagine what a Cortina replacement of the early-1980s would look like before it was cancelled with the idea re-visited as the Sierra aka Project Toni.
Project Linda – https://www.stevesaxty.com/fullscreen-page/comp-jqgt4eor/496b883c-7449-4c11-a466-ca77538572de/8/%3Fi%3D8%26p%3Dwoa9z%26s%3Dstyle-jqgt4eq5
Project Toni – A more conservative proposal by Ford UK https://i.imgur.com/bFPtS6X.jpg
Your U.K. proposal links indicate the debate within Ford worldwide and in Detroit over the future of the car that became the Fairmont / Zephyr in the U.S. In Robert Lacey’s “Ford: The Men and Machines”, in the run-up to Iacocca’s firing, it is written that there were mixed message coming from Hank the Duece. H.F.II liked responsive cars, but also liked his plush Lincolns. Iacocca’s bonus must have been structured on corporate savings in a way that car and truck programs came in under budget, which may have been the motivation to reclad car platforms with minimal changes in styling in the mid-1970s. Some in Ford wanted the Fairmont program to introduce front-wheel-drive to get a head start on G.M.’s X-cars before 1979. Iacocca nixed a front-wheel-drive program as too expensive, so the Fairmont program became conventional rear-wheel-drive, unit-body and live axle cars. (There were European Fox platform cars with four-wheel independent suspensions and fuel-injection engines !) The most revolutionary feature of the Fox-body cars was rack-and-pinion steering. Still, the Fairmont and Zephyr cars were better cars than the 1979 X-cars, which once again were woefully under-developed when unleased to the buying public.
At least with the RWD Fox platform, Ford had an adequate basis for the Mustang, Thunderbird/Cougar, Continental, and Mark VII. A FWD Fairmont platform would not have been an adequate basis for those cars.
There was one other factor that I read about in terms of Ford’s upper-management thinking regarding the 1996-2000 Ford Taurus: Harold A. “Red” Poling did not care for a sloping rear-deck lid. The boxy rear-end of the Fairmont / Zephyr would have met with Poling’s approval !