The Mk II, like the Mk I before it, offered customers the choice of many options and trim levels. A Capri Mk II was introduced to replace the Mk I, and it featured updated styling but was still very similar to the original Capri. ![]() The Capri Mk I was produced until 1974, with Ford having sold over one million units. Top-of-the-line models were a different story, though, costing almost twice the price of a base Capri and putting down almost three times the power with a 138bhp 3.0L V6. Base models had a 1.3L four, initially producing only 52bhp. A base Capri, though an endearing and well-designed car, was hardly an impressive performer. Like the Mustang, the Capri had a lengthy list of available options. The Capri succeeded in being to the European (and especially British) market nearly everything that the Mustang was to the American market, including a bestseller. In order for a European Ford to be analogous to the domestic Mustang, it would have to be even slimmer than the Mustang and emphasize sporty handling over straight-line speed and cubic inches. While the Mustang was significantly smaller than most other American Fords, it was not a particularly compact vehicle when compared to the other Fords then available in Europe. The Ford Capri was introduced in January of 1969 to capture some of this untapped sales potential Ford knew that if it could introduce a European equivalent of the Mustang, it would be a hot seller. Even the relatively small and sprightly Mustang, though, was not a particularly sporty car by European standards. When the groundbreaking Mustang was introduced in April of 1964, it sold phenomenally well in the U.S., where it represented a smaller and sportier type of Ford. Cars like the Galaxie and Fairlane were just what Americans wanted, but they were worlds away from the economical and eager compacts of Europe. It was by no means the first model developed by Ford specifically for foreign customers, but it was one of the most iconic and successful.įord's domestic offerings throughout the 1960s were largely typical American cars, with big engines, big bodies, and the lazy, laid-back demeanors made possible by their motors' surpluses of cubic inches. The Ford Capri, though sold in many different countries, was developed in Europe specifically for British buyers. This practice sounds expensive and potentially risky, but, with the Ford Capri standing as an excellent example, it has proven to be a great strategy for increasing sales when a manufacturer's domestic model lineup is at odds with the tastes of foreign buyers. Many large car companies are able to extend this practice by developing whole new cars specifically for foreign markets. This variation in carmakers' lineups from country to country is not created only through the exclusion of certain models from foreign sale, though. ![]() automakers still provide some large and comfortable (but not necessarily fuel-efficient) models that sell well in the States but are excluded from the vastly different European market. Many European companies produce a range of small, frugal cars that would not appeal to most American buyers, and so those models are usually not offered to the American market. History In order to appeal to the specific preferences of different markets around the world, automakers rarely offer the same model lineup to all of the countries in which their products are sold.
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