Posted on 10/19/2006 10:56:56 AM PDT by floridareader1
DEARBORN, Mich. - Sometime next week, the assembly line at a Ford plant near Atlanta will come to a halt, signaling the end of a family sedan so revolutionary that its 1985 debut changed forever the way cars look, feel and drive. ADVERTISEMENT
Say goodbye to the Taurus.
After 21 years and sales of nearly 7 million cars, Ford Motor Co. is giving up on what some call the most influential automobile since Henry Ford's Model T. The Taurus is credited with moving America away from boxy V-8 powered gas-guzzling bedrooms-on-wheels to aerodynamic, more efficient cars with crisper handling.
To many, the Taurus' death was slow and painful as Ford in recent years abandoned the car that saved the company, focusing instead on high-profit trucks and sport utility vehicles.
"When that thing came out, it was a big deal," said Robert Thompson, professor of popular culture at Syracuse University. "It so much became kind of the template of what a modern car was going to look like."
The Taurus, so futuristic that critics called it a "jellybean" or a "flying potato," made its debut late in 1985, with 1979 gasoline shortages still fresh in consumers' minds. The U.S. economy was just pulling out of a downturn when the scalloped Taurus, initially equipped with V-6 and four-cylinder engines, hit showrooms. It was an immediate hit, with buyers snapping up more than 263,000 in 1986, its first full year on the market.
It became the best-selling car in America in 1992 with sales of nearly 410,000, unseating the Honda Accord just as Japanese imports were starting to take hold in the U.S., and it held the top spot for five straight years until it was supplanted by the Toyota Camry in 1997. Even near death in September, it remained Ford's top-selling car.
Ford also sold another 2 million Mercury Sables, the Taurus' nearly identical twin.
"It was really the last full-size American passenger sedan to dominate the segment," said Jim Sanfilippo, senior industry analyst for Bloomfield Hills-based Automotive Marketing Consultants Inc.
Ford was losing billions in the early 1980s when Taurus was just an idea. Philip Caldwell, chief executive at the time, challenged designers and engineers to come up with a radically different car that would return Ford to profitability.
"We were in terrible condition financially," recalled Jack Telnack, chief designer on the original Taurus who retired in 1998. "He said `Look, we need something really different, really new, that will kind of set the pace out there.'"
Nearly 1,000 people worked on the car, many coming from Ford's European operations. They had spotted a trend that U.S. buyers were moving away from big, cushy cars to better-handling European models, Telnack said.
Engineers met that trend with a stiffer suspension, and they also gave the car more interior room, firmer seats, better ergonomics and more trunk space, said Telnack.
The car also had a lot of new "surprise and delight" features including a cargo net to hold grocery bags in the trunk and rear-seat headrests and heat ducts, said Joel Pitcoff, the Taurus' marketing manager at the time.
It was a hit in market research tests, and sales beat expectations, said Sam Pack, owner of three Dallas-area Ford dealerships who took part in Taurus research.
The car's sales remained strong until it got a makeover in 1996. Although the second version sold well, it never matched the original's numbers.
Still, company officials said the Taurus restored Ford's reputation for quality.
Frank Ribezzo, a lawyer in North Smithfield, R.I., is selling a 1997 Taurus for $950 after running up 210,000 miles. It's his third Taurus, with the first two going over 220,000 miles.
Ribezzo said he buys them used because they don't cost much and, save for the transmissions, they're reliable.
"As far as used cars, their value just goes to hell in a handbasket in a couple of years. But they run," Ribezzo said.
In the late 1990s, the Taurus became symptomatic of Ford's current ills. The company focused on high-profit trucks and sport utility vehicles, leaving the car almost unchanged for 10 years with little advertising support. In the meantime, competitors had copied the Taurus and refined their models, and the Taurus eventually became solely a rental car and fleet vehicle.
"It didn't keep pace. That's the whole story in four words," said Pitcoff.
Ford, left with few desirable cars, was caught flat-footed this year when consumer tastes shifted away from trucks. Sales have dropped 8.6 percent through September, and the company lost $1.4 billion in the first half of the year.
"They put no money into that product for the last several years," Telnack said of the Taurus. "They just let it wither on the vine. It's criminal. The car had a great reputation, a good name. I don't understand what they were waiting for."
The lack of attention to the Taurus has angered workers at the assembly plant in Hapeville, Ga.
Earle Chafim, a 22-year electrician who repairs welding robots, said workers met company goals, yet Ford still decided to shutter the plant.
"The biggest part I hate is we got the No. 1-selling car in the company, we won so many awards for being No. 1, it's a shame. We're still outselling other cars, and we're not even taking orders anymore," he said.
Ray Daniels, a 33-year company veteran, blamed Ford for not updating the Taurus and keeping the name.
"If they'd kept the name, we'd still be here," he said.
Mark Fields, Ford's president of the Americas, said he, too, can't understand how the company strayed so far from the Taurus. He wasn't with Ford when those decisions were made, but said he knows well that Ford's 1980s turnaround was led by appealing products, something he's trying to duplicate now.
"We are very, very focused on what customers want," he said.
When the lights go out on the last Taurus in Hapeville next week, there won't be any ceremony.
"It's not a reason for celebration," said plant manager Dale Wishnousky, proudly adding that workers raised quality levels since Ford announced the plant closure. "There will certainly be tears shed. There's already been tears shed."
I think Ford makes some excellent trucks, best in the world. Also I had a 1980 Mercury Capri that lasted for 17 years with practically no repairs needed whatsover.
Ford is pretty damn good, I think. Certainly better than General Motors or Chrysler.
Still running my now 10-year old Taurus. $200 total in repairs over 10 years. I've NEVER had a car that was so low cost to maintain, and that includes several japanese makes.
Blame the EPA for the paint....
Rapid changes in regulations for paint emissions aren't a good thing... The reason you saw mostly US makes with the problem was that most cars built in the US were still domestic makes then, and cars built overseas didn't have the same regs put on them.
Hiccup X 3.
The Taurus SHO was perfect for the married guy with three kids and a desire to blow the doors off some low-end four-banger Camaro used-to-be.
The SHO & SVT variants of different Ford models are always pleasing to the enthusiasts...whether the Taurus SHO, Contour SVT, F-150 Lightning, or even the smaller Focus SVT. I think that a boosted-horsepower Freestyle with upgraded suspension and bigger wheels would do pretty well in the market. The basic platform is pretty cool and I think they could make some positive improvements.
~ Blue Jays ~
...good riddance.
THe 1989 Taurus was the only car I could do a complete walk around, and hit every safety feature and benefit as I escorted the buyer around the car, and into the driver's seat.
In Iowa, the biggest seeling feature was the pinkish windshield that would melt ice covering the entire window in a matter a minutes. When people told me, "We are also considering the Chevy..." I would say, "That is fine. Before you check it out, I would like to give you a free gift...a windshield scraper."
I cannot tell you how many guys refused to let their wife walk away, because every guy knew that when the windchill is hitting -20, they would be the one out there scraping the window off that Chevy.
Wow, I didn't know about that heat-generating windshield in a vehicle from nearly twenty years ago! That had to be a fantastic selling feature for someone considering a long and brutal Iowa winter...and meanwhile toggling between the Taurus and a GM vehicle.
Heck, it has always amazed me that Ford didn't make ongoing improvements to the well-designed Contour SE to make it a huge hit here. A few simple evolutionary changes and they would have had a basic vehicle nearly as nice as a low-end BMW sedan in their showrooms without even going the SVT route:
Come on, Detroit! We want to purchase your products if you build the correct vehicles!
~ Blue Jays ~
Except that the US-built "foreign" cars from the same time period don't suffer from the same problem at all.
You ain't drove a Toyota, then, have you?
Also I had a 1980 Mercury Capri that lasted for 17 years with practically no repairs needed whatsover.
You got lucky. I once won 10 dollars on a scratch-off lottery ticket, too.
Ford is pretty damn good, I think.
You're certainly entitled to your opinion.
Certainly better than General Motors or Chrysler.
Maybe. But I note that you didn't put Toyota in that comparison.
And I don't care about the argument about "at least Ford trucks are American-made."
Better check on that one, 'cause Toyota trucks (my son's '04 Tundra) and vans (my '04 Sienna) and cars (my wife's '07 Solara) are now made right here in the US of A. I have an '01 Tacoma that I'm not sure about as far as origin, but I'm damn sure it's twice the truck of comparable Fords.
I believe the biggest majority of Fords are now assembled in Mexico and Canada, with a large majority of the parts as well being made in Mexico and Canada.
So, who provides the most jobs for Americans?
Ford? or Toyota?
As for me, I would prefer an American assembled Toyota over a Mexican or Canadian assembled Ford.
Truth be known, even if the Fords were made in the US, I'd still prefer a Toyota because the workmanship and quality is far and above the current crop of crap that Ford is putting out.
And some of the F-series trucks are made in Mexico, anyway, so much for that argument.
As has often been discussed before, you got lucky.
I think people would have been more receptive to the Contour if Ford had been able to get the UAW to build them properly instead of just slapping them together. The Contours were so bad that parts were falling off them at dealership lots.
Had one. At exactly 75K miles, the tranny departed this earth. Same thing happened with my Windstar.
I didn't mind the car itself, but that "balloon payment" at 75K miles was a b!***!
But, ah, how many of those Taurii did I drive courtesy of Hertz...
It was and is a good car. Ford is clueless.
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