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Mulally: Five Hundred should have been Taurus


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Ford’s own marketing chief, Barry Engle, is quoted in the Businessweek piece as saying “I don’t know why we invest hundreds of millions of dollars in a name over 20 years and then walk away from it.”

 

You could ask the same question about our other Traditional names like Falcon, Thunderbird, Galaxie, Lincoln Zephyr & Continental, Mercury Cougar & Comet. We were told these names represent old cars and that the Ford spin doctors wanted new and exciting names to mach their cars (Huh?)

 

What would have been so wrong with rebirthing the Taurus platform every 4 or 5 years like Ford AUS does with the Falcon? With Flex manufacturing, you could have a compact "Fusion", a LWB "Fivehundred" and a car based SUV. Going on the Aussie experience, the whole thing would cost about USD $1 Billion to develop. This is really cheap given the potential for combined sales of over 800,000. It would also make the FWD/AWD package much cheaper with a V8 AWD a big possibility.

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You could ask the same question about our other Traditional names like Falcon, Thunderbird, Galaxie, Lincoln Zephyr & Continental, Mercury Cougar & Comet. We were told these names represent old cars and that the Ford spin doctors wanted new and exciting names to mach their cars (Huh?)

 

What would have been so wrong with rebirthing the Taurus platform every 4 or 5 years like Ford AUS does with the Falcon? With Flex manufacturing, you could have a compact "Fusion", a LWB "Fivehundred" and a car based SUV. Going on the Aussie experience, the whole thing would cost about USD $1 Billion to develop. This is really cheap given the potential for combined sales of over 800,000. It would also make the FWD/AWD package much cheaper with a V8 AWD a big possibility.

I've been saying this since I saw the 500. Hell it looks just like a overgrown Taurus. Besides, the 500 was supposed to be the "millennium car". It was supposed to be like 80 percent aluminum. So this car was actually 5years late. Maybe it would've been a hit then, who knows.

 

Always a day late and a dollar short

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As per a quote from mulally;

 

the Ford Five Hundred should have been the new Taurus

 

Too late now. OTOH, now that he's figured out the marketing dynamics, he should simply restyle the 500 using the "interceptor" concept ( dimensionally that body is almost an exact match for the 500 ) and try to drop as much weight as possible. Re-price to target the traditional Taurus customer and go for it.

 

Now if only he can walk over to Ford Powertrain and ask those goofs why they don't have a "hurricane" project to completely revamp the entire engine line, why the 3.5L is so late, why they ( deliberately ? ) under spec'd the 6F50 ( should have been a 6F66 or even 6F70 ) , etc...

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Any blaggard who still insists that the Taurus was not an automotive breaktrhrough and profit-maker in it's time in production, knows very little about Ford and cars in general. It is as plain as the nose on your face. But if products don't evolve into computer held gadgets that think for you, they're no good. The Taurus was the car of it's age. Ford dropped the ball, and now, someone actually sees the error of those decisions and some Taurus haters don't want their slumber to be disturbed. Just give the car it's due and move along. Tell me, is what you are driving the best car of your life? Does it make you happy to own it? My 2 Taurii did that for me and taught my children how to drive and survive in a safely and well-built car.

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I think Ford was too busy "following" in the late nineties while others were "leading". The criticism over the oval Taurus I think just threw Ford for a loop and they simply didn't know what to do from there. Look how typical Ford's styling has been since that period of time as a whole. Ford's styling for the Mustang was squared up from 98 to the new 99 at that time. The Taurus went conservative. The Crown Vic followed. The Focus didn't excite. It was just a bland time for Ford. Plus, the refinement was perceivably better for the Japanese cars, partially fueled by the media.

 

To me, the Fusion began the process of shaping a mainstream sedan comeback for Ford and the Interceptor should be the flagship and torch bearer for the sedan line-up. IMHO, however, the Five-Hundred name should have been applied to this Interceptor and a humble, sedate name like "Fairlane" be tagged onto the current Five-Hundred.

 

Kudos for the exterior of the Interceptor. I don't like the grille at ALL...but the side profile and rear styling seriously attract my intense interests. Lengthen the front overhang a tad to slant the headlights and grille into a more "Fusion"-like fashion and B-I-N-G-O!!!

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Zan, you were a mere teen ager when the first Taurus hit the road. I am sure you have had ownership experience of such cars being that your drop-dead end-all be-all opinon, based on years of automotive experience leads you to such a knowledgable conclusion. :stats:

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Perhaps a coulpe of years is enough to relaunch the all new Taurus as a LWB version of the Fusion which is going to the EUCD platform shared with the new Mondeo in the near future.

 

The Volvo S80 is built on EUCD and looks a pretty good size/ wheelbase to start with.

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I personally think it's beyond the point now. It won't make any difference is there is ever a Taurus again. It's just these "model haters" that refuse, absolutely refuse to open their minds to understand that a car that was built for 20 model runs represents a milestone. Any a-hole who doesn't recognize that fact has their bowels in their line of vision. If they revived the name down the road, cool. There are other names that use reviving too, such as Country Squire for a people carrier/cross-over. The list goes on.

Edited by 156n3rd
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Too late now. OTOH, now that he's figured out the marketing dynamics, he should simply restyle the 500 using the "interceptor" concept ( dimensionally that body is almost an exact match for the 500 ) and try to drop as much weight as possible. Re-price to target the traditional Taurus customer and go for it.

So that all the anti-Ford trolls on this site could point out another Ford mistake - not keeping the RWD?

 

As for the dimensions matching, you might want to re-compare the bumper-to-front-axle and front-axle-to windshield ratio on both the Interceptor and the Five Hundred. Or was this also supposed to be ammo for the trolls?

 

Besides, the Five Hundred grille is much less gag-inducing than the rounded brick face on the Interceptor. (One of these days, I swear, I'm going out to Detroit and take Mays' straightedge away from him!)

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I think that two things hindered the 500. First, if you are going to bring out a brand new nameplate, you damn well better promote the sh*t out of it. When the 64 1/2 Mustang came out, or the new Mustang for that matter, EVERYONE KNEW ABOUT IT. The amount of effort and promotion was such that you would have had to be under a rock or in a casket NOT to know about these products.

 

The second thing is that the product has to have some sort of "gotta have it" exclusivity to it. Honestly, I think the 500 offered that. The SUV seating position which elliminates the "fall in/crawl out" of the modern sedan, more room than a CV, and over 25MPG on the highway, it has this. The ONLY fault with the 500 was the lack of all out power, but I drove my Aunt's 500 and can tell you that the car was plenty powerful AND with the desire for MPG, the 500 was very competitive in the powertrain department.

 

So what mistake was made with the 500? Simple, the promotion of the product. To this day, if you go out and talk to people, they will tell you that they KNOW Ford makes a "retro" Mustang. Then if you mention the 500 (or Fusion for that matter) they'll look at you and go "huh?"

 

The problem isn't that folks buy Camry's and Accords. The problem is that they are doing this NOT knowing that Ford has a competitor on their lot. Ford has the new Car and Driver fusion commercial on TV. I think that in the last three weeks, I have seen it ONCE!! Umm.....HELLO!!!!

 

I can say that if my next car is used, I think a 500 without CVT (still don't trust the CVT on any product for the long haul) would be perfect. BIg, economical sedan. Damn good car. And I like the looks as well.

Edited by bec5150
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Perhaps a coulpe of years is enough to relaunch the all new Taurus as a LWB version of the Fusion which is going to the EUCD platform shared with the new Mondeo in the near future.

 

The Volvo S80 is built on EUCD and looks a pretty good size/ wheelbase to start with.

 

The new S80 is a very nice car,but the rear seat leg and foot room is still tight when you've got four six-footers in the car. It needs anonther 4" inches of wheelbase, minimum. Whatever they do with the net generation FiveHundred or its replacement I just hope they don't cut it down in vehicle height or legroom or cargo capacity, save for the slightly narrrow front footwells it's just about perfect as far as interior space goes now. The real question is how do you market it, sexiness won't sell the car so why not empasize its utter practicality and use a little humour in the process.

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I personally think it's beyond the point now. It won't make any difference is there is ever a Taurus again. It's just these "model haters" that refuse, absolutely refuse to open their minds to understand that a car that was built for 20 model runs represents a milestone. Any a-hole who doesn't recognize that fact has their bowels in their line of vision. If they revived the name down the road, cool. There are other names that use reviving too, such as Country Squire for a people carrier/cross-over. The list goes on.
Two questions:

1. Who's the girl?

2. Is that your Mustang II?

av-620.jpg

Edited by ebritt
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I think Ford was too busy "following" in the late nineties while others were "leading". The criticism over the oval Taurus I think just threw Ford for a loop and they simply didn't know what to do from there. Look how typical Ford's styling has been since that period of time as a whole. Ford's styling for the Mustang was squared up from 98 to the new 99 at that time. The Taurus went conservative. The Crown Vic followed. The Focus didn't excite. It was just a bland time for Ford. Plus, the refinement was perceivably better for the Japanese cars, partially fueled by the media.

 

Wow, I never thought about that but I think you hit on something. :reading:

 

In the '80's Ford was the style leader on pretty much everything they produced. But yea, when the oval Taurus didn't wow everyone, that is about the time that Ford styling went from wow to bland. The '05 Mustang, '02 T-Bird being the exceptions until recently with the Edge and Fusion.

 

You could ask the same question about our other Traditional names like Falcon, Thunderbird, Galaxie, Lincoln Zephyr & Continental, Mercury Cougar & Comet. We were told these names represent old cars and that the Ford spin doctors wanted new and exciting names to mach their cars (Huh?)

 

Exactly. It is beyond my comprehension why were are stuck with retarded names like Fusion, Edge, Focus and the Lincoln code names that are meaningless when names like Torino, Thunderbird, Galaxie, Continental and the old Mark series, all which present positive images of Ford, are sitting on the shelf :doh:

 

Isn't it kind of ironic that in the early 90's, when Olds went to front wheel drive they changed the name from (Delta) 88 to Eighty Eight? Hmmm - perhaps history is repeating itself again with the Five Hundred?

 

Here's a thought tho for the Five Hundred. When Ford finally gets their act together on the design and engine choices, perhaps change the name from spelled out to the number and have the Galaxie 500 come back as a high end, big performance sedan. Chrysler has proven there is a market for this. In fact, they pretty much have it to themselves.

Edited by 96 Pony
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