Ford brings back the Taurus.

They decide to drop the 500 and rename it the Taurus. Gee, why did they screw w/ a brand name that was pretty much on par w/ Accord and Camry? Could this be the start of the turnaround? Let's hope they don't 4 door the Mustang or front drive the thing. If it works, leave it alone boys!

http://www.autoblog.com/2007/02/07/f...urus-and-sabl/

_________________

http://mdstreetracingassoc.com/

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: blown68 on 2/8/07 9:30am ]</font>

Easy... Tarus has been the Norm of Fords selling power for the last 15+ years.
The 500 is not selling like they thought it would... So they are going to give it the Tarus name to try to make up some losses...
[addsig]

What's the saying about polishing a turd.....? [img]/forums/images/smiles/icon_razz.gif[/img]

Bringing back the Taurus name is a good start. Now Lincoln should get rid of the MKS &amp; MKZ labels and bring back names as well.

MR
[addsig]

. [img]/forums/images/smiles/icon_lame.gif[/img] what the hell are they thinking. They are paying the airplane CEO millions FOR THAT CHANGE ! They better have more rabbits up there sleeve than that. [img]/forums/images/smiles/icon_frown.gif[/img]
[addsig]

<TABLE BORDER=0 ALIGN=CENTER WIDTH=85%><TR><TD><font size=-1>Quote:</font><HR></TD></TR><TR><TD><FONT SIZE=-1><BLOCKQUOTE>
On 2007-02-09 03:49, MROLDV8 wrote:
Bringing back the Taurus name is a good start. Now Lincoln should get rid of the MKS &amp; MKZ labels and bring back names as well.

MR

</BLOCKQUOTE></FONT></TD></TR><TR><TD><HR></TD></TR></TABLE>

They just got rid of the Zephyr name this year. Ford has this tendency to "squander" there names. Capri has been used on about 7 different vehicles in it's day from Lincolns to little econoboxes. The Montego was a mid size car now it's a damn wally wagon. The Futura, the original batmobile, lost... to PEP BOYS!!!! AARGH! The Marauder another joke. Why don't they just put stickers on them like the 1970's. The Marauder could have been a beast but they forgot the supercharger like the prototype. Too little Too late.

Stu

<TABLE BORDER=0 ALIGN=CENTER WIDTH=85%><TR><TD><font size=-1>Quote:</font><HR></TD></TR><TR><TD><FONT SIZE=-1><BLOCKQUOTE>
On 2007-02-09 14:58, CaptVirgilHilts wrote:
The Montego was a mid size car now it's a damn wally wagon. Stu
</BLOCKQUOTE></FONT></TD></TR><TR><TD><HR></TD></TR></TABLE>

Actually, the Montego is the Merc equivilent of a Ford 500, Stu. I didn't know that myself until I went to pick up one last summer for a LM dealer and couldn't find the crossover I "thought" I was picking up..Duh! I drive for dealers and still get confused on this stuff.

Renaming the 500 'Taurus' is a very bad idea. They're not similar in consept or market , the 500 is a much bigger, more luxurious car and stickers at about $10K more than the "Taurus Classic". I don't think THAT will play well when Joe Lunchbox goes to his local Ford store to trade in his '02 on a new one. The only bright note is that Ford should sell more Fusions, the modern equivelent of the Taurus.

Chevy uses more sense in naming new models with recognizable names like Impala for their fullsized model. The 500/new Taurus is a great driving car, but has been very poorly marketed. How many ads have you seen for the '07 500 on TV?


[addsig]

Thanks for the correction Jan, There is no Mercury brand in Canada anymore, for some reason I thought the Montego was minivan'd down there! Of course the Freestar is now the TaurusX (????) with that sort of "marketing" the Mustang should be renamed the TaurusSC (SportCoupe) or to take the other tact call ALL the cars Mustang. They will be like franchises like CSI on TV. MustangX, MustangY, MustangZ and of course a nice Mustang four door wagon called the Mustang Urban Squire to dredge up and paraphrase another old name. Instead of wood grain mactac they can use satin brushed nickel mactac on the sides to "update" it. Throw some useless Microsoft junk in it. Woohoo!

Ford has dropped the Focus wagon too ( at least here in Canada) which has raised the ire of many here. I guess they think they'll move up to a TaurusX. My guess is they'll probably look elsewhere.

Bold Moves? Bowel Movements!

I hate being negative, I really wish Ford would get there $H!+ together. My daily is a Toyota Yaris. Most of the people who know me damn near fainted when I bought it. It gets 52 MPG ( well 45 with my lead foot). Ford has nothing in that segment so.... sorry. Stu

I'm suprised that Ford doesn't because they're the king of SUVs and crossovers. Try keeping track of Freestyles, Freestars, Windstars, etc and which is which. Now we have the Edge, plus the Exploder, of course. I believe that Ford has concentrated on this market an the expense of their passenger car lineup.

BTW, if anyone IS in the market for a family sedan that won't break the bank and is fun to drive, check out the Fusion. With a V6/5 speed, I can raise some serious smoke from the front tires at a stop light and they handle like they're on rails....[img]/forums/images/smiles/icon_smile.gif[/img]
[addsig]

In my opinion they never should have dropped the ball on the Falcon, Futura, Comet, Cyclone, Fairlane, Galaxy, Comet, Thunderbird brands of days gone by. All great cars all morphed into bodies and platforms that were unrecognizable to those who knew them.
It is as if the people who bought these cars wanted the car to change to fit their new social, economic and family requirements. College kid buys a sporty Mustang because he wants performance, handling and styling, two years down the line he has a wife and family and a baby in the oven and Ford thinks they can sell this guy another Mustang if they turn the Mustang into a station wagon to fit his growing family! They have got it all wrong and have been screwing up these cars longer than I care to remember. Cougars and Thunderbirds evolving into Luxury class vehicles, Falcons turning into Torinos and the Mustang II… What the hell was that, a Pinto?
The Focus, the Fusion, and the 500 are great new additions but the Taurus is a turd. It has no since of design or styling or performance, now they want to morph it into the 500? It is not even in the same class as the Taurus! The 500 should be out there side by side and kicking the pants off the Chrysler 300M.
It seems the Mustang and the SUV’s are the only production items holding down the fort. It was a smart move on their part to revive that Mustang from the ashes. They have most likely since been to busy patting them selves on the back instead of putting that same energy into some of their other product line. And since the Japanese started producing dependable V-8s in work class trucks they have all been taking a beating.
How much money do you think Ford throws down the ****ter designing cars like the Probe, the 500 and the new retro Thunderbird only to scrap the idea because they did not market the car properly and thought it would sell on its mere presence alone? Oh! I know lets put a different badge on it! Yeah, that's the ticket!
I happened to hear on a local radio station here in LA when the word was out that Ford was closing up production plants, lying off countless workers that the Ford Taurus was to be cut from its line. The radio host said “ Now that we no longer have the Taurus, all those young thirty something’s will have to find a new car that says I have given up on all my hopes and dreams.”
Do you think the Ford CEO’s read these posts, are we not their public? [img]/forums/images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]
Just my .02 rant.
Ras Daniel [img]/forums/images/smiles/icon_cool.gif[/img]

[addsig]