The Mazda malcontents - Alike in all but name...

My 1989 Lincoln Town Car is a pretty impressive chunk of car. It's not just eighteen feet long, with a five-liter engine and enough luggage space to stash a snowmobile in - it's also a museum.

Because the gubbins of my Lincoln - the engine, chassis and other automotive accessories - were practically antiques before they'd even rolled off the assembly line.

My Lincoln Town Car shared it's underpinnings with rear-wheel-drive Lincolns as far back as 1970.

In fact, the Hayne's manual for my car covers ALL rear-wheel drive Lincolns from 1970 to 2002 - basically meaning that the cars hadn't evolved mechanically at all in the course of 32 years.

That's even more remarkable when you think that the same mechanics were used for the long-running Ford Crown Victoria (most commonly recognized as the standard American 'Police Cruiser') and the identical, re-badged Mercury Grand Marquis. Funny to think that Ford owned three companies, marketing three different vehicles that were all, essentially, the same.

And this attitude hasn't changed. Just look at Ford's current lineup of vehicles. Their Ford Fusion sedan is built on Mazda's CD3 'platform.' The Ford Fusion, it turns out, is essentially the same car as the Mazda 6, just with a different face. And while the 2009 Mazda 6 is the only Japanese car to use this platform, Ford are up to their old tricks, using the same design for their other brands. The Mercury Milan, for example, is built on the same underpinnings as the Ford Fusion, along with both the Lincoln Zephyr MKZ and the Lincoln MKX.

The new and original Mazda 6

The Lincoln Zephyr / MKZ - basically, a Mazda 6 by any name...

The Mercury Milan - are we noticing a pattern here?

The Ford Fusion. Definitely a resemblance here, too!

You've got to wonder if all this redundancy is one of the reasons why Ford's sales are being hit so hard by the current recession. It's been bad for almost all motor manufacturers (Toyota's reported it's first loss in almost four decades.) Ford has weathered the storm comparatively well, but you do end up having to wondering about their marketing strategy.

What's crippled the American automotive industry is a total lack of understanding of the market. Consumer want smaller cars, with more reliability and better fuel economy. That's why Hyundai, for example, have actually increased sales during the economic crisis.

Ford, in common with GM and Chrysler, have just continued doing what they've always done - churned out the same cars (and, after the fact, wondered why nobody's buying them.)

This is especially relevant when it comes to their range of vehicles built on Mazda's CD3 platform. On offer are five similar vehicles - all with comparable engines and options. When a customer walks into a Ford or Mercury showroom, they want choice. Instead, they're offered five identical options, just with different badges.

It you look at the Mazda 6 reviews you'll see that they're generally better than the reviews of the Ford-family of cars. Perhaps this is because the Mazda 6 is one car, trying to do one thing (with a wide range of options, from different engines to manual or automatic transmissions.)

The Ford family, on the other hand, have one car trying to be five different cars. The Fusion, Marina and both Lincolns all have fairly restrictive options, with gearbox and engine combinations that are unique to each 'brand.' This means they waste a huge amount of effort in redundant marketing.

Whereas Mazda only need to market one car, Ford need to market five. If both Mazda and Ford had the same advertising budget overall, the Mazda 6 would end up five times more 'visible' because their message isn't diluted across three different brands.

Advertising is cumulative - like a snowball, the more of it there is, the more effective it becomes. Ford, on the other hand, is already shooting itself in the foot by dividing it's marketing assets before it's even hit the marketplace.

In the current climate, it's no way to sell cars. Ford need to pare down their range of vehicles and concentrate on single cars from single brands. If they could successfully manage to do that, perhaps they'd manage to weather the economic storm. History, however, suggests otherwise.