trim levels, base-trim "S", standard-trim, and the luxury-minded LTD II Brougham. Bucket seats with console and floor shifter were available on base- and Brougham-level coupes. Discontinuation Initially popular at the time of its 1977 debut, sales of the LTD II declined rapidly due to several factors. At the point of its launch, the American car market was met with the downsizing of the Chevrolet Impala and Caprice. The LTD II name was a marketing attempt to offer a choice of a downsized LTD model to compete with the downsized Impala and Caprice while still competing directly against the same sized 1977 Chevrolet Malibu. The Impala and Caprice downsizing resulted in the LTD II having a larger exterior footprint with a smaller interior volume. The downsizing of full-sized sedans by GM was met with success, with the Chevrolet Impala/Caprice becoming the best-selling 1977 vehicle in the United States. For 1978, GM downsized its intermediates, with the Malibu (the direct competitor of the LTD II) adopting near-compact dimensions. Within Ford Motor Company, the LTD II met a high degree of internal competition from the newly redesigned Thunderbird while sharing the chassis, powertrain, interior and much of the body with similar pricing. While eliminating the previous model overlap with the Continental Mark series, the redesigned Thunderbird proved highly popular, reducing sales of the LTD II two-door body style. For 1978, the Ford Fairmont was introduced as the official replacement for the long-running Ford Maverick. While officially rated a compact (nearly two feet shorter and seven inches narrower than the LTD II), the interior dimensions of the Fairmont bordered the midsize segment as downsizing was expanded to intermediate-size vehicles making it more of a competitor to the downsized 1978 Chevrolet Malibu. In addition to slow sales, potential model overlap with the Fairmont (and LTD) led to the discontinuation of the LTD II station wagon after 1977. For 1979, the LTD II effectively became obsolete upon the introduction of the downsized Ford LTD. In a similar fashion to the 1977 Chevrolet Impala/Caprice, the full-size LTD was smaller than the intermediate LTD II (11 inches shorter in length, 4 inches shorter in wheelbase, 1 inch narrower, and 500 pounds lighter), yet rivaled its 1978 full-size LTD predecessor in interior space. Following the 1979 model year, Ford ended its use of the Torino chassis, shifting the Ford Thunderbird and Mercury Cougar XR7 to the Ford Fox platform