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The Lincoln Versailles ( or ) is a mid-size luxury car that was marketed by the Lincoln division of Ford Motor Company from the 1977 to 1980 model years. A rebadged variant of the Ford Granada and Mercury Monarch, the four-door Lincoln Versailles was introduced as the division's competitor to the Cadillac Seville, which also made extensive use of badge engineering. The Versailles was named after the 17th century palace outside Paris. Noted for the first American-market car with halogen headlamps and clearcoat paint,〔 the Versailles sold poorly, with only 50,156 produced over all four years of production. Partially through the 1980 model year, the Versailles was discontinued. Although not directly replaced, Lincoln revisited the mid-size segment when the Continental was extensively downsized for 1982, with much better results. == Background == During the mid-1970s, the Lincoln division of Ford sought to expand its model range for multiple reasons. In comparison to the four distinct luxury model lines offered by Cadillac and the three offered by Chrysler (including Imperial), Lincoln offered only two distinct model lines in 1975. While sales of large luxury cars would go on to rebound after the 1973 oil crisis, its impact lead to the rise of imported cars. As Honda and Toyota began to gain market share in the economy-car segment, the luxury car segment also gained competition from smaller vehicles as well. While competing in price with Cadillac, Imperial, and Lincoln, the West German BMW 3.0Si and Mercedes-Benz 350SE/450SE offered American luxury-car buyers a far different vehicle than produced by American manufacturers. In 1976, General Motors introduced the Cadillac Seville in response to both the fuel crisis and the Mercedes-Benz S-Class. While the smallest Cadillac, the Seville was also priced as its most expensive model. Although using the chassis and mechanical underpinnings of the Chevrolet Nova to save on engineering and development costs, the Seville was given its own exterior; no body panels were shared between the vehicles. In 1977, to resurrect its sales, Chrysler moved the LeBaron nameplate from the defunct Imperial division to become a Chrysler. At the time, Chrysler Corporation had limited funds for model development, leaving the LeBaron to become a slightly redesigned version of the Dodge Aspen/Plymouth Volare mid-size sedans. While sized similar to the Chrysler Cordoba, the LeBaron was produced in a full range of body styles, including sedan, coupe, and station wagon. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Lincoln Versailles」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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