Posted on 02/06/2007 7:34:06 AM PST by Spktyr
Ford will announce on Wednesday plans to rename its Five Hundred mid-size sedan "Taurus," according to a report by Dow Jones Newswires. The name change will be announced at the Chicago auto show.
A month ago, a report in BusinessWeek suggested Ford could revive the Taurus name, but it seemed unlikely at the time.
CEO Alan Mulally was quoted as saying Ford should have never dropped the nameplate in the first place. "I havent had time to do the deep dive on why we stopped investing in Taurus, but I'd like to," said Ford CEO Alan Mulally. "The Ford Five Hundred should have been the new Taurus."
In the same report, Ford's new marketing chief Barry Engle expressed a similar sentiment. Asked why Ford doesn't rename the Fusion or the Five Hundred "Taurus," Engle said, "stranger things have happened […] I don't know why we invest hundreds of millions of dollars in a name over 20 years and then walk away from it."
Ford revealed the redesigned 2008 Five Hundred at the Detroit auto show in January. Ford gave the sedan new headlights, taillights, and its three-bar signature grille.
Sorry, no. There are documented cases of UAW workers sabotaging cars. There's an ongoing case of it in Shreveport, where they made the S-trucks and make the Colorado/Canyon twins now - beer cans ending up in door panels, or welded inside cab spaces.
Back in the days of AMC, it was even worse. I have a Jeep Grand Wagoneer that has the wiring harness tied in a knot, making it impossible to remove it for servicing without cutting it. This *had* to have been done on the line in 1986. A number of other people have commented on similar occurrences.
If you don't think they've been happening, you haven't been paying attention.
None of those are under $30K, and I really doubt that that's what's in your garage, since one of them isn't even in production yet!
What I posted aren't random photos. They're my actual cars.
Well whaddya know? It seems like we were just talking about this a couple of days ago.
"They should have called it the Galaxie"
Ford allowed their claim to trademark on both "Galaxie" and "500" to lapse in the US. That's why they're spelling out "Five Hundred." There is a Galaxie model in other markets outside the US.
I also have a 1965 Ford Custom (Think plain Jane Galaxie) this is a joy as well but for different reasons (A 390 Ci police interceptor helps)
OMG
OMG
I believe you might be confusing CR with Consumers Digest on the "Best Buy" thing - that is a status Consumers Digest gives out....
NVA--that was my first thought--so I checked the thread to see if anyone else thought that way.
Of course, there was!
Probably complained about the water pump because you had to dig through to the timing belt to get the pump out. Most Fords are driven by the serpentine belt, so the serp belt is the only part which needs to be removed to get to the pump.
BTW, almost all Toyotas have water pumps driven the same way as the Contour. That's why you ALWAYS should replace the pump whenever you change the belt. Its ten times as difficult as replacing one driven by the serpentine belt.
And before people go on about Toyota pumps being more reliable, I should note I've had several go bad over the years...
Out of curiosity, what coolant were you using in the Toyotas?
I want a horn HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE! You can never find a horn when you're angry!
That is a sweet looking ride... very agressive styling. Hard to believe thats the same basic car as the Taurus.
GMTA :)
Link to the registration statistics, please?
FYI, the average car lasts about 14 years. So if you produce for 21 years, and hit your peak sales over 10 years ago, and have declined dramatically since, even an average car would have a low % still on the road.
The Corolla, on the other hand, has had continually climbing sales, so the average Corolla produced would have a significantly younger age than the average Taurus...
Well the 500 is a decent car, just incredibly bland styling.... I haven't seen the redesign, so hopefully they did something about that.
I do like the look of the fusion, that's a nice looking car.
I do think getting rid of the Taurus nameplate was stupid, Taurus does not have a bad reputation.. maybe not awe inspiring, but not bad.. and to flush away 20+ years of promtion and name branding was insane.
I like the 500 on paper, just its styling was yawn... hopefully the redesign will be more catchy.
Straight from the Toyota dealer... I'm not that dumb... :P
Completely fair question, though.
(for the unitiated, Toyota uses its own specs of coolant, so don't go putting Prestone in and expect things to last
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