28 ~ Friday, April 21, 1989 - North Shore News

makes changes for 1

tecently introduced Lincoln C
tinental will become the first Nc
American car with dual driver :
passenger-side air bag supplem
tal restraint system.

FOR THE 1989-model year, Ford
Motor Company of Canada will
introduce a new minicar, all-new
versions of its popular Thunder-
bird and Cougar mid-sized cars, a
Super High Output version of its
Taurus sedan, and improvements
to its Ranger compact pickup and
Bronco II sports utility vehicle.

Ford Festiva, 2 minicar built for
Ford by Kia Motors Co. of South
Korea, will go on sale in the first
quarter of 1989. Festiva is a high-
quality, front-wheel-drive minicar
aimed at first-time, urban buyers.

Driven by a 1.3-litre, four-
cylinder engine and equipped in L
and LX versions, Festiva will be
sold at all 686 Ford and Lincoln-
Mercury dealers across Canada.
The base-model Festiva L will cost
about $8,000.

Ford of Canada also will add the
Ford Escort to Lincoln-Mercury
dealers’ lineup.

The all-new Ford Thunderbird
and Mercury Cougar add excite-
ment to the mid-sized car market
this year. For ’89, Thunderbird
and Cougar have been totally
redesigned and are already being
applauded by the automotive
media for refining the
aerodynamic Ford tradition they
introduced as ’83 models.

Thunderbird and Cougar remain
rear-wheel drive, powered by a se-
quential multi-port fuel-injected
3.8-litre engine built in Essex, Ont.

The cars are available in three
well-equipped series, including the
performance standard bearers,
Thunderbird Super Coupe and
Cougar XR7. The Super Coupe
and XR7 add a supercharger and
intercooler to the 3.8-litre engine
package to deliver a whopping 210
horsepower.

They are, in fact, the first con-
temporary domestic sedans to
benefit from supercharging.

The new Ford Taurus SHO —
that’s for Super High Output —
offers high performance that’s uu-
paralleled in cars in its class and
that places it among the finest per-
formance sedans in the world.
Taurus SHO’s power is provided
by an ali new 3.0-litre V6 Yamaha
engine with dual overhead cams,
24 valves, sequential multi-port
fuel injection and a dual exhaust
system, coupled with a 5-speed
manual transaxle. The engine has
an estimated 220 horsepower and
reaches 0-to-100 kph in about
seven seconds.

Meanwhile, trucks are becoming
an increasingly important part of
the Canadian automotive market
— with truck sales currently ac-
counting for one of every three
vehicle sales nationwide. For *89,
Ford has made major exterior and
functional improvements to its
compact trucks —- Ranger and
Bronco II.

Ranger’s 2.3-litre EFI engine has
{0 per cent more horsepower and

rear anti-locking brakes are stand-
ard, completing installation of this
important and useful technology
on Ford’s entire truck line.

In addition, the Ford Aerostar

minivan will be available in a
long-wheel-base version that will
give minivan buyers the option of
having more space on the conve-
niently-sized chassis. And the

Photos su

WITH SMALL cars accounting for nearly one in tnree sales nationwide, Ford is aiming to strengthen its s
this segment by iniroduciag a new minicar, the Ford Festiva, to dealerships in 1989,