Sin City’s casinos are designed to create the illusion of chance. Vegas’ neon lights, chiming bells and piped-in oxygen keep hopefuls dazed, confused and distracted while their dollars are vacuumed from their wallets. And yet all the neon in Nevada couldn’t distract the Ford floggers at the recent National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA) convention. The Blue Oval’s metal movers and shakers hit town looking for one thing: assurances that FoMoCo’s new, new turnaround will work. They got nada.
That said, Big Al Mulally’s first tète-a-tète with his dealers garnered mixed reviews. Although Al won kudos for his straight talking style— promising to dial back Ford’s dealer dissing corporate culture and a pledge to play car salesman for a day— his audience was far from convinced. The mood remains… tense.
“This is it for them,” Wisconsin dealer Steve Marshall pronounced. “Their last shot.” Ford's NADA members are well aware that their immediate future depends on FoMoCo’s ability to implement their new, new Way Fordward. They’re skittish, and no wonder: the dealers are looking at Ford’s “new” models for ’08 and thinking pigs and lipstick shades.
This year, Ford’s offering a refreshed Five Hundred, Montego (which is, let's face it, a refreshed Five Hundred) and Freestyle. The models are scheduled to receive a new three bar grill nose, a larger 3.5-liter six cylinder engine, more safety kit and an as-yet-unspecified interior upgrade. Given the troika's modest sales, the rejigged pigs might not fly.
Last year, Ford sold 165,152 Five Hundreds, Freestyles and Montegos, down 22 percent from 2005. The $23,785 Five Hundred SEL and $26,670 Freestyle SEL currently have $2k customer cash on the hood, while the $24,585 Montego comes with a choice of $2k or 0% financing. They may not be lame ducks, but neither are they what you’d call high flyers.
As of January first, Ford/Mercury dealers harbored an 89-day supply of Five Hundreds, a 115-day supply of Freestyles and a 105-day supply of Montegos. Getting rid of these “old” models is Job 1, and it ain’t gonna be easy, or particularly profitable, for anyone concerned. Sensibly enough Mulally waited for NADA members to return to their car-choked car lots to unveil his biggest product news: the Taurus lives! And the Sable! Well, at least in name.
Mulally hinted as much at the start of his tenure; dissing the ancien regime for killing off storied monikers in favor of a farrago of “F” names and alphanumerics. In an announcement at the windy city auto show, Mulally formally resurrected Ford’s last chart topping automobile. The Five Hundred now becomes the Taurus, the Freestyle becomes the Taurus X and the Montego becomes the Sable.
As you read this, auto writers around the world are trotting-out the old “rose by any other name” shtick. The more charitable amongst them are already claiming that Ford’s retro-moniker machinations represent some kind of “back to basics” movement by Ford’s Glass House Gang. Writing in the Detroit Free Press, Mark Phelan says “Reviving the Taurus name is a small correction, but it shows Ford customers, dealers and employees that the captain is awake at the wheel.”
Or not. In a profound sense, the name changes are the most cynical examples of badge engineering yet inflicted on Ford’s dwindling (if gullible) customer base. What’s old is new, and new for you! Even if they’re not true, rumors that Ford may retrofit unsold Five Hundreds, Montegos and Freestyles with three-bar body kits and new badges shows the creative bankruptcy behind the “re-christening.”
Indeed the Captain may be fast asleep. Last month, Big Al proclaimed that he liked “the Taurus brand; everybody has such fond feelings for it." First, the Taurus was a model, not a brand (Big Al should be forced to watch re-runs of the Taurus-era TV show Eight is Enough). Second, “everybody” doesn’t share Alan’s enthusiasm for the model– especially those who, unlike a chauffeur-driven Boeing executive with a Lexus in his private parking space, experienced the Taurus at the end of its long, sad decline, courtesy of Hertz.
Perhaps Ford should give Mrs. Mulally a randomly selected Taurus fresh off the assembly line for a year’s driving and see how that turns out. Meanwhile, Joe Phillippi, president of AutoTrends Consulting Inc. shares our skepticism. “Its laughable that they take a brand that they just killed that was so damaged and then put it on a car that’s been struggling, and assume that the face-lift will work some sales magic.”
So the model that saved Ford and inspired a book that inspired an airplane guy whose success inspired a Ford scion to hire the guy to save Ford, lives. It remains to be seen if the carmaker that made the model that conquered the market that faded into mediocrity can use such blatant sleight of hand to hold on long enough to ante up to win the pot and play again.
Maybe they should just bring back the Falcon name for the Focus (which I euphamistically call the F-up instead), the Fairlane name for the 500/Taurus/whateveryoucallit, and the Galaxie name for the LTD Crown Victoria, while they’re in a retrograde naming mood…..
The Taurus name is nothing without a trend setting car to go with. If the Five Hundred doesn’t get completely new skin (radical looking skin) in 2009 to go with the name, all this Taurus-talk is hot air.
Wouldn’t they preview the new Taurus if it had new skin to show off?
The Taurus IS a brand, just as Mustang is a brand (both sub-brands of Ford).
My acid-test for this is to ask a non-car person who makes a particular model. If they know, then the model is a standalone brand unto itself with some intangible value.
I think this is especially true if the name has lasted through several iterations of a vehicle.
So Ford has nine brands? Or ten, including the Mustang? Or eleven, counting the F150? It's that kind of thinking that got FoMoCo to the point where they don't know what to build for whom, allowing them to slip into badge engineered mediocrity like, oh, the entire Mercury lineup and most of Lincoln's models. Just sayin'.
I think this piece is taking a very short-sighted view on this re-naming.
For starters, I don’t think the change is pro Taurus, but rather anti- Five Hundred. After 3 years, most people have no idea what a 500 is, and how are you supposed to sell a product that no one has ever even heard of, regardless of their association with it. And with the product update a few years down the road, why dump a bunch of money and effort into car whose name most people don’t recognize.
It can be argued (and I’m sure it will be here) that the Taurus name was damaged beyond all hope of repair, but I think it’s better to have a name associated with a product that is known as at least being good at some time, rather than something that is unknown.
Sure there are people who had horrible experiences with rental Tauruses, but would those people be buying a 500 anyway?
Taurus X? That makes even less sense than “Freestyle”
Robert
I may define brand loosely, but in cars I feel it is any car that can be sold to some people virtually on name alone. Five Hundred? Nope. Freestyle? Nope. Fusion? Maybe one day.
Explorer, Mustang, Taurus, F150? Absolutely.
Obviously I’m not talking about the brands as they are set up for corporate/legal distinction purposes. I’m talking about the iconic names that transcend the “Ford” name.
I think we need to distinguish between “name recognition” and “brand identity”.
Mustang has brand identity. You talk to the proverbial man-on-the-street and he has an automatic grasp of what a Mustang is (sleek styling, V8 power, inexpensive).
Taurus has name recognition (Ford used to sell 400K+ per year), but other than mid-size sedan, I don’t think it has a brand identity any more.
I think the Taurus had a brand about it…but that all went away once the SHO disappeared and the car went full tilt into fleet markets.
If they drop in the 4.4L Yamaha V8 and bring back the SHO, then we can talk about branding.
For now, it’s just a dull, boxy car that has little connection to the revolutionary jellybean Taurus that Ford wishes to bring back.
Oh, and here’s a shameless plug for my homage to the last Taurus; the sleek one that had some connection to the Jellybean Taurus: https://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/?p=2131
By most accounts, the new motor for the 500/Taurus was the biggest gap to be filled. Problem is that 2 years into a model is a bad time to try to get folks excited about it again. This give Ford more reason to make a bigger splash about the “new” vehicle. I think Freestyle should have stayed the same. All we need now is time.
Despite the bad image, using the Taurus name from the get go would have saved tons of marketing dollars or dramatically increased awareness of the product for the same dollars. Actually, as a Taurus the 500 sortof makes sense. It is supremely bland but practical, well built, and very good as a family hauler. People may have checked it out and been pleasantly suprised to find a much better Taurus.
But, starting off with a vehicle under the 500 Hundred name then renaming it Taurus pretty much wastes the marketing dollars expended on said product, confuses buyers (as there is no corresponding radical change), and justifies extremely cynical critiques of Ford management. I mean, who came up with this 500 F-name shit in the first place? Someone (I’m thinking you Mr. Fields) should be fired to go along with this move.
I don’t think the Taurus re-name will fly….the Taurus was damaged goods, which is why they pulled the trigger to begin with. This would have been a great idea even 3 or 4 years ago when they were preparing the 500 for entry, or better yet, in 2001 with the last Taurus refresh to cover up the mess they made of it in ’96.
Torino or even Falcon would have been decent renames…. titles last used in the mid-70’s, a long enough time to let bad memories fade…
BTW, if I’m not mistaken there were two books written about the Taurus – one about the miraculous birth of the 1st generation, and the second about the constant self-inflicting wounds Ford management caused with the 2nd generation mess.
Maybe we don’t feel this way here, but nation-wide, Ford’s brand perception is very good. It ranks at the top alongside the Toyota name. The Taurus name doesn’t get anyone’s blood pumping, but it is a very highly regarded name to most people. I don’t think it was wise to dilute the name “Taurus” or “Sable” by flip-flopping around with the names 500 and Montego for the past three years. Adding the “X” makes absolutely no sense and is extraneous. And it sounds a bit pornographic. Just call it the “Taurus” and the “Sable” for christsake.
Perhaps they should take this retro thing to the ultimate and start building nothing but black Model Ts. =P
Gawd it is frightening to watch a zombie corpse blunder around with flesh falling off.
–chuck
Since we’re all feelin’ good, I’m thinkin’ Maverick.
Make it a hatchback and you’ve got a Mavinto.
I believe the Taurus was a quintessential Ford. A family car that a family can afford. Basic reliable transportation. Relatively easy and cheap to keep on the road. It wasn’t (and in my estimation didn’t have to be) the best, the biggest, the fastest or D: all of the above. Just adequate and worthy of respect in those things.
If this car (500) is fits this description then the name fits. And I think it does. The mistake was not naming it Taurus from the outset because management wanted to have their cake and eat it too. Recent Ford management is guilty of betraying these values and Ford heritage. If Mr. Mulally does indeed recognise this and is attempting to rectify the situation, and that this renaming is a step in that direction then it is a good thing that should be heralded by anyone who proports to give evidence to the Truth.
I have never driven a 500. MY perception from much reading about the car and it’s siblings (including this site) is that it does fit this mold, if being underpowered and bland. It would appear the redesign improves, if not altogether corrects these deficiencies.
The Truth will stand. Time will tell. Ford has mortgaged their own future and, further, the Ford family has had to admit it’s own shortcomings and went out and got a real manager. Anyone who goes to this level should not be shrugged off as cynical.
good idea for Ford, i think, in middle america where cars are less fussed over then here.
November 2006, Ford Death Watch 16: Bold Snooze
Back in June, the automaker commissioned me to write about the wisdom (or lack thereof) of the Bold Moves campaign. My no-holds-barred rant wasn’t a hit. I rewrote a few bits at their behest, but dug in my heels on the article’s main thrust: Ford’s campaign sucked because their products aren’t bold. Nor should they be. “The average Ford buyer hankers after a bold vehicle about as much as they crave purple hair extensions.” The piece never appeared
Robert Farago
I can’t help but believe that Ford’s “re-christening”, proves that Robert nailed it.
By most accounts, the new motor for the 500/Taurus was the biggest gap to be filled. Problem is that 2 years into a model is a bad time to try to get folks excited about it again. This give Ford more reason to make a bigger splash about the “new” vehicle. I think Freestyle should have stayed the same. All we need now is time.
Good point. Ford does at least have name recognition with the Faurus and Mable to get people to come back to the showroom. They will test drive the vehicles and discover they are much improved and perhaps give Ford another chance. These are desperate times at Ford.
The 500 is a wrong name, period. It sounds like a Chrysler 300 or some Mercedes; if I were looking to buy a family sedan, it wouldn’t be on my list simply for that reason. It’s too Ford to be a snobmobile and too much of a snobmobile to be a Ford.
Name it Taurus, and at least you’ll make me look. And there’s something to look at: not so expensive, large, comfortable and conservative full-size family car. Swap some chrome for black plastic, and it’ll be a very attractive car.
So as a Taurus it will sell better, and, most of all, you can set advertisement budget to almost zero. Advertise promotions, and that’s it.
Whoever came up with dropping models and changing names every few years had to be getting huge kickbacks from media companies.
In our local Pittsburgh market, base (SEL) Five Hundreds get $2000 Customer Cash, along with an additional $1000 “Pittsburgh Auto Show” cash. A 500 with optional 6-disc CD and traction control can be had for $20,680 (And I’m sure they’ll deal down from there). Even Ford Foci get $2500 cash back. Desperate times, indeed.
What goes through my head, is that the 35 million dollar man or whatever Mullaly will get paid is doing the same damage the older (less than 35Mill men) did for ford. How would you like to own among other cars: a lincoln zephyr, An old ford tarurus, or merc sable, thunderbird, and now 500 and I think merc montego. They are all orphans, I can hear the dealers snickering when you drive in to trade one of these brands. Owe, yeh well, we have three more in the back and no one wants to buy them. We can trade it but you have to be willing to )let me get you a chair and some smelling salts) understand the car your driving as to it’s desirability. Then they drop the low ball number on you and you find you owe more then that (upside down it’s called by the dealer). If only you had bought a toyota or honda, your accord or camry would be one of twenty some years of continuous model years and a valuable resale car. One more reason not to gamble on the domestics. Will they never learn.
Maybe they should stick with the abbreviated name style and call it the TRS.
If they want to be clever, call it the CL TRS. Oh, and how about bringing back the Super High Output version and call it the CL TRS SHO.
Every guy age 18-65 would pay top dollar to see that!
Based upon the sales of the Five Hundred, they had to do something – the car flat out was tanking big time in sales. Ford has had to lose a ton of money on that car.
I look at it as a vehicle that answered a question no one was asking. They had this Volvo platform sitting around, and they were going to build a Ford off of it, no matter what.
As mentioned above, the Five Hundred fulfills the same marketing role as the older Taurus, in it’s pre-fleet car life of the last few years – a solid, mainstream family automobile that doesn’t cost a ton of money.
As an aside, the Crown Vic outsold the Five Hundred by 4 to 1 in January, 2007, and it is almost a carbon copy of a 1998 Crown Vic. This is yet another attempt by Ford to kill the Panther that has failed miserably, as the Five Hundred was advertised as the “flagship” of the Ford line, with the idea it would replace the Crown Vic.
I’d say after 29 years, one would think Ford would decide to stick with it’s winners, and spend some cash there.
Desperate times call for desperate moves.
The vehicles in question should have kept thier names in the first place.
Ford management is correcting a mistake.The average buyer will never be the wiser.
“I’d say after 29 years, one would think Ford would decide to stick with it’s winners, and spend some cash there. ”
I agree completely. For the CV, Ford should really stick with the proven platform and update it thoroughly and make it more modern. The accommodations are archaic, but the bones are bulletproof.
This is a GREAT idea. The 500 target audience is the aging baby boomers who are looking for a car in this segment likely have never heard of the 500.
Furthermore, most of them should still have good memories about the quality, dependability, and safety of the Taurus.
While most of us car buffs want to see something groundbreaking, this may be just the way to boost sales in this segment while Ford is working on the next-gen.
I heard the announcement on the news this morning and wondered how long before you guys railed on Ford for it. Not long at all I see!. I have to agree, it’s pathetic. I mean the Taurus came out and it was awesome, then it sort of wimpered into retirement. I drove a jellybean Taurus once in a blizzard with a foot of snow, up a mountain road and it was keeerazy slip and slide action (I know what was I thinking… hey I wanted to go snowboarding and that car belonged to the only friend willing to go). Anyhow pretty much the worst thing I’ve ever driven in inclement weather. This was a day when Audi’s were falling off to the side of the road, so maybe not fair… anyhow I managed to make it (1st and 2nd gears were stripped in the process).
BTW the Taurus is from the Robocop era. Eight is Enough was a 70s show… way before Taurus I believe (I was eight when eight was enough).
I just hope they refresh the 500/Taurus even further (very soon). Is that the plan?
It’s 2007 and you can’t have this bloated rendition of a 1998 VW rolling around with the Blue Oval on it (Thank J Mays for the design copout!)
Alex Rashev:
Name it Taurus, and at least you’ll make me look. And there’s something to look at: not so expensive, large, comfortable and conservative full-size family car. Swap some chrome for black plastic, and it’ll be a very attractive car.
I guess if you name it a Taurus, everyone will know it’s a Ford sedan. A typical non-enthusiast might not know what a “500” is unless they’ve considered buying a new sedan in the past two years. And I don’t really think they meant to market the 500 towards enthusiasts.
I mean, who came up with this 500 F-name shit in the first place? Someone (I’m thinking you Mr. Fields) should be fired to go along with this move.
FYI…Fields was in Japan (Mazda) in 2003-2004 when this decision was made. Bill Ford Jr. signed off on the naming strategy…try firing him.
I give Fields and Mulally credit for having the cajones to fix the mistake made by the guy with his name on the building.
Good call Ford – if your model lacks recognition why not leverage an iconic name from your recent past that you spent millions promoting?
OK, now that you have Joe Publics attention, is your product good enough? I think its too early to make that call – lets see what happens when this products hits the street. If the quality, durability and value are there then it will sell. If Ford can make money from it – well that’s another matter altogether.
The 500 was, of course s’posed to tie in with Ford’s storied past: of ‘Fairlane 500s’, ‘Galaxie 500s’, the days of Carroll Shelby’s Mustang and Ford powered Cobra.
It must be remembered that the new 500 was introduced ABOVE the Taurus, because it cost a lot more to build.
To put the lesser car’s name on the 500 creates an expectation of low, low prices which Ford may well have to meet.
What choice do they have ? Sunk costs (the 500’s engineering, plant, tooling) are sunk costs.
_Car and Driver_ did park an original Taurus next to the Fusion and even the Fusion was bigger.
The 500 is bigger still.
Galaxy it is.
The problem with prostitution, be it of a brand or of the more salacious variety, is that is irretrievably lessens the prostitute. Within this context, GM and Ford seem determined to prostitute whatever vestige remains of their brand equity with American consumers.
Let’s start with the poor folks, let’s call them Ford loyalists, who soldiered into the dealership and purchased a “new” 500. Shortly thereafter this model is widely panned as underpowered, undersexed, misnamed and in need of serious remediation. If this weren’t bad enough for resale value, the model is now rendered functionally obsolete by a facelift and a name change. The only hope is that you leased and didn’t finance to own. Thanks a lot Al.
Now, with a little perfume and lipstick, the pig is reintroduced as a Taurus. Any customer with a triple-digit IQ and a semblance or brand loyalty to the Taurus will see this stunt for what it is…a sad attempt to extort value from a deceased product line. It boggles my mind that Ford holds such a low opinion of its customers.
Can you imagine, even for an instant, Toyota slapping the “Corolla” nameplate on a Yaris to perk up sales? How about Nissan offering up a faux “Z” car for a short-term boost?
Consumers pay MSRP for aspirational vehicles. Consumers demand deep discounts for utilitarian people movers. Ford, and GM for that matter, have managed to dissolve, diminish and deplete whatever brand equity existed in their automobile portfolios through this type of badge engineering. For that matter, who exactly “aspires” to own a rental car anything?
It just infuriates me…
What a freaking mess.
The “Taurus” is, or should be, Ford’s mainstream, mid-size, bread-and-butter car, to go up against the Camcord and Malipala. Consequently, if any car should get the Taurus name, it should be Fusion.
Having the Fusion a step below “Taurus” leaves the impression that Fusion is a penalty box. That it’s the modern equivalent of a Contour or Tempo. With the Fusion, Ford actually has managed to create a mid-size that can run with the Camcord – something I hate to admit, being a Ford-hater, but there you go. If Ford is going to survive at all, Fusion has to compete well in this highly-competitive market. The LAST thing they want to do is leave the impression in the consumer’s mind that Fusion is a “step down” ride.
I think keeping the Taurus name is a great idea, but it’s going to screw up the marketing of their entire line.
Of course the next logical step is to rename the Fusion to Tempo!… and the focus will be rechristen Escort… and then they can just close the doors and go home.
No one cares about a car called ‘Taurus’ and noone who would buy a five hundred cares what they call the car. Marrying the two will produce nothing… maybe even less than nothing.
I can’t believe this is the best they can come up with… it’s as if there was a meeting where they brainstormed on ‘What can we do that will cost us nothing?’… come to think of it, I’m betting that’s where this idea was hatched… I honstely believe they could fire every white collar worker in the whole company and the place would be better off.
Sajeev Mehta:
February 7th, 2007 at 12:59 pm
I think the Taurus had a brand about it…but that all went away once the SHO disappeared and the car went full tilt into fleet markets.
If they drop in the 4.4L Yamaha V8 and bring back the SHO, then we can talk about branding.
For now, it’s just a dull, boxy car that has little connection to the revolutionary jellybean Taurus that Ford wishes to bring back.
Memo to Sajeev and all gear heads:
90+% of Auto buyers don’t know what the SHO was.
90+% of Auto buyers don’t know how many gears their automatic transmission has.
90+% of Auto buyers don’t know what how their engines valves are actuated.
My point is that this was a brilliant move for the average car buyer, who cares what the enthusiast snobs think, because they are irrelevant in the grand scheme of things. Mulally has made all the right moves so far, Ford has a real chance if Big Al continues to make smart moves.
The new styling, name and engine should propel the new Taurus/X/Sable trio to very healthy sales levels in the future.
BimmerHead: Of course the next logical step is to rename the Fusion to Tempo!… and the focus will be rechristen Escort… and then they can just close the doors and go home.
An even better idea, I think, is to rename the Fusion “Ford6,” Focus “Ford3,” and call the 500 the “Ford S60.”
Actually, “Five Hundred,” to me, instantly suggested “flagship sedan.” And I believe that’s how it was meant. But if Mullaly wants to reach back for a name, is “LTD” currently taken? Of course, if everyone else remembers the LTD the way I do, as a total piece of crap, there’s no joy in that, either.
If I were Mullaly, I think I’d just leave the name alone, “Five Hundred” was OK, and focus on the car.
This is a really good idea on Ford’s part, even if I may be personally a little repulsed by the idea.
To start with, a little branding theory:
BMW, Mercedes, and Scion. What do they all have in common? For the average person, if you drive one, you drive a BMW, Mercedes, or Scion. It’s the pistonheads that say “oh, that’s a 328i”. Why? Because character based names: “CLS, G35, xB”, are stupid. They are hard to remember, and they don’t mean anything. So why are they using them?
Because they force users to acknowledge the marque, rather than the model. They build brand identity for the marque, rather than model identity. With high-volume models, such as the Camry or Mustang, the model itself can become a brand, but when you consider that each year, there are about as many Camrys sold as BMWs, it simply doesn’t make sense for the smaller marques to focus branding effort on a particular model. On the flip side, when you are trying to maintain 400,000 sales per year on a particular model, it’s practically suicide to change the name.
So with that out of the way, it’s easy to see how Ford would stand to gain a lot from slapping old, recognizable names on these vehicles. The names are familiar, and harken back to much more commercially successful models. What’s more, the old “new” names were horrible. The 500 was simply ridiculous, most especially because it was the “Five Hundred”. It doesn’t mean anything, it just starts with “F”. If it had just been numerical, and it had been a great car, it would have had good potential at least to bring respect back to the brand. But as a mediocre “Five Hundred”, it was doomed within the first couple months.
Finally, to your average car shopper, those three chrome strips will pretty much eliminate any resemblance to the Five Hundred, so to many of them, it will simply be “the new Taurus”.
Now, personally, I think the Taurus and Sable are stupid brands to continue. But I also recognize that Ford doesn’t have cars good enough right now to compete seriously on that basis. By their own adminission, they will be absent a serious entry in some of the most significant model segments until at least 2009. So they need a way to sell what they got.
Brand revival is just about their best option here, unfortunately.
The Taurus has been mainly rental fleet fodder for the last few years. Auto buyers are supposed to be excited that all of a sudden the Taurus is back? The Taurus is not some iconic vehicle, but a family sedan. Are purchasers going to flock into Ford dealerships shouting, “Finally the Taurus is back please sell it to me at above MSRP!”
Its a cheap stunt. Not naming the 500 Hundred a Taurus in the first place was a dumb move.
How does this compare to VW bringing back the name Rabbit? A name I associate with sitting in it while my mom trys to start it or leaving my Aunt stranded in Michigan.
They’ve got to do better. If the 500 isn’t selling most likely it is not because of the name.
K.
dhathewa: Of course, if everyone else remembers the LTD the way I do
All I can think of is the line from Men in Black: “The best technology the universe has to offer and we gotta ride around in a Ford POS?”
If they wanted to resurrect the Taurus name and get rid of the 500 name, they should have killed Panther, called the 500 “Crown Victoria,” and called the Fusion “Taurus.” That actually makes some amount of sense.
If I had to choose between the dinosaur Vic and the merely boring 500, I’d pick the 500 every time.
I sincerely hope that Mullaly is buying some time until the new products designed under his tenure can begin rolling off the assembly line(s).
While I don’t think bringing back the Taurus name is a bad idea, it won’t bring the consumer herd stampeding back into dealerships. A shiny grill and moniker doth not a customer make.
I think M.V. Ford needs a larger bailing bucket.
passive,
I’m not 100% sure on this, but I remember reading that the name is spelled out “Five Hundred” on the car because you cannot copyright a number.
You can copyright a letter with numbers (LS460, A4, F150), but not a number by itself.
Yesterday Business Week Online columnist, David Kiley, took credit for instigating this change based on a conversation he had with Mulally in December. He asked the new CEO why, “Ford was pissing away a huge investment in the Taurus name.”Link.
I have two difficulties with this account, assuming it is true.
First, Ford squandered any cachet that the name Taurus had years ago. The name in and of itself means nothing and still has, as far as I am concerned, the stink of rental car status and second tier family hauler. If the Fivehundred name is already so sullied, the problem is not the name; it is the car.
Second, if Mulally is so desperate that he is taking advice from the likes of David Kiley (or anyone of the other loudmouths in the automotive press – myself included), Ford is in worse shape than anyone could possibly imagine. Maybe Kiley got lucky and this is a change that the best minds within Ford would have enacted anyway. Either way, this cut-and-run schizophrenic indecision and lack of commitment to a plan is evidence of desperation in the extreme and grotesquely incompetent leadership.
Just what marketing school did these doofi attend?
“Hey gang lets rename a not so bad car that has not had all that much bad press but poor sales all the sam and adhere a name akin to the greatest mechanical engineering disaster this side of Corvair City. That should really goose sales.”
Taurus is a name that conjurs underpowered rental – fleet units that have a 2 to 4 year lkife span.
And you wonder why this company is headed to a firm grip on # 5 in the league, which pretty much puts them out of the playoffs.
Please Toyota buy them out and save the grand old name.
airglow…
You just summarized, in one post, the arrogant contempt that American car companies seem to have for consumers. If 90% of car buyers don’t know a SHO from their elbow, can’t count how many times their transmissions shift and don’t care about their valvetrain, exactly what do you think motivates almost one-half of them to buy foreign cars?
It seems that American car companies have arrogantly assumed that the American consumer is a dullard who will queue up to buy any badge-engineered POS served up with a sexy name and marketed to racy music. Maybe, just maybe, the computer literate, value-conscious twenty-somethings that represent the next generation of owners are hip to multi-valve engines and other current technologies. Maybe, just maybe, they are NOT impressed by a name-change bait and switch…but are acutely aware of the better resale value available to Accord and Camry owners.
By the way, the superior resale value of the Japanese marques allows them to price leases more aggressively (due to higher residual value)…compounding a perceived quality advantage with a perceived value advantage.
Maybe us ‘mericans aren’t as stupid or ignorant as you think….
Mr. Neundorf,
I think that the “piped-in oxygen” thing is an urban legend.
Something about it being a fire hazard.
Hal.
Taurus? Sable? Bring back the best known name plate of all time: Edsel.
Let’s bring ’em ALL back, Alan!
Tudor, Fairlane, Edsel, Ranchero, Ranch Wagon, Pinto, Maverick & Torino.
Face it, Taurus stopped being revered around 1998, when meaningful platform updates should have already been in process.
I don’t blame him for trying, since it may be one of the few scraps of any value dropped and unwanted on the Ford floor. I do hope, however, that he runs into a few of us pistonheads during his “day on the lot.”
Now, if we can just keep his hands off his ears and keep him from shouting “La la la la la la…” when he does.
No, a Taurus is a not a “brand” or even a marque. It was a particular automobile, a car if you will, that came along at a time when Ford Motor Company was almost ready to cease making cars in North America. It is safe to say, it allowed the company to survive, until today.
It is no more a “brand” than the Mustang is. Each and every car model, has a soul; of course not in any literal sense, but is imbued with one in a figurative sense, by its history – however brief or long – and what the human beings who used it, have of it as memories and feelings.
Al Runte, a friend of mine who has a 1995 Ford Taurus absolutely loves it. He has written about trains and the national parks system; so he understand both technology and the larger context within which it, and an economy fits.
Nonetheless, he is nothing if not a traditionalist.
“You guys who write about cars should tell Ford to build a car like this,” he said to me recently, as he showed me the dash and instrument panel, with a long clean expanse of seating in front of it. “They need to put the shifter on the steering wheel.”
Al is so traditional, he told me he wouldn’t be adverse to seeing that shifter on the column be the (now defunct) three-speed transmissions, we both learned on as teenagers, in a century now past, at a time that seems like eons ago.
So if Ford thinks by simply tagging a Five-Hundred a Taurus, they are going to get people such as Al, to turn in their older Tauri for a new one, they have another think coming.
Having once had the dubious honor of owning an ’88 Taurus, my reaction is………….mmmmmmmmm…..NO.
It’s the car that turned my family off to Ford. We went Honda and have never looked back.
You could call it a Packard and it would still be the same car, so I don’t think it’ll do much good.
Theproblem is that it’s a boring car, with nothing to make it stand out from the herd of lookalike FWD family boxes.
news alert: now the freestyle suv will be renamed the taurus x. So we put remington shaver grilles on all the old fords and give them new old names. As I said in the blog above, how about if you have one of the freestyles, one of ford’s one to two year name models. Your resale just got worse and your willingness to go for another ford called anything will be slim indeed. If ford pulls this out of the hat using these strategies, the Mullaly team should retire to write “the book” on how to do it. Next month, I will read a road test review (in one of our national journals)of the new old taurus and it will say, I paraphrase: while the new engine and tranny are certainly an improvement over the old product, these fords still don’t seem to have the sophistication and appeal of Hondas or toyotas of today, although they are now even with the Japaense products of eight years ago. Now if the competition woud only stand still, Mullaly and all will be bailed out in eight years.
Yeah, gosh, such a pity to use a car that scores right with the Avalon at Edmund’s (the Montego outscores both).
I’ve watched all the harping over the name all day, and not one person mentions the power boost, the rear-biasing awd, NONE of the new improvements. Here’s a very high-quality car getting better…and obsessing on the name is all anyone does.
But hey, I’ll be lucky if this posts…I comitted the sin of even hinting that the editors here could possibly be wrong, so maybe I should just enjoy small positives when they happen.
Naming the Freestyle a Taurus X is pretty dumb…there had to be a better option than either name, but the actual design changes to the front clip look good and may perk up sales of what is (besides the styling) a very nice and capable crossover entry.
Just given the name of the site, has any consideration been given to actually reviewing the Taurus before we condemn it?
As I recall, the 500 was well reviewed, except for its weak engine, low quality interior materials and sproingy CVT. So Ford addresses these problems and renames the vehicle.
And this is cause for another deathwatch?
airglow is right – this is not an enthusiasts car – nor was the Taurus. The Taurus, like the Camry, Accords and Avalons, are mass transportation where a lack of flair is a positive attribute and over assisted power steering is a standard feature. It will be the quality, durability, versatility and marketing that will determine the success or failure of these models.
As for the SHO Taurus, I had a 93′ 3.2 and apart from a lot of noise, horrific under steer and engine problems, there was nothing remarkable about it.
This is good news for the salespeople at Pinkley Motors. They can again advertise themselves as the only place in town to purchase a “Pinkley Taurus”. Good news indeed.
Wait, they’re actually calling the Freestyle the Taurus X?
Aaaaa….hahahahaha!
“We didn’t land on third-row folding seats, third-row folding seats landed on us!”
As an aside, the Crown Vic outsold the Five Hundred by 4 to 1 in January, 2007, and it is almost a carbon copy of a 1998 Crown Vic. This is yet another attempt by Ford to kill the Panther that has failed miserably, as the Five Hundred was advertised as the “flagship” of the Ford line, with the idea it would replace the Crown Vic.
taxman100: that’s the problem with Ford’s plan. They tried to kill off two American cars with a Volvo-Ford and a Mazda-Ford. It failed, and now we see their lame-ass effort to make things right again. I bet they won’t kill off the Volvo-Ford because there is too much invested.
The Volvo-Ford is nice, but its a pointless chassis and a pointless car, the Fusion and (a modernized) Crown Vic cover the bases much better.
This is the dumbest decision ever. The Taurus name has become synonymous with a “rental car” in the mainstream culture to extent that references to Taurus being a rental car are being made in the Hollywood movies (Broken Flowers) and Al Gore’s speeches.
Why can’t Ford get anything right?
First, they let 1996 Taurus age without adding any substantial imrpovements. The 2000 refresh and later was sold almost exclusively to fleet customers, thus tarnishing the well known Taurus name.
Next, they come up with a Ford Five Hundred. This is the dumbest car name I have heard about. Digits could be fine, but this? “FORD FIVE HUNDRED” can you imagine a name dumber than this one? Still, it was a decent car but the design and engine choice was terrible. They put the old, basically unchanged, ~1996 Duratec into this new car and chose a design boring enough to make sure that no one passionate about cars or driving would want to buy this car. I have never seen anyone younger than 50 drive it. Several well known publications put the 500 on their list of “best cars for retirees”
And now, this. Instead of keeping the old name or at least trying to come up with something better, they bring back the old tarnished Taurus name.
Taurus X? That makes even less sense than “Freestyle”
I don’t know how many people remember this, but ‘anything’ X reminds me of the 70s Matador X. (A car whose hideousness defies description, although it could be said to resemble a squashed amphibian). Not a good association.
The Vulcan V6 may have been a respectable motor in it’s day, but the new Taurus had better have the new 3.5 as standard (I should note that the 2007 Freestyle still has the 3.0 as the only choice).
In the long run, going back to the Taurus name will probably be a good idea. I think more people remember them as the car that once traded punches with the Camry and Accord as opposed to the car that died an ignominious rental car death. I think most people assume that it disappeared into obscurity.
Of course, in terms of market niche, the Fusion is the car that should really be called a Taurus, isn’t it?
And let’s not forget that the 500 was not even a logical successor to the 1996-2005 Ford Taurus. The 500 is a bigger car and it’s in a different class. Fusion is the real Taurus replacement although Ford kept making both cars in parallel for a year for some bizarre reasons.
The Taurus was made along with the Fusion because it was essentially a straight fleet car while the Fusion was primarily for retail sales.
The Camry and Accord began as compacts, then grew to mid-size cars. The Taurus growing to the D3 chassis isn’t that bizarre in comparison.
The 500 name never made any sense. Why have a 500 when you have no 300 or 400? If they had used the original name Galaxy 500, maybe. The reborn Chrysler 300 (from 1999) made some sense because there was a storied predecessor; but even that car was not supposed to be. It was going to be the new Eagle Vision but they pulled the plug on the Eagle brand and were left with an extra car.
The vast majority of consumers don’t know difference and will recognize the Taurus as something whereas the 500 is nothing. Hopefully enough will remember good times with the name and consider it for a new car. If Ford will commit to the car and make continuous improvements (the new engine is a good start) then I predict it will do at least ok, and hopefully well. Remember at one time Accord and Camry were not revered brands but Hond and Toyota kept at it. Now the common conusmer thinks they have always been at the top of the automotive heap.
Zanary,
Your point about the improvements to the “new” Taurus (old 500) are well taken. I, for one, find the styling clean and refreshingly unadorned…and it would appear that the new drivetrain should at least be competitive. Toyota, on the other hand, has adopted a squished soap bubble motif that seems to run from the Camry, through the Avalon, right on to the Lexus GS and LS. Aesthetically, the $80k LS Lexus looks a lot like a puffed up Camry to me…
On the other hand, Ford’s product zig-zags still don’t make sense. Why introduce the 500 in the first place with an underperforming engine, a meaningless name and a funky transmission? Isn’t it harder to repair a dull/tarnished reputation than to get the product right in the first place? It really hurts to get bagged financially by Ford’s marketing and product experimentation.
I’m am also not convinced the Taurus will be all that fondly remembered. The decontented semi-strippers that I have rented all too often, complete with cement-mixer V6, copious rattles, squishy brakes and lawn-chair seating compare poorly to the average Hyundai. On my last trip to Fort Worth, Avis served up a 23,000 mile Hyundai that was tight as a drum, didn’t have a single rattle…and the interior still seemed like new…amazing for a rental car. The handling was a little boaty, and the four-cylinder engine was a little buzzy, but sadly…it was tighter package than any recent vintage Taurus that I’ve driven.
Patriotic_wish:
February 7th, 2007 at 4:19 pm
airglow…
You just summarized, in one post, the arrogant contempt that American car companies seem to have for consumers. If 90% of car buyers don’t know a SHO from their elbow, can’t count how many times their transmissions shift and don’t care about their valvetrain, exactly what do you think motivates almost one-half of them to buy foreign cars?
It seems that American car companies have arrogantly assumed that the American consumer is a dullard who will queue up to buy any badge-engineered POS served up with a sexy name and marketed to racy music. Maybe, just maybe, the computer literate, value-conscious twenty-somethings that represent the next generation of owners are hip to multi-valve engines and other current technologies. Maybe, just maybe, they are NOT impressed by a name-change bait and switch…but are acutely aware of the better resale value available to Accord and Camry owners.
By the way, the superior resale value of the Japanese marques allows them to price leases more aggressively (due to higher residual value)…compounding a perceived quality advantage with a perceived value advantage.
Maybe us ‘mericans aren’t as stupid or ignorant as you think….
Did I ever say buyers of American cars? No! I was referring to the average car buyer in America, regardless of what car they buy.
If you don’t believe me try this experiment. Ask every non-auto enthusiast you know how many gears their automatic transmission has and how their engines valves are actuated. Let me know if the Honda and Toyota owners do better than the Ford and Chevy owners. If I had to bet, I’d guess Toyota owners are the least aware of these arcane (at least to the average car buyer) details of their vehicle.
The new Taurus looks a lot like the 2003 Infiniti M45.
mikey: Desperate times call for desperate moves. The vehicles in question should have kept thier names in the first place. Ford management is correcting a mistake.The average buyer will never be the wiser.
I would agree with this completely if the Taurus badge had not lost its luster after years of neglect. But that isn’t the case.
Let’s all remember that there was a reason why the name was changed in the first place, namely that Ford realized that branding a new sedan as a Taurus would have been a good way to stigmatize it as a cheap, unreliable rental car. With the name change, Ford was attempting to distance itself from the outgoing Taurus and create goodwill for its replacement.
The problem, as is typical in Detroit and Dearborn, is that a name change by itself is not enough to turn the fortunes of the product. When you’ve damaged the brand as badly as they have, they need to make radical, substantial changes that stand out in the eyes of the buyer so that the customer is convinced that things are different, and it is worth the risk of spending the cash.
This editorial illustrates one of the hazards of building bad products — it raises the bar by creating a stigma that has to be hurdled. FoMoCo has to work much harder to gain trust than do Toyota, Honda, etc., because all of those it has burned and disappointed, which in turn demands that it be even more innovative and creative than the competition. Evolutionary improvements aren’t enough for a company in trouble — the departures have to be dramatic and noticeable.
It is ironic that the lessons that inspired the original Taurus — the need for radical, dramatic, visible change when the chips are down — hasn’t been passed on to the latest incarnation of this car. Ford had a chance to create tremendous goodwill for the Taurus, but botched it again and again to the point that the name is most likely a liability, not a benefit. The Five Hundred doesn’t need a new name, it needs a redesign.
Adrian,
I think the reason the 500 was not called the Taurus is that the Taurus was still being sold, although mostly to fleets. What else could Ford do? Call the 500 a Taurus and the Taurus a “Taurus Classic” like Chevy did with the Malibu?
Seems silly.
Again, I ask that we try the new Taurus before we hang it.
SherbornSean: I think the reason the 500 was not called the Taurus is that the Taurus was still being sold, although mostly to fleets. What else could Ford do?
That fleet-only variant of the outgoing Taurus could have been called anything. Ford could have named it the Five Hundred (or the One Hundred, or the Whatever), spent zero dollars on promoting it, and phased the name out when it was done with it.
If the Taurus name had any value, or had the potential of gaining value, then the name should have been kept at all costs. But putting a tainted badge on a new product can transfer that stigma to the new product, which could reduce sales further still. That being said, the switch to a new badge has to be meaningful, in that the car attached to it has to have something different, special or unique to offer its audience that the previous car did not. The idea of making “Bold Moves” would be terrific, but it would help if they actually made them every once in a while…
So if Ford thinks by simply tagging a Five-Hundred a Taurus, they are going to get people such as Al, to turn in their older Tauri for a new one, they have another think coming. After reading all these comments, I can only hope and wonder if Tauri people will come and look at the new Taurus and be pleasantly surprised? The 500 shows well – it's a remarkable car for the $ (a friend just got a loaded SEL for close to $7k off…..). Now with the 3.5, all it's illin's have been fixed. I'm not sure the Freestyle needed renaming, especially to Taurus X. Maverick? Maybe…..
About 500 being bigger than old Taurus: take a look at the new Camry. It’s no longer a midsize sedan – it’s a typical full-size american highway cruiser, foot-activated emergency brake and all.
Fusion now competes with Corolla, so it is rather logical to call your main sedan a Taurus.
You also get the benefit of “Oh, it got A LOT bigger” phenomenon which is about the only factor that can force a value-minded consumer to cross over the $20k margin.
In a car universe with scores of nameplates, and with more to come from China and who knows where else, reverting to an extremely recognizable name/icon such as Taurus can’t hurt.
Its a stop-gap measure. It won’t rescue Ford. At all.
It may not help, but it simply can’t hurt.
Taurus X smacks of desperation, though. :-)
I really hope this vehicle does it for them. Lets face it they need it after loosing 12 billion last year.
Gary
http://www.carrental2u.com
Alex Rashev:
Although Camry has grown since the 1980’s, it’s not that big at 101 cu ft. The Fusion is just one cu ft behind, being slightly larger than the Mazda6. The Avalon and 500/new Taurus are one size up at 106+ cu ft.
I agree with previous posters that Taurus X is lame, but Freestyle’s sales are dropping like a rock and there’s nothing to lose in changing its name now.
The whole renaming thing is so stupid. You should never ever rename a model in the middle of its life cycle.
It’s a lose-lose situation. Nobody will be fooled to believe this is a new model instead of a refresh, which makes Ford look very desperate. So it will probably have no effect at all on sales and if it has, it won’t be a positive one.
At the same time, Ford pisses off the current 500 owners as the whole renaming business makes their vehicle sound very “last gen” even though it isn’t, which might effect the resale value.
But I also think that renaming model lines in general is a bad thing, even if it doesn’t happen in the middle of the life cycle. Continuity is important, just look at the most successful vehicles and you know what I mean. Keeping a name creates a familiarity, so if you’ve had good experiences with one car of a certain name, you’re more likely to purchase the successor.
If however people have negative experiences…well you get the idea. So by renaming your car, you basically admit that it was bad…and if it happens in the middle of the life cycle you admit that it still is bad!
At least this is an end of the mind numbingly stupid idea that all Fords begin with F and all Mercury’s begin with M.
That said, Montego was a much better name than Sable. Sable is either a type of artists brush or a color of brown. Hardly a great association for a family car.
Five Hundred and Freestyle were horrid names. Good by to them forever!
Taurus X sounds like a model soon to be cancelled.
Now to return Linoln to real names. Start with the Zephyr, which has only been the EmKayZee for a few days anyway.
500 what?
I’m 52. I want to drive cool cars.
If I wanted to buy a dull car, I’d buy a GM.
Ford, be different, especially if you can’t be better.
Deck Chairs. Titanic.
Since the Taurus was for so many years a tough competitor to the CamCords (in terms of sales numbers), and if “Taurus” can truly be remembered by many as a brand that competed with the CamCord brands for many years, then I think it is ok for Ford to use Taurus again. But first, Ford has to decide what is going to compete with the present generation CamCord; the current Fusion or 500? Then, it must rechristen only for the major redesign year model. To do so during an existing platform would deny credibility to the vehicle.
So if Ford is renaming the wrong car (the 500 vs. the fusion) to go head to head with CamCord, then that in itself is a terrible mistake.
If Ford is renaming the car during its current design platform, then that in itself is a terrible mistake.
Sometimes, correcting other people’s mistakes can take years. Renaming cars at this juncture may not be in Ford’s best interest.
Ford may be better off just leaving things alone until the next major platform change/redesign, and decide what product mix of vehicles it wants to use to compete with the CamCords.
If Ford is desperate enough for sales then they should should consider redesigning 1 or 2 years ahead of schedule.
I think the most important thing for Ford to realize is that they are no longer sufficiently big enough as a company to have so many dang models. Decide what is important in terms of the sedan product mix (Taurus defending against CamCords, and maybe one other Ford sedan platform above or below this trimline) and then execute.
But just renaming something a Taurus because of bad sales without considerably improving the product (a major redesign) will not win any new customers, and will not add any credibility, IMO.
But to put this whole mess in its proper perspective, I think Ford’s sales meltdown is a result of Ford products not meeting people’s expectations years ago, not present day namenclature. I do not know how you bring people back into F/L/M showrooms. Well, the obvious way is “build a better mousetrap”. But even if they do BABM, how do you get the previously disenfranchised to “chance” their 20 or 30 g’s on a Ford? I do not know.
I do know this: Mulally’s $35 million signing bonus does nothing for those who have defected to Toyota or Honda. If anything, this only reinforces some people’s cynicism (rightly or wrongly) of Ford as a fatassed, deseased, dying corporate patient with advanced arteriosclerosis and Diabetes II that can not do anything right with its products and whose only remaining existence is to silver spoon feed its CEOs as if they are the reincarnation of Jesus Christ Himself until the very last bitter breath end. I do not know how you get these cynics back into a F/L/M showroom.
I’m still surprised by every 500 I see on the road… all 3 or 4 of them in the past 15 months.
“Big Al proclaimed that he liked “the Taurus brand; everybody has such fond feelings for it.”
I have a hard time believing that. I’m reminded of the SNL weekend update report that aired after the final Taurus came off the assembly line. I believe it went: “Time to say goodbye to the car made for 35 year olds who have given up on their dreams.”
The 500 is so named because that’s what it’ll be worth in the used car lots in 10 years.
Why not name every car Mustang and every SUV F-150 and watch the customers come rolling in ??
I find it hard to believe they would rename a car ‘Taurus.’
That name alone would keep me from buying it – even if it drove like a BMW.
I’d love to see their marketing data hat they must have to support that brilliant move.
What’s next, renaming the Focus the ‘Pinto?’
Pinkly Taurus – Bob & Tom
Oh yeah, no article about the wonderful Taurus ‘brand’ should go without mentioning Bob & Tom’s ad for ‘Pinkly Taurus’ (say that a few times and you’ll chuckle).
Take a listen – off-color (but clean enough to pass FCC censors)
I believe it went: “Time to say goodbye to the car made for 35 year olds who have given up on their dreams.”
Did they mean married men(?). There is nothing more life-sucking than playing house with a woman…I wonder what Hugh Hefner drives…..
By Matthew Neundorf
Mulally hinted as much at the start of his tenure; dissing the ancien regime for killing off storied monikers in favor of a farrago of “F” names and alphanumerics.
NICE!
The Fusion seems a better Taurus. The Five Hundred is more like a Crown Vic.
The same people who would never buy a, “strange and unfamiliar” Five Hundred are the same people who will now buy one just because it’s a “Taurus”(they had one once before). “We” know better and are informed but we are far from being the majority.
All I can say is Mustang. 1964. I talk to people who were around back then. I ask “when the Mustang first came out, was it a big deal?” I get a resounding “On yeah!”. Complete with exaggerated facial expression and head movement just as if they are still in disbelief at the situation and the success of that vehicle. 600,000 sold in the first 6 months or something like that? $2,300 in 1964 would cost $13,881.87 in 2005(Google inflation calculator).
That’s one thing that is wrong with the Mustang. Too freaking expensive. The lower the price the more you will sell because more people can afford them. I only see 16 year old high school girls driving these V6 `05 and newer models. I occasionally see some older guy driving a V8 one. Tanks. Make it weigh less then it did the year before every year. 2900lbs curb weight would be really, really nice. Offer independent rear for these handling freaks and media complainers. Straight axle for the gear heads and hot rodders. We break stuff.
Since you charge so much for the V8 model, you might as well make it bullet proof. I like the 31 spline axles and 3.55 gears. How about stronger main caps so the carrier doesn’t get blown out the back due to your weak caps?
http://www.strangeengineering.net/catalog/058.html
How about a good one piece drive shaft instead of that mickey mouse two piece thing that serves no purpose or advantage considering the aftermarket readily offers one piece replacements for that joke. Stick a good one in it:
http://www.dennysdriveshaft.com/
How about a TKO600 trans instead of that weirdo thing you’ve got in it now?
http://www.ttcautomotive.com/English/products/TKO.asp
The jury is still out on your auto. Need any help? http://www.lentechautomatics.com/rwdmodels.html
What rwhp level does your block split at(500 at the tires)? Why do we need more then one camshaft? Have you seen the prices on a set of cams? How in the world can those new mod motors possibly be any cheaper to produce then the venerable 302 considering the mods increased complexity? That 4.6 motor is bigger in size then a 460!! The bore size sucks, it shrouds the valves. Simple is better. Take your “Boss” block and give us 400+ at the tires with it.
1979-1993. In 1993, a person was essentially buying a 1979 model vehicle. 1994-2004. Same deal again. 2005 to when? Anyone who has not already bought themselves a 2005 model Mustang sure as hell isn’t going to suddenly buy a 2007 model. Will 2008 and `09 be the exact same old `05 models? You have to change it up. There is no new incentive to buy a Mustang any year while it is still just an `05 model. Who are do you think you are fooling?
64.5-66. Each year was satisfyingly different enough. Get one of those Mustang books that chronicles the changes between all the years from 64.5-73. There were supposedly over 100 differences between a 64.5 model and a 65!
67-68 is an entirely different car and breed from the 66 and earlier models as far as I’m concerned. 69-70, good job. Change is good, keeps things fresh. 71-73. Pretty extreme, too big and heavy, just didn’t do it for me. I don’t know what happened from `74-`78. Gas crisis/shortage, energy crisis, EPA, catalytic converters, emission equipment, no more leaded gas(lower octane fuels as a result), mandatory safety equipment, imports started showing up in great numbers(Honda, Toyota, Datsun). The 1970’s were just flat too funky. Disco fever indeed.
What does it take to win? What does it take to be number one?
I think about Honda and Toyota a lot. Mostly because I can’t relate. I don’t see the appeal to the Civic and the Camry. Those cars do nothing for me. I know people who own those cars. Just plain ol` people. They don’t know jack about cars. They sure as hell don’t work on their own cars. They “can’t” for some reason(s). They all bought those cars because they needed and wanted something that wouldn’t break down on them and leave them stranded. They need something that starts every time and isn’t in the shop all the time costing them big bucks to get repaired. All these people just drive the hell out of those cars and never do anything to them. Pure soulless appliance. Why don’t I like those cars? Price(too much), performance(none), I hate working on front wheel drive cars. I do all my own maintenance. I’m not even about to do a timing belt, or water pump, or clutch on a fwd. Done it before on cars that I didn’t own. I’ll work on my stripped down rwd any day of the week and enjoy it.
Three examples of how a naturally aspirated engine should be:
http://img177.imageshack.us/img177/696/tensioner4px1.jpg
http://img177.imageshack.us/img177/9048/tensioner2vb7.jpg
http://img177.imageshack.us/img177/639/tensioner1af5.jpg
Plugs? Water pump? Oil filter? I’ll yank those cylinder heads off of their no problem. I’ll yank that motor out no problem!! Whatever, I’ve done it and will do it. 400hp at the tires on the motor, 800+ with the turbo!!!! Why “only” 800? 91 octane!!! Bring on the E85!!!! (105 octane!)
What does Ford need? Compelling products at awesome prices. Nobody is excited about the current Ford products. Maybe the gasoline and diesel engine is too hard of a sell in a flooded market? Take one of your big trucks and fill it full of the newer, non flamable lithium batteries and see if you can’t squeek out ~1,000 miles per charge. Sell these vehicles at a whole array of ranges. 100 mile per charge, 500 mile, 1000 mile? Other ranges? More ranges? Lots of speed, no pollution. If you burn gasoline, you pollute. Don’t give me that power plant pollution argument in regards to electric cars. If you drive electric, you don’t pollute. Hydroelectric, wind, and solar? How about a modern day nuke plant instead of these 30 year old accient technology plants we have now? A coal plant is big and stationary. Since it is, why can’t some large and complex system be installed to filter or contain the undesireable emmisions?
Don’t think electric can be fast?
http://www.killacycle.com/
http://www.currenteliminator.net/
Ford: onboard charger(standard plug, no paddle!), charge it in your garage while you sleep. No more standing out in the cold at the gas station smelling fumes.
2 cords? 110V, and 220V?
I have 480V all over at school and work. How fast would it charge then?
Mr. Rashev, I agree about the size issue but, as already mentioned, most people in their memory (if they still remember the Taurus name before it became a rental car) associate this name with its competitors like Camry or Accord with whom Taurus competed quite successfully in the mid 90s. But this new Taurus is not in the Camry/Accord class (ok, maybe price-wise), it’s a bigger car that’s more in the class of Avalon. If Ford attempts to pitch it as Camcord competitor, it might cannibalize Ford Fusion sales.
I can’t place the whole blame for this on the current CEO though.
To all those who say that the Fusion should be the Taurus: Ford would be more crazy to rename the Fusion to Taurus because the Fusion actually has some name recognition now. It has gotten a stellar rating from Consumer Reports (a lot of us don’t care for it but you know many people rely on it), it’s run in NASCAR, and it simply sells more than the 500. If you are going to rename something it should be the 500. I understand the arguments against renaming a model but arguing for the Fusion rename over the 500 rename doesn’t make any sense to me.
I thought this was in interesting note in the Detroit News this morning:
“Ford did a market study and found that more than twice as many people recognized Taurus than the Five Hundred, and most had a positive impression.”
Now, you obviously have to trust that Ford was telling the truth about the results of the survey, but it seems very plausible to me. Especially the part about the Taurus name having twice the recognition of the 500. (80% to 40% from what Ford says)
I agree this article is extremely short sighted and overly cynical.
The 500 name was a mistake. Mullaly has big cajones to suck it up, take the punishment and fix the mistake in front of God and everyone.
He is 100% correct that the Taurus name, whatever it was in the last few years, was 21 years of brand equity down the toilet just so that the geniuses at Ford could name all their new product with an “F”
Hey, the 737 was getting old in the tooth there for a while, they should have renamed the new 737 the Boeing Banana. Maybe the Boeing Booger. Hey I know. The Boeing Bazooka. Bazooka: That’s awesome, man.
Kudos to Mullaly for getting this one right. Hopefuly the first of many right decisions.
I spent two weeks driving a Five Hundred this past spring and I was very pleasantly surprised with how capable and comfortable of a car it is for the money. Clearly a size class larger than the Camry or Accord, but there is nothing wrong with that. The original Taurus was clearly one size up for the then existing Camrys and Accords. Toyota and Honda have consistently upsized those vehicles (at least for the US) with every design update. The 2007 Civic is now nearly as large as the 2007 Accord, so expect the 2008 Accord to be larger still.
I will bet that the new 2008 Taurus will sell better than it’s 2007 Five Hundred twin.
Cowbell, I certainly would not count on Ford to tell the whole truth. A recent “Car and Driver” comparison test advertisement comes to mind…..
I had 2 really good laughs this week. The first: Apple doing its Hi I’m a mac. Vs. Mr. Windows accompanied by “allow, Disallow” his new fatherland security companion.
Second, and as a good a laugh, hearing that Ford is doing a mid stream rename for the ghost of the Galaxy 500 and transforming it into the ghost of Taurus. They had the ability to build the new galaxy into a sedan with a good rep. fix current shortcomings, and begin with this nameplate to define and Boldly face its biggest problem Releiability. But now customers who are unaware of this name change will go into dealers see a taurus, and recall its poor record. I think they do drugs in big Al’s office. To make this move complete as the dumbest thing they can possibly do, would be not only to refit unsold 500’s with new taurus grills, but to offer Taurus refits as an aftermarket option to current 500 owners as their present holdings are sure to meet with a nice price/value adjustment for its quick abandonment of the title. Big Al: you are a dunce ! Can I run ford………….Please………….
The problem with the Taurus is not that it only that it was a rental car. The problem was that it was a BAD rental car. As a frequent renter from Hertz (and others) I’ve been in my share of recent Taurus rentals and they are terrible. Nothing is worse than walking up to the rental counter and being handed the keys to a Taurus (especially when they tell you they “upgraded” you to full size).
By the same token, I’ve recently been impressed by other rental cars like the Mazda6 and Hyunda Sonata. These are cars I would now consider buying or at least recommending for the right person.
Sure, there is an issue with depressed resale value as a result of fleet sales but the new Taurus’ fate is not driven by whether it ends up in rental lots or not. It’s whether renters will be impressed or not.
The Five Hundred is a reasonably handsome car, a little blandness notwithstanding. But with some subtle changes it could quite easily give the Chrysler 300C a run in the gangsta-style department. Unfortunately, it’s too late to the dance now, as the 300 is already wearing thin. (Talk about letting designs wither on the vine.)
They should call it a Galaxy, though. Then have an optional 500 cu in engine and you’ll get people to notice the 500.
hondaboy55: February 8th, 2007 at 3:42 pm ………… I think they do drugs in big Al’s office. To make this move complete as the dumbest thing they can possibly do, would be not only to refit unsold 500’s with new taurus grills, but to offer Taurus refits as an aftermarket option to current 500 owners as their present holdings are sure to meet with a nice price/value adjustment for its quick abandonment of the title. Big Al: you are a dunce ! Can I run ford………….Please…………. The hood and fenders are also new, so even if you were serious, the Taurus front end will not just "fit" on the 500. I think a lot of the Taurus naming naysayers are going to be eating a mighty big helping of crow about a year from now. The 500 was a very good car handicapped by a small engine, bland styling and an anonymous name. Time will tell if Big Al was right. My money is on Big Al, not all the armchair CEO’s and journalists.
Airglow wrote, “The Hyundai Sonata is well over half rental car fleet sales. I guess Hyundai can’t shake their Excel, 75K lifespan reputation as quickly as they would like.”
Or Hyundai’s in the rental fleet could be more bad news for Detroit. A relative just dropped in for a few days’ vacation and he’s driving a Hyundai Sonata rental car. He’s been buying Ford products and he is very impressed with the Sonata. He’s certain to think about this experience and the 10/100 warranty the next time he goes looking for a car.
airglow: The Hyundai Sonata is well over half rental car fleet sales. I guess Hyundai can’t shake their Excel, 75K lifespan reputation as quickly as they would like.
Hyundai’s US strategy has been to rapidly expand plant capacity first, then try to create demand. It’s a “if we build it, they will come” strategy that requires that they begin by building them before the market for them exists.
The fleet sales are an understandable short-term move, as they offer a logical way to trim and manage inventories. If Hyundai can create converts through customers who discover it through the rental market, as KixStart implies in his anecdote, then this strategy might be successful. But if not, then it will become a low margin bleeder and its US effort will prove to have been for naught.
It is a risky strategy, though. Off the top of my head, I can’t think of any examples of other automakers trying to grow through this kind of strategy.
I’m going to be a contrarion and say it was a (relatively) smart move to rebadge the twins as Taurii, for two simple reasons.
1. The name Taurus clearly has more name recognition than the existing unmemorable names.
2. It allows Ford to market/advertise them under one combined theme/campaign, thus making precious ad dollars go twice as far. (A very serious problem in fragmented big 2.5 land)
Face it, the Freestyle was always a 500 “wagon”. As Taurii, they can be pitched to the likely prospects: over 50, large-physique main-streamers, who very likely had or were exposed to Taurus in the past. “Honey shall we get the sedan or X (wagon); lets get the X, so the grandkids can ride back there.”
They are a better package than either Edge, CV, or Explorer. If Ford can pitch them properly, I think there may be a glimmer of hope in resurrecting these prematurely birthed problem children.
Are you people really all so young or have such short memories that you don’t know where they got the “Five-Hundred” name from? They used it on all sorts of models in the late 60’s & 70’s. Of course it really isn’t appropriate for a full model name … but maybe they should have gone with Taurus 500.
When the Ford 500 was introduced it was missing something that would have made it identifiable to everyone over 40 (its target audience) and that “something” was the word “GALAXIE.” Taurus has evolved into something too, the words describing its last reincarnation: RENTAL CAR. Are there ANY automotive enthusiasts left at Ford?
The next train coming down the tracks of the Dearborn Central Railroad will be the fleetification of the Taurus and the uplevelling of the Taurus Five Hundred. C’mon, did you think they were really going to waste all those nameplates lying around?
Someone remarked that sable was a colour and a type of brush. This is true, sable is a brown colour and the brush is made of the hair of a sable, from a cat.. called.. the sable.
The Mecury Sable. The Mercury Cougar. The Mercury Lynx. I’m sure there’s others, I don’t know ’em.
On this name thing? Mebbe they should’ve called it the Taurus 500, y’know.. like Galaxie 500? I’d have thought that Taurus was better suited for the Fusion, although honestly, I don’t know what any Ford is named anymore with the exception of the Mustang and the Focus. The rest of them are ust sort of there, and ambigious, and stupid.
I recognize the Taurus name, though. For better or worse, it’ll stand out: As a middle ground Ford vehicle that appeals to many for is generic mix of abilities. Shoulda been the Fuision.
And Taurus X? Holy crap, that’s bad. Actually, as far as SUV names go, “Freestyle” isn’t so bad. Wait, is the Freestyle X an SUV or a CUV? What’s an Expedition? Bronco? I’m confused.
As a (S|C)UV, Freestyle isn’t a bad name.. Implies it goes anywhere, does anything and does it all teh way you want it to. Taurus X just reeks.
If it’s “F” names they want, why not Futura? It has a kind of vague space-age cachet. Otherwise, I suggest the Ford F***ed.
Hopefully, the retard who green-lighted the switch to “F” names (and “M” names for Mercs) has been told about the rabbits. Remember in the 90’s, when GM threw away all the threw away all the classic Oldsmobile model names in favor of ones that started with the letter “A”? Sure, Olds was doomed anyhow, but it probably hastened the division’s death.
And I can’t believe they’ve killed the Focus hatch and wagon. Am I the only person who thinks that incredibly stupid?
They killed the Focus hatch and wagon? What does Ford have left now other than the 500/Taurus/Whatever, trucks, and a handful of SUVs?
WAKE UP PEOPLE!!! ITS NOT THE NAME!!!
Mercedes builds overpriced, over-complicated, ill-named cars, with a dealership network that isn’t particularly liked around the world, and that car division STILL makes a profit!!! Mercedes obviously understands its core customer and it delivers EXACTLY the VEHICLE the customer wants.
Ford (and Chrysler, and certain divisions of GM, for that matter) tries to be all things to all people, and it fails miserably. The vehicle stinks because it’s been designed by too many different committees, none of whom have the guts to stand up for excellence. If you are so shallow as to be obsessed with the name and the “brand”, then you might consider calling it the Ford Compromise, because that’s what it really is.
Why can’t the Big 2.5 fix anything? Because they waste time applying a new name to the pudgy, airheaded model instead of sending her to the gym and finishing school. Until Ford understands the market, and delivers tightly focused products that hit the market segments, then it will always lag the industry leaders. There’s no one thing wrong with cars like the 500/Taurus — its just that there’s not enough people for whom the car is just right, and you don’t make money producing hundreds of thousands of cars for a market that will buy less than half of your break-even production run. Sweeping changes to the whole Ford vehicle development process are needed to turn this boat around, otherwise, the F-boat is indeed going to keep sinking.