CAN FORD GET ITS NAVIGATOR BACK ON COURSE BY LAUNCH DAY?
Nearly 1,000 Lincoln Navigators, Ford Motor Co.’s big new luxury sport-utility vehicle, have taken a detour on their way to showrooms. A problem with ill-fitting interior door panels has forced Ford to halt delivery of 999 Navigators — all sitting in a Ypsilanti (Mich.) parking lot until they can be fixed. Ford is rushing to install new door panels in time for the Navigator’s July 1 launch. Ford is anxious for the Navigator to win over baby-boomer luxury-car buyers who have snubbed the aging Lincoln brand. If the Navigator can’t lower the average age of Lincoln buyers, which now tops 60, Ford’s luxury division will have a hard time pulling out of its long downward sales spiral. That’s why Ford desperately wants to avoid any quality problems on the Navigator, an upscale cousin of the popular Ford Expedition. The husky Lincoln starts at $39,950 for the two-wheel drive model and $43,300 for the four-wheel-drive version. Ford officials say demand for the new model is high, and they’ve alr
