Ford makes space for family vehicles

Volvo donates its P2 architecture for the new Ford Five Hundred, Freestyle, and Mercury Montego.

“Redefining the North American sedan is a tall order, but that's what we set out to do with the all-new Ford Five Hundred, our new flagship,” said Phil Martens, Group Vice President, Product Creation, Ford Motor Co. “We took a look at the attributes that make crossovers popular-like high-package command seating-and sought to deliver some of those qualities in a sedan. While the industry tries to create new car-based crossovers, the Ford Five Hundred is the first crossover-based car.”

Ray Nicosia, Manager of Vehicle Engineering, said the Volvo P2 architecture from the S80 and the XC90 is the basis for the D3 platform in Ford. The first three vehicles off this platform-the Ford Freestyle crossover, and the Ford Five Hundred and Mercury Montego sedans-will be built at the new flexible manufacturing plant in Chicago.