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.
Because two of the companies I consult for have medium sized fleets for their employees and that's their experience with them.
I was living in Europe at the time an missed the Contour. Wonder if Ford 'dumbed down' most of the aspects of it which made it 'European'. The European Mondeo had a superficial drive and look close to Audi.
Funny, though -
Of the Gen3 or newer Tauruses, the SHO with its Japanese built engine (yes, its true) was the only real trouble maker.
Nothing like having your camshaft sprocket come off on an interference engine...
Technically, I am a senior (now age 59) and bought a Taurus in 03. I wanted a sedan and the Japanese cars (Camry for ex) were more expensive and had less room. The real senior car would have been the Crown Vic. My Wife told me that was an old person's car. I like the 500, and it makes sense to rename the car.
My best friend has an Avalon, and it is nice, but expensive compared to the 500.
I thought it was the luxury health coverage that GM and Ford employees and retirees were receiving that was really causing the big problems.
Well at least that's SOMETHING...
But still just anecdotal... I mean, after 6 Camrys have gone through my extended family and every last one of them has cost more to maintain and repair than any of the Fords (6 as well), I suppose I could claim Camrys are junk. But my claims wouldn't make them true for the general population.
So how does the Taurus end up with good reliability ratings from CR if they're such junk?
I don't pay any attention to Consumer Reports in general - especially since they've been caught out with BIG lies at least three times in recent memory.
It should also be noted that CR once rated the truly horrible first-gen Hyundai Excel as a "Best Buy".
The Tauras name was a lot of "bull".
FYI, the sample size for these fleets, combined, is about 500 cars. That's not just anecdotal, that's a statistically significant size.
A Ford mechanic I knew called them the Ford Detour and the Mercury Mistake. Something about water pump failures and a bitch of a job replacing them IIRC.
Actually there are many higher mileage Ford Taurus still on the road. I know, my co-worker drives one daily with over 200,000 miles. If you knew anything about cars and Fords you'd know how to keep them serviceable.
If they made the Saturn Aura in RWD I'd buy one today.
When I mentioned this fact to the salesgirl at the dealership she questioned why anyone would want a RWD vehicle.
It's gonna take awhile.
Read down. I own and work on my own *Jaguars*, you twit.
And per registration statistics, something like 20% of the Tauruses *ever* sold are still on the road. That's pretty pathetic.
That is just because Ford doesn't know the proper spelling of the word Ftaurus!
Meanwhile, Pontiac is introducing the G8.... V8, RWD, with a MANUAL GEARBOX and a real interior! All that for about the price of a 500/Taurus.
Hey, Ford? Yeah, you might want to rethink that whole "we're not bringing the Falcon over soon" thing...
Carl,
Not so funny when you walk down the hall way of your kids school and overhear a mom talk about having to take a seperation package as Ford downsizes to her kids teacher. Cut them some slack as they fight for survival, there are real people behind those numbers.
Yeah, but all of us have heard the stories about how a twenty-something union worker who was making $90-110K per year slapping hubcaps on a car is moaning about how he'll never get another job that pays that well again. Kind of makes it hard to sympathize.
I enjoyed my Taurus SHO very much...
That old sabotage routine has been a never ending yarn without a bit of fiber for fifty years. It is as believable as H.Clinton's lament, it's for the children.
IF you wish, but the FUBAR comment is over the top, we all know what it means, lets elevate the discussion not sound like DU.
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