"Killing the Tauras and the Escort was like killing the Carmry and the Corolla or the Accord and the Civic...not going to happen at smart companies"
The problem is that Ford had destroyed the value of the Taurus and Escort names. The Escort they destroyed by neglect - it was actually a reliable vehicle historically, but they did very little to update it (sound familiar?), so it got a reputation of being poor in quality just from it being essentially obsolete. The Focus was a much superior vehicle, but they've let it wither on the vine as well (lesson not learned).
The Taurus they destroyed the name of with the old AXOD transmission and 3.8L engine. You still will see people trash the Taurus around groups like this because of these problems. Never mind that the transmission problems were all fixed by the 1995 model year (yes, failures still occur, as on all cars from all makes, but they are actually above average in reliability from the 96 MY on). Or that the 3.8L wasn't available in any 1996 or newer model. The reputation and value of the name was shot. The weird styling (which I don't mind) didn't help, either.
So when they finally got around to replacing the Taurus, they could name the new vehicle a Taurus and risk the negative image earned and still carried over from vehicles built over a decade before, despite it being a completely new vehicle, or they could give it a new name and try to build a reputation from scratch.
It is arguable that they chose the better solution. The Fusion has been getting outstanding reviews, and retail sales are actually very strong.
We'll see if they've learned any lessons by whether or not they do the necessary upgrades and restyling for the Fusion for the 2010 or 2011 model year (a product cycle on par with Toyota and Honda)....
My experience is you have to be a pretty good mechanic to own a Ford. Something is always breaking. But I don't have any recent experience. The last new Ford I bought was in 1974. However, I still like to drive my 69 Mustang.
Could the Fusion have been named Escort? sure could the 500 have been named Taurus? Remember that Ford puts thousands of them into car rental shops and that is how you get buyers.