Repackaging the lowly Maverick as a “Luxury Compact,” in 1975 Ford rolled out the Granada.
There’s an old adage in the Motor City: “Big cars, big profits. Small cars, small profits.” So in the 1970s, as traditional big-car buyers shifted their attention to smaller, more economical cars, the development was met with some unease by the industry’s product planners. At Ford, chief product man Lee Iacocca (above) took a profit-minded approach: Instead of trying to downsize a big car, trimming the profit margins accordingly, he took the company’s low-priced compact Maverick and moved it upmarket, adding his familiar luxury class touches: formal styling cues, classic Mercedes-style grille, overstuffed upholstery, woodgrained interior trim.
After four years of development, the resulting vehicle was introduced in September of 1974 as the 1975 Ford Granada. (Note to our international readers: This was an entirely different vehicle than the European Ford Granada of 1972-94.) With a base price of $3698 at launch, the Granada cost almost $1000 less than the full-size LTD, but there was still enough room, it appears, for a comfortable markup. It must have worked: A Mercury-badged version, the Monarch, was also produced, and in 1977 a Lincoln variant called the Versailles was brought to market.
As the lowly Maverick platform was reborn as a “luxury compact,” as it was called, one of the company’s competitive benchmarks was the Mercedes-Benz 280 sedan, and if nothing else, their overall dimensions are fairly similar. The Ford TV introduction below is not the least bit shy about drawing the comparison. (Later Granada commercials even featured owners getting the two marques confused.) Of course, the Granada was 100 percent Dearborn on the inside, offered with a range of Ford engines: 200 CID and 250 CID inline sixes and a pair of V8s, 302 CID and 351 CID. And not too surprisingly, the Granada drove almost nothing like a Mercedes and very much like a miniature LTD, with a remarkably plush ride. Get the whole pitch in the video below.
Sounds like they followed what Ford Australia did with our Falcon/ Fairlane range. Though they were more attractive cars!
From what I understand the base platform was similar and just [total] sheet metal changes
Those were good cars. My Dad bought a 78 Monarch new, kept it 10 years. Never had any problems with it. I bought a 82? model, it was based on the Fox platform like the Fairmont, it also was a good car. Dad had the 302 V8, mine had the rugged 250 I6. I only kept mine a year or so before we went to a mini van to haul the growing teenage boys….