Amway Wagon!
Ford Taurus
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."
So then impress her with something else.
How's your Post-Taurus Stress Disorder coming along?
I have a 2004 Taurus furnished by my employer. Good mileage, drives nice. It has leather interior and mag wheels. I added a gold pin stripe to break up the all white color. Its not an Aurora by any means but its been trouble free so far...
Had electrical problems as well and why I now drive a Toyota Highlander.
That is funny as hell!!!
Ford needs to build a car that would appeal to the homosexuals that they continually cater to. I'm certain an appropriate name for such a vehicle will soon surface.
No need to drag the Ford Fiesta into this discussion.
;OP
Ford sold thousands of brown Probes over the years.
Ugly, underpowered, POS that handled like crap. There will never be a FWD car in my garage.
It's like I've been saying all along, "It's the cars, stupid!"
Must have been -- I've put everything about that car out of my memory except how much I hated it. Forgot to mention the tranny also blew up. And yes, there was a "modified cover up." When the dealership told me it was going to cost $4,500 to fix the engine (after they'd dismantled it so I couldn't haul it elsewhere) I told them my next stop was my attorney's office. Only after that did they just "happen to notice" the company would pay for some of the repairs. Bad car, bad management, bad company. May it deservedly fry in hell.
I buy a new one about every 4 years. Got 2 right now. Used the others as trade in.
I was on vacation with my wife, brother and sister in law in Florida and we rented a Taurus. It broke down on the way out of the rental agency. We went back and they gave us another Taurus. This one caught on fire on the way out of the rental agency! Luckily we all got out OK. When I went back to the agency I demanded they give us anything but a Taurus.
Amway Wagon!
Ford Taurus
Bought a 1990 GL and hauled the family many miles in it for 12+ years. Solid and stalwart until the last year, then everything went belly-up and I had to retire it. Very happy with it overall. Still rent them from Hertz when I travel.
It is bland by modern standards. About as bland as everything else on the road these days. But what I like about them is that I can fit in it.
I'm 6'3", and if I wanted to buy any other car I could fit into, it would cost me about twice as much or more.
One clue about an American car's quality is the constant need to change the car's name. Accord and Civic have been around almost forever, while names like Fairlane, Galaxey, Tempo, Mystique, Pinto, Fiesta, Granada, Monarch, Countour, Comet, Falcon, on and on have been changed to confuse the American public.
That was the non-public Technical Service Bulletin. As I recall, Ford concluded it was cheaper to repair the blown engines than recall them all for prophylaxis. It might have been cheaper in the short run--maybe. But the cost-accountants left the loss of squandered goodwill out of that calculus.
Oh, and the AXOD transaxle was not designed for the power put out by the 3.8l engine. It could barely handle the power of the 3.0l engine. The AXOD was eventually AXED, but not before hundreds of thousands were made.
They should have known better than to make the clutch packs out of Havarti. At least use a drier cheese like Provolone.
The Fusion was designed to replace the Taurus. The Focus is the replacement for the Escord. The Five Hundred is a very nice and smooth ride, but it is boring and ugly!
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