Ford dropping Freestar - to replace it with a crossover

Ford, who has been playing in the minivan market with such compelling entries as the Aerostar, the Windstar (their first unibody mini), and the Freestar (the Windstar with a new name) has finally decided to take its toys and go home.

Oh, they'll play in the 7-seater game, just not with something they'll call a minivan.

Remember the Fairlane concept (pictured above)? Well, there's a good chance that we'll see this people mover take the Freestar's place in the Blue Oval's lineup. No word yet if this will spell the ultimate demise of the Freestyle crossover (since things could get mighty crowded for it with a Fairlane 7-seater and a Fusion crossover sharing showroom space).

It will be interesting to see if bold, non-minivan styling will help Ford succeed where 20 years of trying to improve on class leaders in the minivan segment (and failing miserably) did not.