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.
The 2000 XKR was well under $30K when I bought it two years ago (after attempting to buy a GTO from multiple GM dealers and leaving in disgust). Ironically, BOTH are still more reliable than most of my neighbors' domestic cars. I *know* the 87 XJ6 is screwed together better *now*, with 230K on the clock, than my neighbor's Impala is, for example.
It's a pretty sad commentary when a 20 year old Jaguar is more reliable than a new domestic product.
We did get the Mondeo here. Remember the Ford Contour? That was a Mondeo. The UAW screwed up the build quality, and Ford management dumbed it down for the US market.
The Jaguar X-Type is also a Mondeo, and it's not selling well here either.
Indeed it was, but most seniors have gone over to the Japanese automakers, my grandfather included.
I bought a Mercury Montego back in '05 and love it. Of course, I was driving around late 70's-early 80's cars (box Chevys and Impalas), so this new car thing is still fresh for me. One thing I will say, though, in regards to this article, Ford is STUPID for sticking with the "three-bar grill" on their autos. I think it completely cheapens the car, and it was a HUGE turnoff for me to getting a 500 or a Fusion at the time.
My mother bought a Milan last year, and she loves it as well. The styling of Mercury vehicles vs. their Ford cousins is leaps and bounds above. I agree that Ford needs to start designing cars that people will actually want to drive, otherwise they're on their way to being relegated to the scrapheap of automaking.
Ford's own studies showed that 70%+ of their target market associated Taurus with "cheap crappy rental cars".
They only bought them as fleet cars because they were cheap. Now they're (non-rental fleets) buying Hyundais, noticing the lower maintenance costs, and won't be coming back.
In addition, the sales of the Taurus tanked in the mid-90s with the "dead fish" bodystyle and they never came back.
Best line of the day! Thanks!
I still sure get stuck behind a lot of Buicks, but you're right, I see many seniors in Camry's now too. Ford's strength has always been with trucks. I love mine (liked it better tahn my Dodge, Chevy or Nissan). Of course they made a few good cars too (e.g., Mustang) and have tried to bring them back with limited success. I still blame the union for Ford and GM's demise. Toyota and Honda are non-union, are they not?
Sheriff Taylor's car!
There is a 'Galaxie 500' parked in front of my house. There's a Fairlane in the driveway - I wanted a 'Fairlane 500' but found a deal on the less fancy sedan. I once had a 'Fairlane 300' and my truck is an "F100'. At one time 'Taurus' offered a real hottie and by and large it was a successful line.
I'm just glad they didn't name the current 500 something like Cougar or Probe, one first would be an insult to the '60s and '70s and the second a sore memory.
It's a four door grocery getter - would it be any different if they made up a brand new word like the Japanese do?
"Perhaps one of these days Ford and GM will realize that if they design cars that people actually want to drive, that might help with their profitability."
You can't say that on Free Republic. It's all the union workers fault. Management has nothing to do with turning out the autos that come from G.M. and Ford.
Correct, and as of this year, Toyota is paying its American workers (at least in one plant) MORE money than those working in a nearby UAW plant.
The only Taurus worth having was the SHO model. Now that was a fun car to drive!
"The UAW screwed up the build quality"
Funny that the same workers in the same plant are building a vehicle that was rated as one of the most reliable vehicles on the market by the leading "consumer" magazine....
Thing is, even if the management does manage to bring out a good design, the UAW goons sabotage it with poor build quality and even outright sabotage.
No improvement in quality will be possible until the unions go byebye.
I rented a 500 and there was absolutely nothing remarkable about it, and I'm a Ford gal.
"They only bought them as fleet cars because they were cheap. Now they're (non-rental fleets) buying Hyundais, noticing the lower maintenance costs, and won't be coming back"
Please explain to me how you believe your statements are possibly true when long term reliability has been average at worst for the past decade.
How about the Ford FUBAR ?
I have pictures of a Contour where the workers "forgot" to properly attach the dash - so when the owner attempted to remove the "remove before delivery" the entire dash came off.
Other people have reported similar oopsies with their US-built Mondeos. The Mercury version became known as the "Mistake" for a reason.
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