Last Taurus rolls off line................

[David Johnson]

At the expense of their passenger cars tho, dont think they will ever ba able to catch up with the Camrys and Accords and even Impalas! Maybe if Ford didnt put sooooo much into SUVS in the 1990s and spread it out evenly to passenger cars they would not be loosing 6 billion dollars!

 

Tom

 

There was plenty of cash available, they simply spent it elsewhere. $15 billion+ for PAG, junkyards, Kwik Fit and their palladium writeoff (to name a few). There is a Feb 2002 WSJ article that details the level of incompetence it took to lose over $1 billion in the palladium market in under a year.

Edited October 26, 2006 by David Johnson

[Roadrunner]

Diamondhead, what the fuck???? Where is this shit-talking coming from?

 

 

Anyway--

 

MGallun:

<< yawn... imapala is junk, so is its budy the malibu, they fell like pieces of shit when you ride and sit in them... and, take away the fleet sales, >>

 

Hey dude - out of curiousity did you test drive the Malibu when you shopped for the Fusion? I didn't because Malibu wasn't even on my list, but the G6 I tested was okay. Not as sure-footed, though, I thought. The seating wasn't as good either, IIRC, but that might be senile bias creeping in.

Edited October 27, 2006 by Roadrunner

[156n3rd]

Well, for a bunch of people who are ardent Ford supporters, it astonishes me. How many of you have ever owned a Taurus? Of you have not ever owned at least one, you cannot say anything about the car. Regardless of what Ford did to it. Regardless of whether you like it or not. Regardless of the fact that around seven million examples have been built. I have never driven no less owned a 500. The name is meaningless to me. It proves that Ford used a part of a name of a previous model. Like Galaxie 500, or Custom 500. The Taurus ended and Fusion and 500 appeared. BFD. Nothing will ever replace the Taurus in it's own rite in automotive hsitory. That's not to say it was the best or worst. To me, the 2 examples I had gave me many miles of un-interrupted service. My '87 GL went 135,000+ and then I traded it on a '92 L wagon which my daughter still drives daily and has over 148,000 miles on it. That's my story and I'm sure there are many owners and former owners who can top that. There is no need to sit around at the faceless tube and spin venom. There is enough of that going around. Now let's see what Ford's next move will be.

[4thGenFordDrivingToyotas]

Problem is we can replace the name Taurus with Ranger, Crown Vic, Town Car, LS, and Focus. Ford continues to introduce vehicles and then let them die on the vine. You can't spend Billions on new cars, marketing etc, have them be best sellers in their class and then abandon them. It's not brain surgery Ford, and the only Bold Move at Ford would be to Upgrade your core segment leaders to keep them competitive and the companies bottom line solid. I've owned a 96, 97 Sable, 97 SHO, and a 2002 SES and can say without a doubt, the Taurus is a comfortable car. Not a BMW, but a very nice all around car that served it's purpose well.

 

But it's now dead and if the Town Car, Focus, Ranger and Crown Vic don't get updated they too will be RIP.

Goodbye Taurus and a big US Air Force thank you to the men and women of Atlanta.

 

Oh, and the Taurus will most certainly get the last laugh as the new CEO uses Fords original release of the Taurus as the benchmark example of a company addressing and meeting the customers needs, it's just to bad Ford forgot its own case study..

[630land]

My mom had a 94 Sable LS wagon. Was nice, but had a recall for the tranny, got the head gaskets repalced lukily under warranty, and needed motor mounts at 40K miles.

 

Sold it in 2002, and the lucky buyer had to get a new tranny for $1800!

 

 

And sure a 96 SHO was fast, but where is the "Muscle Taurus and Fast Fords" magazine? For that matter, how is that Taurus aftermarket? And finally, no Mustng needed to get a cam pully replaced for thousands of $$.

 

Bye bye, ;-)

Edited October 27, 2006 by 630land

[RichardJensen]

Oh, and the Taurus will most certainly get the last laugh as the new CEO uses Fords original release of the Taurus as the benchmark example of a company addressing and meeting the customers needs, it's just to bad Ford forgot its own case study..

Ford didn't forget its own case study.

 

They ignored it.

 

Implementing the things that worked on Team Taurus across Ford NA required a conviction that Team Taurus methods did not succeed by accident or good fortune.

 

Implementing these practices required conviction that unless Ford NA adopted the Team Taurus methods, the company would eventually become uncompetitive.

 

Implementing this methodology would've been possible only with the CEO's support.

 

The rest, as they say, is history. Ford let sleeping dogs lie, and Jac Nasser (IMO) holds more responsibility than any executive before him, or since, for one very simple reason: He fully grasped the nature of Ford's problems, and DID NOTHING. http://www.lean.org/WhoWeAre/LEINewsStory....ewsArticleId=38

 

Ford, today, has adopted the methodologies that proved so successful with Team Taurus, and they have also scheduled regular updates for new products.

[waymondospiff]

Problem is we can replace the name Taurus with Ranger, Crown Vic, Town Car, LS, and Focus. Ford continues to introduce vehicles and then let them die on the vine. You can't spend Billions on new cars, marketing etc, have them be best sellers in their class and then abandon them. It's not brain surgery Ford, and the only Bold Move at Ford would be to Upgrade your core segment leaders to keep them competitive and the companies bottom line solid.

 

Although RJ touched on this I think it merits another response. Until recently Ford has been operating quite differently, doing just that - allowing cars to die without updates. However, Ford today is striving to launch new products and update those products to keep them competitive. The 2008 D3s will be the biggest evidence of that, IMO.

 

The problem is Ford has limited resources for designing & updating, and the lead time for new products is measured in years. Fields & W.C. Ford realized this and have taken steps to move products forward and refocus how money is spent. Is it enough? We won't know the answer for years to come, but the plans are in place and the efforts are moving forward.

 

I don't "hate" on Ford too much for these old products currently. The decision to have old products was made long before the current leadership was in place. However, come 2009 and 2010, if Ford is still missing the mark then I'll be much less forgiving. You can't change the past, but you control the future.

 

Scott

[silvrsvt]

The 2008 D3s will be the biggest evidence of that, IMO.

Even to a lesser extent, the CD3 cars have had a major mechanical update a year after they where released, with the addition of AWD and the 3.5L in the MKZ. They are supposed to get a refreshing in 2008 also, 3 years after they where launched.

[NickF1011]

Aaaah. 1996. When a four door sedan could beat a Mustang GT. :slap:

 

Aaaah. 1996. When a fleet queen with a 3.4 liter V8 cost $6000 more than a Mustang GT. :slap:

 

And it was significantly slower than the similarly-priced SVT Cobra. :bandance:

[FordManBrad]

My mom had a 94 Sable LS wagon. Was nice, but had a recall for the tranny, got the head gaskets repalced lukily under warranty, and needed motor mounts at 40K miles.

 

Sold it in 2002, and the lucky buyer had to get a new tranny for $1800!

And sure a 96 SHO was fast, but where is the "Muscle Taurus and Fast Fords" magazine? For that matter, how is that Taurus aftermarket? And finally, no Mustng needed to get a cam pully replaced for thousands of $$.

 

Bye bye, ;-)

 

This scenario was a common occurence with many former Ford customers who long ago switched to Hondas and Toyotas. The sad thing is that these cars blew transmissions and head gaskets for years and years. You can understand having a year or two of problems, but this went on for the better part of a decade. I don't believe I knew anybody that owned a Taurus, Sable or Windstar that didn't blow an engine, transmission or both. I know of a number of owners that blew two transmissions. That was in addition to lots of more minor premature failure problems like coil springs breaking, motor mounts, ball joints, tie rod ends, etc. Its no wonder their sales declined to nothing except fleet sales.

[630land]

Yeah, had two Contours, 1st one started falling apart at 65K. 2nd one just had poor resale value. Then a Focus, nice but sloooooooow and V6 gas mileage. Now an 'old' Sentra, hmm 30 MPG and faster than the Zetec Focus?

 

When Trotman said 'we will concentrate on trucks, what we do best. We will go 70% trucks", that was the tipping point.

 

But, Fusion, and the 08 Focus may bring me back??