History
During the late 1970s, Ford did not have as much development capital to spend on its vehicles as General Motors, which led to the high usage of badge engineering to save money. Although they had used unique platforms, powertrain, and bodies as recently as the late 1950s, the full-size Ford and Mercury product lines differed only in grille and trim. Until the Versailles, however, care had generally been taken to give Lincolns a distinct appearance and feel, in order to hide their sometimes humble origins although by the 1970s the similarities were very apparent. However, by mid-decade, even the Continental shared a number of components with Ford products.
The aftermath of the 1973 fuel crisis also exposed a significant hole in the Lincoln lineup: Lincoln had no smaller luxury cars to compete with foreign automakers (primarily the Mercedes-Benz E-Class) and Cadillac, which introduced the Seville in 1975. While the Seville shared its underpinnings with the Chevrolet Nova, it had been modified to the point that General Motors gave it a separate platform designation.
Read more about this topic: Lincoln Versailles
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