Ford Probe
Background
Neil Ressler, the then-chief of small car engineering at Ford, spoke about the internal cultural differences at Ford Motor Company which led to a strong disagreement between two factions that had radically different notions about what the Mustang should be:
Background
This idea came forth that we would replace the Mustang with this front-drive car, the ST-16. There were a lot of people who thought that was a great idea—a modern car. There were also a lot of us who were appalled by that. It was like the champagne sipping crowd replaced the beer drinking crowd. The idea that we would replace the Mustang with a Japanese car—a different car from a different culture aimed at a different audience—this is not going to work.
Ford Probe
The Ford Probe is a liftback coupé manufactured and marketed by Ford for model years 1988-1997 over two generations. The Probe was a byproduct of Ford's collaboration with its Japanese partner Mazda, and both generations derived from the front-wheel drive Mazda G platform of the Mazda Capella.