Ford Five Hundred to be renamed Taurus

LeftLane News ^ | 6 Feb 2007 | Unknown

[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.

[SteveMcKing]

Woah....never better....never. Vipers DO rule.

Motor Trend favored the Viper in 2005 and the Corvette in 2006. (They even put the Shelby Mustang above the Viper, although I don't think that's a fair comparison.)

[o_zarkman44]

We all can afford a Viper. They are only $175 thousand dollars if you can find one.

If automakers would put the same imagination into the average auto they might have something at a reasonable cost. Wasting time and money on rich toy production lines is definitely contributing to a loss of focus on the bread and butter assembly line.

[Vaquero]

Motor Trend shills for GM...most of the car rags do.
try this....



if your looking for power seats and other such truck, we are not talking about the same reasons to want one.

[em2vn]

Do you actually think that a group of radical, black, union workers in 1969 was representative of workers at an auto plant, considering that they were attacking other union members for opposing them.
The article from 1972 seemed to be very much in the same vein as the 69 story. Radicals were loose in our society and hell bent on destroying anything they could get their hands on. Those in the UAW were weeded out by both the auto companies and the union.
Do you have something more current than the era of bell bottoms?

[Spktyr]

Of UAW violence and thuggery? Sure!

2001, the tradition continues:

http://www.winchesterstar.com/TheWinchesterStar/010713/Area_abex.asp

http://www.nrtw.org/foundation-action/fa_47.htm

And in *1954*, which wasn't an era of radicals being loose:

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,864133-1,00.html

More union violence, in 1999 and other times:

http://www.nilrr.org/unviol2000.htm

2000 court papers - same thing from the UAW:

http://www.nlrb.gov/nlrb/shared_files/decisions/341/341-118.htm

1943 - UAW workers sabotage aircraft needed for war effort:

http://www.crompton.com/nadc/Documents/Brewster_article_July15-2001.html

Generic Union Violence:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Violence_in_industrial_disputes

"1983 - Eddie York was murdered for crossing a United Mine Workers (UMW) picket line."

Plenty of material on this site: http://www.geocities.com/Cordobakaf/

Another good one: http://www.soldiersofsolidarity.com/






Unions need to go away. Now.

[em2vn]

The lives of scabs should not be easy, nor should they expect them to be. They are close to the lowest form of humans in the western world.
I don't think they should suffer harm but harrassmemt is a fair ploy to be used. A person who won't support fellow union memembers who are on strike or will cross a picket line as a replacement worker is worse that the pus from an infected sore.

[Spktyr]

Verbal harassment is fine, free speech being what it is.

Harassment in the form of property damage or violence, which is what unions *always* use? No - or are you advocating such?

I used to be a Teamsters member. Then I wised up, left the union and got a better job elsewhere - without a union.

I can only assume that you are a union member. If so, it may behoove you to look into where your union dues are going. The answer should surprise you.

[-YYZ-]

I drove a 4-cyl auto-trans Contour rental back in '96. No wonder it didn't sell - the Ford Escort (restyled Mazda 323) of the same model year was just as big (possibly bigger) and nearly as powerful, and cost a lot less. The Contour had a buzzy engine and was just OK, at best.

[-YYZ-]

Doesn't look that much different than the current model. Then again, I thought the current model looked fine, too. Still don't like the over-styled "chrome" grille, though - and the same comment went for the new Jetta when it came out, and several of Nissan's models, including the Murano. In any case, it's a large, conservatively-styled care. Just the sort of thing that all those Crown Vic lovers out there should go for (they certainly weren't driving them for the thrilling driving experience, RWD or no).

[-YYZ-]

"and the GTO will soon be back"

Maybe they can do something about the styling, this time. The last one looked just like a Pontiac Grand Prix - which is to say, not unattractive, but also not in any way distinctive from several other Pontiacs, with too much plastic cladding.

[-YYZ-]

So, what were the shortcomings of the Freestar that you drove?

[Spktyr]

Well, the Contour was the Mondeo *chassis*, but watered/dumbed down for the US market. None of the stuff that made the first Mondeo popular was on it.

[Dave Elias]

Interesting thing about the Falcon is that it's development costs were like Ford US's stationery budget. The guys at GM Holden and Ford Australia when it comes to RWD platforms, are reknowned for doing a lot with a small budget. They lack the army of paper pushers that detroit employ.

The new Camaro is being designed in Australia for this reason and Ford are waking up to this resource too. The next Falcon is apparently destined for great things...

[PizzaDriver]

If Ford goes Green and Dem; they could introduce a very "PC" cross-over platform....
The BroncoBama.